Britprius

Jeff this is typical HID bulb failure. Swapping bulbs from side to side would confirm this. As far as replacements are concerned I use the cheap bulbs for sale on Ebay as do a number of other LOC members. I have found no difference in light output or longevity to the Osram bulbs priced at up to £87 each. Beware there are many fake Osram labled bulbs on the market. The color choice is given in degrees Kelvin the OEM color being 4300K. Many prefer the whiter light with a blue tint given off by 5000K or 6000K bulbs going any higher than this produces a very blue light. John.

Robert. What mobility scooter you buy rely depends on the price your prepared to pay. I have 2 scooters. One "the larger one 24" wide 48" long" I keep at home, and use for going to the local shop, and the pub. Perhaps surprisingly I also use it as a lightweight tractor in my very large garden with a trailer on the back to carry fire logs to the house, grass, and hedge cuttings ect to a bonfire at the bottom of the garden. This has pneumatic tyres. The other is a smaller scooter only 18" wide, and 40" long goes in the boot nicely with the scooter seat removed, and has solid tyres. This can be dismantled without tools into 4 pieces to make it easier to lift in and out. It is called a "Shop rider" and you can buy them new for circa £500, but they are readily available in good condition second hand for about £150. If you wish to fly off somewhere, and take a scooter with you there are folding lightweight scooters with lithium batteries made by "Luggi" that all airlines will carry, but cost from £1700 upwards, and are still around £1000 second hand with dubious battery condition if you can find one. If you go the SH route keep an eye on your local papers or news agents window cards as the standard scooters often appear there. Otherwise take a look at Ebay. My two scooter cost less than £300 in total. Having fitted a small crane in the boot of the car can lift the smaller one at 47kg in, and out of the boot complete with no effort. Dismantling it produces 4 lighter parts:- The rear axle, and motor. The front floor steering, and axle. The seat. The battery box with batteries. All scooters come with an automatic charger about the size of a laptop power supply. This can be used on the scooter complete or just on the removed battery box. The small scooter has a range of 10 to 12 miles my larger scooter has a range of 38 miles both dependent on battery condition. John.

I have what appear to be identical ramps, and I used them without problems to make, and fit a stainless rear exhaust system to my GS450H. That would be far heavier at the rear due to the hybrid battery than your IS250. I did have to use some lengths of timber at the bottom of the ramps to give clearance for the rear of the car as it was driven back onto, and off the ramps. The important thing is to make sure the area you are working on is both flat, and will support the ramps without them sinking. John.

Are you sure the HID's fitted are OEM or are they aftermarket additions? I do not know of any car designed for the European market that has reflectors with HID bulbs. The only car I know of in the world that does use a reflector housing with HID's as OEM fitting is the North American gen2 Prius. This had specially designed reflectors with many more ribs in the reflector than it's halogen version also available in the US. Your headlamps should be marked DCR if they are suitable for HID bulbs " this maybe on the lens or the body of the light" If they are not marked they are only suitable for halogen bulbs. John.

Invest in a nut splitter, grind it off with an angle grinder, or cut with a hacksaw if you can get one in there. The links come with new nuts so the old ones are not needed. John.

This is true of the hybrid systems that Toyota/Lexus use, but with a slight modification. The vent has a one way valve built into it allowing pressure out but seals causing a slight vacuum inside the transmission as it cools. This means shaft oil seals are under negative pressure when the transmission is cold reducing the effect of oil loss past them. As the transmission warms up the pressure equalises, and again stops oil being forced outwards past the seals. If the valve is stuck open sudden cooling of the transmission by submerging it in cold water could cause the water to be drawn into the valve, but the water would have to be quite deep as the valve is on the top of the transmission. John.

