Britprius

There seems to be some confusion as you were asking about the battery discharging over a 4 day period. Hence my above reply. According to the wiring diagram in common with many Toyota/Lexus cars the is a multiple link strip fuse mounted in the side of the fuse box. This link is easily overlooked. and is difficult to change or see. On the LS 400 it contains 3 fuse links rated at 150 amp, 100 amp, and 30 amps. One or more links typically blow when reverse polarity jump starting has taken place. This is not a plug in fuse. John.

Remove the "dome" fuse and connect a multi meter set to 20 amps to start with across the connections where the fuse fits. Turn down the current range until you are using a range that is just above the current being drawn. With the car doors closed, and ignition off remove, and replace the fuses controlling the systems in the list noting any fall in the reading on the meter. This will show where the problem(s) lies. The maximum standing current should be around 20 ma (20/1000 of an amp). The dome fuse feeds many fuses down stream of it'self. John.

A warning light is now an automatic failure under the new MOT test procedure. Even taking the bulb out if it is a compulsory requirement will still fail. The tester should turn on the ignition, and watch for all the lights to come on, and go out one by one. John.

Good news then. John.

In my manual under the heading of "using the audio system" it states insert MP3 and WMA discs. The players in the vehicles of the same year are identical. Why not just try a recorded disc? John.

I have a 2007 GS450H with Mark Levinson system and that plays MP3 CD's perfectly well. The manual gives a list of formats that will play, and that also shows MP3. John.

Lee I think others have answered for me, but the charging system is well capable of charging a higher capacity battery. It has a maximum output in excess of 100 amps, but it is also battery temperature controlled. The reason for the small sensor with two thin wires that can be gently eased out of the OEM battery and fastened to the top of the new battery with tape, glue, hot melt glue, or even blue tack. I have had no problems with my 110 AH set up. I do have the piece of mind knowing that if I sit in the car for two or three hours with the radio on or watching a DVD or even leaving the car for a month or more it is going to boot up when needed. John.

Just as an addition to the above even my electric mobility scooter needs the software, and interface to be able to adjust parameters such as acceleration rate, start delay, speed settings, and more. Or to access fault codes. On trying to obtain the required equipment from the manufacturer I was told the price was £1200+VAT, and only available if I was a retailer of there products. The scooter new was not much more than this. John.

OBD2 may be an industry standard, but it is only standard for engine, and emissions systems. Each manufacturer is free to use whatever coding they wish for such things as transmission, security, and safety systems to name but a few. Also the actual connector used is not standard manufacturers such as BMW, and Mercedes use there own sockets requiring adapter leads to connect. It is about time manufacturers let vehicle owners have free or affordable access to the systems built into there cars. In the USA some states are now pushing to put this into law allowing owners to have the ability to fully service there own vehicles. The practice of locking down systems has spread to heavy goods, farming equipment, forestry equipment, mobile cranes, and much more. This can mean that large pieces of equipment such as a combine harvester broken down in a field will need loading onto an articulated vehicle to be transported to a manufacturers repair agent costing hundreds if not thousands of pounds in remote areas to transport for some perhaps easily fixed item once the codes are retrieved. The time taken for this at harvest could be critical to that crop. Surely we should have the ability to work on our own vehicles without the extortionate prices charged for the ability to read codes. My son in law has a Buell motorbike. This has the ability to read, and clear any fault codes on the dash board something that would cost pennies to be available on the Toyota/Lexus displays, but we have to pay circa £120 at the dealers to have the diagnostics read before they will carry out any work even if you supply them with the codes from your own equipment. Even then there seems to be a policy of throwing expensive parts at the problem until it goes away. It is no wonder there is a thriving industry in so called pirated software, and I am happy to use what is available to access information stored in my own vehicles about my own vehicles without being held to ransom. Gone are the days when if our car had a misfire we could say to the local garage fit a new distributor cap leads, and plugs. We now have to have the codes read, and an ignition coil replaced probably taking the bill to over £250. Maybe i'm just getting old, but if that's progress count me out. Rant over. John.

