Britprius

Once you have removed the drum "you will have to swing the caliper out of the way first" you can see the brake shoes. These have very little lining material on them when new about 3 mm only. They tend to ware at one end of each shoe, but as long as there is more than 1 mm they are serviceable. John.

The large versions of the jump packs that generally have a built in compressor, and maybe even a 240 volt inverter have a lead acid battery of around 18 AH capacity. Most of the cheaper versions have a very poor quality flooded battery with very brittle lead internal connections in the battery, and poor plate support. If these batteries are subject to mechanical shock the connections brake removing some of the plates from use. This reduces the cranking, and AH capacity of the battery. They also become sulphated quickly because of the poor quality lead used, and the acid is stronger than it should be to boost cranking amps. The better units have AGM batteries that will stand up to more rugged use, but even these must be charged regularly to keep there capacity. John

Something else to consider regarding battery capacity, and run times. Generally batteries have a designated capacity given in AH "amp hours", but what is not often understood is that this figure is calculated at a given rate of discharge "most often at a 20 hour rate". This means a 40 AH battery will have the ability to run a 2 amp load for 20 hours. However this does not mean if you load it at 4 amps it will last for 10 hours or loaded at 10 amps it will last for 4 hours. As in Members Herbie's picture the radio, and display screen runs at over 15 amps. In fact as the discharge rate rises the apparent battery capacity falls quite dramatically. Batteries at 3 years old can easily have lost 50% of there new capacity without showing outward signs of this apart from when electrical accessories are used while standing. Many batteries on Ebay "if you read the small print" are rated at a discharge rate of only 1 amp. This has the effect of increasing the apparent AH capacity to make the battery look on paper better than it is. John

Unfortunately there is a limit set in the construction, and use regulations that restrict the bulb size to 21 watts total so if you have two reversing lights the output cannot be more. I agree it is perhaps the design of the rear light units that reduces the light output. You could fit infrared LED's " the type used in TV remote controls" as powerful as you like so that with your eyes they cannot be seen, but the will illuminate the rear area for the camera very well as most cameras are infrared sensitive "night vision". Try putting the car in reverse and pointing your TV remote at the camera. This will show brightly on the screen. This is also a good way to check the remote if your not sure it's working. John.

If the voltage supplied to the bulbs is down it does not matter what bulbs you use as the filaments will glow yellow going towards red rather than the white of a correctly supplied bulb voltage wise. John.

The RX does not have plug leads as such as the individual ignition coils are mounted directly on top of the spark plugs. This is almost universal now doing away with the distributor, and HT leads. Of course the coils themselves can give rise to problems, but if this were the case fault codes would be stored. John.

Osram night breaker bulbs will give extra light, but there longevity is questionable. Assuming the lights are halogen. Check the voltage at the bulb terminals with the headlamps on and the engine running. Then check the voltage at the battery under the same conditions. If there is more than 0.5 volts difference voltage drop on the old wiring is to blame. On some cars I have found only around 11 volts at the lights, but 14 volts at the battery a loss of over 20% If this is the case taking a fused battery feed to a couple of relays mounted near the lights, and using the old headlamp wires to operate the relays, and the relay contacts to feed the lights will restore full brightness. This is not as complicated as it sounds. PM me if you need a circuit diagram. John.

It should be noted that although lead acid batteries are not considered fully discharged until the voltage falls to 10.6 volts. They are considered to be deep discharged at the 50% level of around 12 volts "depends on temperature". Going below this level is destructive to the battery, and the damage is not reversible. John.

There seems to be no clear guidance to this. Over on the US Prius chat forum much research has gone into this with oil annaliss at various mileages to check for ware metals in the oil. The outcome was that the oil should be change at around 20,000 miles, and then every 30,000 miles. It was found the first change showed the oil to have lost 20% of it's viscosity, contained large quantities of steel from the bed in process, and was dark in color often with larger metal fragments on the magnetic drain plug. After the initial change ware metals decreased dramatically, but the oil viscosity still fell. Using alternate non Toyota oils produced copper contamination in the oil from the motor winding's. Bearing in mind the oil also acts as an electrical insulator " the high voltage motor generator winding's run in the oil" it would be prudent to change the oil to maintain this property. The original Toyota specification oil should also be used. Toyota/Lexus do not call for an oil change in the service schedule, but in the scheme of things an oil change is cheap insurance on transmission longevity. John.

You would also have to fit a reversing light as this not only lights up the rear at night, but also warns others you are reversing in daylight. John.