Thanks Robert. I have spoken to my insurer regarding the letter, and they were happy to explain. It seems if I had contacted the third party insurers, and discussed the claim they could say I entered a contract with them limiting the maximum rates for charges that they will pay for labor (£28 per hour), and for car rental (£54.42 per day) as listed in the letter limiting the charges my insurance company could charge them. Since I did not contact them I did not enter into a contract, and my insurer can charge them the full price of any car rented. They have also asked if I mind forwarding the letter to them. My insurers have asked me if a Mercedes C class would be suitable for my needs, and agreed to change this for another vehicle if it does not suit in any way "such as not being able to accommodate my mobility scooter or the boot access being to high for lifting in or out". My insurer seems to be pulling out all the stops to make the claim painless, and cost free. They have told me I will not have to pay my excess, and there will be no excess to pay on the loan car should this become damaged in any way. My car will go to a body shop local to me "a shop I know well that does great work", they will collect and deliver the car from home, and fully valet the car. The hire car will also be delivered, and collected, will be available to me for up to 3 months if required, and in the event of my car being written off I will keep the hire car for five working days after the settlement check arrives at my address. The only stumbling point I still have is with the 5 year deceleration of claim "even though it's a no fault claim" that could raise premiums charged by both my existing insurer or any future insurer. My insurers have acknowledged that this is normal throughout the industry, and I cannot claim because I do not know how much this sum would be. I am pushing this hard however on the principle that I should not be out of pocket for something beyond my control. I have pointed out that it is them that put me on this claims register allowing themselves, and other companies to gain without any reasonable justification. I know there is little chance of anything happening, but I have informed them I will take this to my MP if required. John.

I have now received a letter from the third parties insurance "Covea" admitting liability for the claim, and offering there services as an open claim doesn't affect my policy, and or my renewal quote. The letter goes on to say they will provide an equivalent car, and they will repair the car "subject to it not being a write off" with OEM parts, and give the work a life time guarantee, and comply with the manufactures warranty. Has anyone come across this scenario before as it's a new one for me. I am about to contact my insurer to see what they say. I have already told my insurance that if the claim is going to affect me for the next 5 years I wish to claim any extra price rise on future premiums even if I change provider. John.

You also need to hold your mouth right otherwise it does not count. John.

This is something that has been come across before with the Prius transmission. After draining the oil, leaving the drain and fill oil plugs out and removing the HV cable termination covers a hair dryer is used for several hours blowing into the terminal area has cleared the fault. This same code (P0AA6) is given when when the wrong oil is used in the AC compressor or if water finds it's way into the compressor terminals. On the GS450H it can be caused by water in either of the two terminal input covers on the transmission. On the RX450H it can be caused by water entering covers on the front transmission unit or the differential at the rear. Anywhere that water can get to on the HV supply system will give rise to this problem. A pity the OP has not got back to us to enlighten us as to what vehicle he has. John.

Barry do you know what code is being issued by the ECU? My guess is that it is P0AA6. This code is for HV battery isolation. This means one or both sides of the high voltage battery is leaking current to ground "the car body" This can be caused by even a very small amount of water getting into any of the high voltage connections. You say you have a 450H L but we need to now is this a GS450H or an RX450h? as they have two very different transmissions. John.

Providing you do not mix the tyres on the same axle there is generally no problem even though this is not illegal. Of course it it is considered better to have the same brand type on all wheels, but it would be very unusual to strike problems. It maybe that you will get better handling characteristics with a specific brand on the front so it maybe worth swapping them front to rear to find the best combination. The consensus of opinion on LOC is that new tyres should be fitted on the rear if you are using two new, and two worn tyres. Not all agree with this some including myself would put new tyres on the front particularly on a front wheel drive car, but that must be your decision. John.

Welcome to LOC. I am sure you will find the forum a wealth of knowledge, and lots of people to give help. John.

It is not that stainless is more noisy than mild steel it is that in general bespoke stainless manufacturers use a series of fixed size straight through silencers instead of baffled units that are OEM fitting. You can specify that you want baffled silencers in stainless that will be just as quite, and last the life of the car. John.

A few pictures as promised. Forgive the mud on the car, but I live in the countryside with at the moment very wet fields with muddy water running across the roads. The amount the door is pushed in does not show well in the pictures. i am now awaiting on my insurers "Saga", but to my surprise the have already told me due to the fact it will be a no fault claim I will get an equivalent car to my own as a loan car, an automatic, and large enough to accommodate my mobility scooter. If push comes to shove I have already located a complete door in the correct color at £100, and will go the buy back route. The damage to the wheel arch I could pull, and repair easily leaving only a very small area to paint.