It does sound as there is a serious electrical problem with it. The RX has two separate drive systems. One a standard hybrid dual motor generator system to drive the front wheels, and a completely separate electric only drive via a motor generator built into the rear differential with no mechanical drive linkage to the front system. The two drives have separate inverters "although in the same housing, and run from the same HV battery". This could get very expensive very quickly, and the car is not that cheap to make it worthwhile. The seller would have to sell it as for parts only as there could be no guarantee even though he is a trader. If it was fixable cheaply I think he would have done it. John.

It's the reset for the tyre pressure monitoring system. John.

AGM batteries have a self discharge rate of about 3% of capacity per month. Flooded batteries tend to have a higher rate depending on the exact chemistry used. The rate is also affected by temperature to a small degree. John.

Short runs will always give poor MPG, but if you are forcing the use of electric only mode this will make things worse. The reason for this is that once the battery becomes discharged the engine then has to charge it, and power the car. I have a gen3 GS450H, and this gets around 35 mpg. I would expect your gen4 GS to achieve closer to 40 mpg. John.

Those are not hoses they are high voltage cables carrying around 300 volts dc. If the cover is split it can be repaired with electrical insulation tape. Only work on repairs with the safety orange connector removed in the boot. If you do not know what you are doing leave them well alone. John.

The figure of 2.5 quoted on the door pillar is in BAR not PSI to convert multiply X 14.7. (2.5 X 14.7 = 36.75 PSI), but it should also be marked in PSI anyway. John

Having checked the "Compare the market" site my renewal is £50 cheaper than any other company listed. I may ring Chris Knott for a quote, but I think I will have difficulty getting the price down for the same cover. My excess is also low at £50. I think living in Herefordshire helps with the premium as it is the leased populated county in England. John.

The strange thing is in the past quotes from Saga have been high. It was only last year that getting the usual enormous rise in renewal premium and searching around that I found Saga to be very competitive. At £260 with all the bells and whistles including breakdown cover for any vehicle I was travelling in, and now just under £280 I felt this was still a good price. I will do a quick search to see what is available, and come back. John.

For the first time in my memory my renewal quote on my insurance was reasonable only rising by £19. This is with Saga, and still keeps my premium well under £300 for my GS450H. I will be renewing with them as it is not worth the hassle to try to find a better deal, but I will keep an eye on next years quote. When are other companies going to follow suit. John.

So if you pay loads of money the opposite will be true, but I doubt it. It's just that some companies are happy to rip you off for twice the money. I can get fully comp insurance for my car on "compare the market" from a little over £200 per anum to nearly £5000 per anum. Do I get £4800 better quality insurance? You must be joking. John.

I cracked my NS mirror cover by hitting a pheasant flying out of a hedgerow. I used epoxy resin to glue it together then carefully rubbed it down "the mirror not the pheasant". Resprayed the cover with aerosol paint, and the repairs cannot be seen. John.

It is interesting to note Toyota are still sticking to using NiMh batteries having now had the fitted in hybrids for 20 years. John.

The only figures available even in Techstream are the voltage of module pairs. For 2x6 cell modules around 15 volts depending on the level of charge, and there internal resistance (typically around 0.023 milli ohms). For 2x8 cell modules the voltage is around 19 volts, and the internal resistance will be around 0.025 milli ohms. The cell capacity of both types is 6.5 amp hours, but not all of this capacity is usable in the vehicle. Single cell information is not available nor single module information. This is because all the modules are connected in series, and there are only battery sense connecting wires on every second module (20 sensing wires for 40 modules or less for vehicles with 8 cell modules). People wrongly call the battery modules cells, but it takes 6 cells connected in series to make up a module of 7.2 volts or 8 cells for 9.6 volt modules(1.2 volts per cell) in the same way it takes 6 cells to make up a 12 volt car battery (2 volts per cell). The The 8 cell modules have metal cased cells against the 6 cell plastic variety used in the great majority of Toyota/Lexus vehicles. It is possible to measure individual cell voltages with a volt meter on the 9.6 volt 8 cell modules, but the individual cell terminals on the 7.2 volt modules are not available. John

This sounds like clutch drag "the clutch not opening far enough" could need bleeding if it is hydraulic. Or there is spigot bearing problems "the bearing between the clutch shaft (first motion shaft), and the crankshaft. Take it back to the garage where the work was done. John.

If you have a laptop buy a Mini VCI from the bay or similar with Techstream software. This will cost around £20 and give you dealer level of diagnostics, and service features. John.