Britprius

Sometimes the washer jets can become blocked. The best way to unblock them is to remove the hoses from the underside of the bonnet, and reverse flush the jets removing them completely if required. Also check the supply hose is not kinked or flattened along it's rout especially where it is clipped to the bonnet hinge. Both operations will require the removal of the bonnet sound deadening mat. For the petrol smell I have put a suggestion on your first post. John.

Phil have all the recalls been done? as there is one for a possible petrol leak. A phone call to your nearest dealer will give conformation. John.

Try hybrid mode without sport mode. This keeps most of the getup and go without hardening the ride. John.

Nice to see a grease point on the ball joint. I know these were got rid of many years ago, but I still prefer the ability to add grease when I wish. All the ball joints on my car were treated to fresh grease via a hypodermic needle through the rubber boots shortly after acquiring the car. The tiny holes in the boot were then sealed with a dab of supper glue. John.

Welcome to LOC Phil. There is plenty of good information here, and a friendly bunch of contributors. A good looking car much like my 2007, and as you know by now plenty of performance with exceptional economy for such a large car. John.

You say your leak is at the manifold point. Can you be more specific? A common problem with the exhaust with the 4.3 ltr engine is severe rusting of the manifold cat flange where it joins the rest of the exhaust. A good exhaust specialist can replace these at very reasonable cost if this is the problem. John.

I agree with Paul above. The adjustment bolt is the one above your hand in the last picture. Adjusting will bring back the power steering, but the belt could part at any time. The missing belt is for the AC. John.

You may or may not be interested, but have a look at my post in this section "Fitting a larger battery 12 volt battery". John.

Leave the car in the off position. Be aware "as I am sure you are" that the positive lead will still be live if you are using a battery maintainer. So make sure you do not accidentally ground it. I suggest using a plastic bag taped over it while the batteries are changed over. When removing the old battery disconnect the negative terminal first, and when re connecting connect the negative last. John.

If buying from Lexus do check out the guarantee before committing yourself. You may find they only give a one year guarantee the standard replacement parts period. Many have found things like shock absorbers "particularly for the GS450H" are expensive at circa £300, but have failed in the second year of use. Lexus refuse to replace even at very low millage. John.

Lee it is amazing how tight some of the suspension bolts can be as you no doubt found when undoing the lower shock mounts, and hub bolts. I guarantee once you have purchased the new cam bolts you will not need them. Although if you did not buy them the old ones would have certainly broke off leaving you stranded. John.

The pressure you give is for driving above 132 mph, and I find gives a very harsh ride. For speeds up to 100 mph the recommended pressures are 35 psi front and rear for a 2007 GS450H. I tend to run the rears at 32 psi to give a better ride unless I know I am going to be carrying rear passengers for some distance "very rare I have rear seat passengers". My tyres ware very evenly without showing any excess shoulder ware. When I am towing my caravan I run the rears at 37 psi. John.

Yes I agree, but the car is only 5 years old. At the rate of use at 10,000 miles a year it would be changed at 6 years old by Lexus, and I would consider it perfectly safe to go to 60K, and 7/8 years. John.

You list your car as an RX450H, and as such it does not have an alternator nor does the 12 volt battery crank the engine, and no 12 volt starter motor. The 12 volt battery only boots the computers, and runs some electric pumps. How often do you use the car? as often extended periods of none use "as little as a couple of weeks can lead to this situation. Charging the battery may be all that is required. I have a post in the GS section about fitting a larger battery, but I do not know how much room there is in the RX for this to be a possibility. John.

As Lee has already pointed out about the 12 volt battery if it is this that is giving off the odor I would advise changing it or at least check by hand it's temperature after about an hours use. If it is noticeably warm the likely scenario is that it has a shorted cell. This effectively turns the battery into a 10 volt battery that is being charged at the maximum output of the charging system "possibly as high as 100 amps". This makes the battery gas excessively giving off the smell. The charging system sees it as a flat battery continuously charging it at a high rate increased by the shorted cell. John.

The health check is free with all services, but if you do your own services or have them done else ware you can still have the hybrid health check done for around £65. John.

Since the car is now out of guarantee "unless extended" you can ask for whatever service you wish. Because of the low millage a cam belt change "if required at 60K" is not due as are plugs "these ware out on millage not age". So just have the service you wish. John.

The battery I used was not an AGM. The particular battery was a sealed deep cycle marine leisure battery although it would be reasonable to fit any lead acid chemistry battery. There are AGM batteries sale on Ebay, but they tend to be more expensive. I did notice a BMW, Range Rover start stop AGM at 85 AH priced at £65 for a 1 year guarantee or £97.50 for 5 year guarantee. These are slightly shorter batteries than the battery I fitted at 310 mm against 330 mm, but would still need the tray modifications. If you wish to use an AGM battery I would use a "mobility" battery of 110/120 AH capacity There is no reason to use an AGM battery in the GS range since the battery is in the boot, and there is no chance that in an accident car occupants are going to get covered in acid. The OEM battery does not appear to be an AGM, and had no markings to show that it was. In the case of the Lexus CT200h, and the Prius where the battery is in the passenger compartment "although well covered" it is perhaps desirable to have an AGM battery with no free liquid acid to spill. Using a higher capacity battery means that any given number of AH's discharged against the 70 AH OEM battery the % discharge figure "depth of discharge" will be lower. The shallower the discharge cycle the longer the life of the battery. John.

You say the battery voltage does not make sense at 280 volts, but that is correct for the RX400H. John

See my thread on fitting a larger 12 volt battery to the GS450H in the GS section. Cost £80 for a battery with 40% more capacity. There is no reason to pay such a large sum for a battery. You can buy batteries with a 4 year guarantee for circa £70. There is a temperature sensor on the OEM battery, but this can gently be prized off, and taped, glued, or even blue tacked to the top of the new battery. This senses battery temperature, and adjusts the charging voltage accordingly. John.

I fitted an easy access jump start terminal to my Prius. To make the system safe from reverse polarity connection, and accidental short circuit of the jump point to ground I fitted a 50 amp stud diode in series with the jump point. This stops current flow from the jump point if accidentally grounded, and prevents reverse current flow if the jump leads are wrongly connected. John.

It is most unlikely to be the motor. It could be the switch, but it is also possible that there is an ECU that controls the sun roof, and that could be the problem. Has the roof always operated as it is now while in your ownership? If so the operation may be customisable in Techstream or need resetting in the same way that the electric windows do after the 12 volt battery has been disconnected. John.

Lee that does look like the tyre has been rubbing against something on the suspension or bodywork rather than ware from the road surface. If you have not already done so I would check there is nothing in close proximity to the tyre particularly when the suspension is loaded. I know you have raised the car slightly, but cannot see in any way that being a problem. If clearances are good the next step would be having the rear geometry checked. My car for what it's worth wares tyres out very evenly front and rear. So evenly that the wheels will easily stand upright on tyres when removed from the car. John.

The strange thing about all this is that Lexus say in the handbook to disconnect the 12 volt battery before charging it. The great majority of home mains chargers have a very clean "electrically" low current output "usually about 4 amps" that would do no damage to the hybrid systems. However Lexus seem happy to say you can charge your battery still connected from another car that will have a very dirty supply "electrically", and with an output of circa 100 amps typical of modern alternators. This into a battery clearly labeled "if OEM" maximum charge rate 4.5 amps. John.

Not as high as as you may think. The heaters are rated at about 40 watts at full power. The traction battery has a usable 1.2 kw at 288 volts equating to a load of 0.27 amps to supply both seats. John.