Without the rear fog lights, and reversing lights your car is likely to fail the MOT since these are fitted under the construction, and use regulations for the UK and Europe. The US rear lights will not have the correct markings, and this alone is enough for a fail. John.

I have had this problem in the past with an automatic "not a Lexus", and it surprisingly turned out to be a cracked torque converter flex drive plate. Why the noise should disappear after a short time was beyond me. John

I do not classify anyone as a "duffer". We all have an area of expertise, and that is what makes us all different. Hopefully being able to pass knowledge on to help others is what the forum is about. I have been helped enormously by others on this forum, some that I have met, and others that I am unlikely to meet. I am also overwhelmed by the generosity of members with offers of physical help, and of passing on items at no cost that they have surplus to requirements. John.

The battery temperature sensor can be removed from the OEM battery "it just gently prizes out". It can then be fitted to the top of the new battery by taping it on or better some hot melt glue to hold it in position. This is not a critical item it adjust "slightly" the charge voltage depending on battery temperature. It could be replaced with a thermistor "a resistor that gets lower in resistance as it's temperature rises" of the correct value for pennies. Correct size batteries with a capacity of around 70 ah are readily available with a four year guarantee for circa £70. For vehicles that have normal starter motors, and even vehicles with hybrid systems I would recommend going to a higher capacity battery if there is room for fitting. For example the GS450H can easily accommodate a 120 ah battery at circa £80. john

They would need spigot rings as your OEM wheels are 60.1 mm centres. John.

Gavin the dealer has given you a 50% discount, and then charged you double what the battery would cost to replace. Not a bad business to be in. How can a new battery cost £326. John.

I find a hot soldering iron will often seal the type of crack you describe after draining any coolant to below the crack . Melting some hot melt glue into the crack with the iron if the material is to thin. Using a hot melt glue gun on it's own does not usually provide enough heat to bond well. John.

There is no real need to disconnect the battery as long as the ignition is not turned on, but doing so will also reset the engine ECU, and this may also help. Be careful you do not brake the very fine hair like wire in the MAF but your method is correct. You can buy aerosol cans of MAF cleaner at most motorist shops including Halfords. John.

I suggest you clean the MAF sensor on the air intake with some MAF cleaner. It's an easy job that often improves engine low speed running, and fuel economy. John.

The hybrids do not have a servo. The only mechanism to compensate for pad ware is that there is no return pressure from the pads being pushed against the discs "unless the caliper slide pins are seized". Hydraulic fluid takes up any pad ware behind the caliper pistons. The braking system pressurises by an electrically driven pump when you open the drivers door, and does not need the ignition "or ready mode" to be operate. John.

I use the EBC black stuff pads on my GS450H. I find that they suit the hybrid well in all respects producing little in the way of dust, and do not ware the discs like some of the harder metallic compound pads. John.

The CTek is a good charger but way over priced. Aldi do a rely good 4 amp intelligent charger that works on both flooded, and AGM batteries for around £12. It will work on 6 volt and 12 volt batteries, and has settings for small motorbike batteries, standard car batteries, and a cold charge setting. With a liquid crystal display showing battery voltage, and charge level plus the Aldi 3 year guarantee. John.

Adrian Flux showed no interest in insuring my car quoting well over £1200. This was near five times the cost of my eventual premium. I was able to get full cover with all the bells and whistles including brake down cover for £260. John.

With the hybrid system normal braking is done by regen. With the RX on all 4 wheels. However if the system detects an under rotation of one wheel such as may occur when braking over a wet uneven man hole or drain the system changes to full mechanical brakes cancelling all regen. This gives rise to the feeling for a split second that the brakes have been released. The gen3 Prius had a recall on the brake software to reduce this effect because there were so many complaints about this problem. I encountered it with my gen2 Prius. On rare occasions on a particular stretch of road where I did a left turn, and braked in the wet over a man hole that could not be avoided unloading the nearside front tyre. I was able to replicate this if I tried quite easily. At first it is a little alarming, but after a couple of times I got used to it. John.

A trickle charge over the Christmas period or any other extended period of non use is a good idea. The problem with only charging a flat battery at 1 amp for 17 hours is that it will have acquired in that time only about 12 amp hours of charge or about 18% of it's capacity. Charging is not 100% efficient. Although this is enough to start the car it can put a lot of extra strain on the alternator, and could cause early problems with it if it has to make up the difference. Charging at 1 amp a 70 AH battery from fully discharged would require something in the region of 90 hours to fully charge. Bear in mind the alternator cost of replacement with labor is perhaps 3 to 4 times the cost of a battery apart from the inconvenience of time lost off the road. John.