My car was backed into today on a supermarket car park while I was in the car. The driver of the other car has admitted full responsibility in writing, and we exchanged details. The rear half of the passengers door is caved in along with some damage to the front of the rear wheel arch. The door opens, and closes ok. I will post some pictures when it gets light tomorrow, and add them to this post. Although the damage is not extensive or structural I am concerned the insurers will write off the car the usual tale of a 12 year old car with 140k + on the clock. I know the insurers will take little or no notice of the fact that the car has new shocks all round, new rear disks and pads, new tyres, and wheel refurb in the last few months. I guess the only sensible thing to do if it is written off is to buy it back as I doubt it would cost £500 for me to put it back as it was. I will keep you all informed as things progress, but I do not wish to be without my car over Christmas. I know I will get a loan car but this will be a KA or something like that will not take my mobility scooter. John.

The Auris does use the same system as the Prius. You possibly know already "but it is not clear from your post" all the Toyota/Lexus hybrids are auto's there is no manual hybrid. Other Toyota hybrid cars worth looking at are the Yaris, and the Rav4. John.

There was a gen2 Prius taxi in Grease that covered 3,000,000 miles. Toyota gave the private owner a new Prius gen3 for it so they could dismantle it for close inspection. John.

To give some idea of Prius economy. I had mine from new as a company car, and when I retired I bought it. I had it for 8 years, and 145,000 miles. At that time the only things done to the car apart from normal servicing. Rear schocks replaced under guarantee at 40,000 miles because one was showing signs of oil misting. A nearside front wheel bearing at 90,000 miles due pothole damage. Tyres averaged around 40,000 miles per set of 4 depending on make. The poorest were "Goodyear efficientgrip performance" the best Hankook Eco. Insurance was under £200 fully comp with breakdown cover. The discs and pads all round were original when the car was sold, and should easily reach 200,000 miles at the same rate of ware. Fuel consumption averaged 65 mpg, but 75 mpg could be attained in the summer. John.

Hi James. You are asking a difficult question as so much depends on your preferences to type of vehicle. For performance with economy, and comfort you will have difficulty beating a GS450H. My 2007 returns the low 40's. For pure economy 65 mpg zero road tax a gen2 Prius takes some beating, and in my opinion is more comfortable, and has more room than the Lexus CT200H I have no experience of the RX400H, but I think you will struggle to get 30mpg. I think the RX450H will be out of budget. Others here will no doubt have other suggestions. John.

Sorry Jeff a bit late on the reply, My car had done around 130,000 miles when the "Y" piece disintegrated. I feel this was as much to do with metal fatigue as it was rust. On the replacement rear section I built I reinforced the system by fitting a piece of stainless exhaust tube between the two pipes going out to the rear silencers. This tube does not carry any exhaust gas, but just ties the two rear sections of pipework together before they get to the "Y" piece. This relieves the twisting action from the weight of the rear silencers at the "Y" piece. I will add a picture when I can next get under the car. This was an after thought, and not included in my original picks. John.

Perhaps not surprisingly the lumen output of HID bulbs varies with the Kelvin colour rating. However the whiter bluer light is in fact at a lower lm rating. A rating of 4300k is the sweet spot for maximum light output, but us humans seem to prefer the bluer light levels at 5000k to 6000k perhaps because this is closer to the colour of sunlight. John.

I did think of it as an accidental pun as I wrote it, and then just left it as is. John.

I think this is more a thing of convenience where if your in an area you do not know, and wish to get home. Just pressing the talk button and saying home gives you instant guidance. Obviously you suspend guidance once you know where your going. I like the idea of the police station. John.

MOT test actual regulation number 4.1.4 compliance with requirements "Quote" Existing halogen headlamp units should not be converted to be used with HID bulbs. If such a conversion has been done, you must fail the headlamp. Headlamps should be code marked DCR for HID Defect category:- (C) Light source and lamp not compatible. Failure category Major Headlamp cleaning device inoperative in the case of LED or gas discharge systems (HID). Failure category Major Headlamp levelling device inoperative. Failure category Major. John.