Britprius

Much of the problems in the US are down to the reluctance of owners to using the correct synthetic oil. They are stuck in a 1950's time warp where they have always used basic oil called "Dino" oil and should be changed every 3 or 5 thousand miles, but the leave it for 10,000 miles as in the handbook. John.

The settings you loose are auto window, and sun roof closure:- reset by opening half way then closing and holding the close button for 5 seconds. The seat, external mirror, and steering wheel auto position for each key fob:- reset by adjusting wheel, and seat positions, and operating the set button, and setting number (1,2,3,) . The engine ECU will be reset, and will learn your driving style without any intervention from you. There is an OBD (on board diagnostics) socket that could be used for keeping the systems alive above the brake pedal, and next to this is the reset button for the TPMS system. If you can stand on your head you can get a good view of these. John.

Unfortunately the cigarette lighter sockets in the GS450H are not connected until the car is in accessory mode or ready mode. So the only way to use these with your memory saver is to press the start button once without your foot on the brake, and then connect the memory saver. This will work as long as the memory saver can supply enough current to keep the cars systems alive. There is however very little to do in the way of resetting if you just disconnect the battery, and fit a new one. John.

The light will come on without pressure monitors in the wheels, and I doubt very much that you can turn off the light in a 2016 car. It is a legal requirement for a system to be fitted, and working from 2014 cars onward. It is also an MOT failure on your car, and could invalidate your insurance since the car would not be considered road worthy. John.

The car does not require new tyres to be registered, and the valve only needs replacing if the transmitter on the valve stops working "usually due to battery problems". If a new valve is required then that has to be registered into the cars system. John.

I have an ELM327 in both blue tooth, and USB versions that I used on my Prius with a program called "Priidash". This was developed on the Prius Chat forum to give just about every piece of information of the cars operation on one screen. However the ELM does not compare with the capabilities of Techstream. John.

One of the extra items is an electric pump that pumps coolant from the engine to the heater. This is required even when the car is being driven because the engine may not be running, and therefore the normal engine cooling pump will not be circulating the hot coolant to the heater to heat the cabin. John.

Your figures are as I would expect for a non hybrid. With a hybrid the ACC position takes more current almost double in fact, and in general have smaller batteries fitted "only 45 AH" The 50ma idle may not at first seem much, but works out at 1.2 AH over 24 hours or 8.4 AH over a week. It does then become obvious why some hybrids have problems after a few weeks of inactivity. I have found that mobility batteries of the same dimensions of the OEM batteries can have up to 50% higher AH capacity. The only downside being different terminal types. John.

If you just fit a battery without tags or using conductive glue just glue on the unit lid without sealant so that sealant cannot get under the connection points. If you are using tagged batteries or are using conductive glue once this has set use any silicon bathroom type sealant of the colour you choose. A couple of cloths pegs will hold the lid on till the sealant has set. Be sure to orientate the battery correctly although this is reasonably obvious due to the shape of the housing. It rely is that simple, and you are now ready for when the next one goes south. John.

It is not a good idea to solder to the button batteries as the heat required can destroy the battery or even make it explode in flames similar to a welding torch. Lithium is a very flammable metal. The original tags are spot welded on with very localised heating If you cannot get hold of tagged batteries you can just fit standard button cells held in place by the cover glued on as long as the metal connecting strips are in contact with the battery . Or by using conductive glue from "The small battery company" in Leigh's post at the start of page two. John.

Both of those sets of wheels will fit, but there are somethings further to consider if you intend going to 20 inch wheels that are also wider than standard 8J (8 inches). Your rim to road clearance will be reduced by 1 inch, and unless you go to wider tyres the tyres will be stretched on the rims making the rims very susceptible to kerbing even on low kerbs or even the edges of potholes. The GS wheels are easy to kerb as they are, and wheels with spokes that run out over the rim lip are asking for trouble particularly when there is no tyre side wall to help with feeling the kerbs. The 20 inch rims with lower sidewall tyres will also make for a hard ride, and increase road noise. Of course the decision is yours, but do consider the downsides. John.

It is possible to make the engine run continuously by going into maintenance mode. If I remember correctly it can be done by a chicken dance with some of the controls, or by using Techstream. I am not sure how much engine speed control there is available in this mode. John.

You should not need "Terraclean" with the GS450H as it has both direct, and indirect injection. Indirect injection keeps the back of the inlet valves, and ports clean as the injected fuel washes them. John.

Remember it is the voltage reading in accessory mode not ready mode you are interested in. A reading of 14.5 suggests your in ready mode with the battery on charge. John.

The hybrid pumps do not have a shaft seal as in engine driven pumps. The pump is driven by an internal 3 phase variable speed electric motor that runs in the oil, and coolant gas to keep it cool in much the same way as domestic freezers, and fridges. The reason for this is that the engine does not run all of the time. The big difference with hybrid pumps against standard engine driven systems is in the lubricant used "ND11" against "PAG" as the lubricant must also act as an electrical insulator. The gas used R134A is common to both systems although other gasses are used in some vehicles. PAG oil is conductive, and must under no circumstances be allowed to contaminate a hybrid system. Motor failure is sure to follow sometimes months after slight contamination such as when gas filling equipment is used on both systems. John

The Toyota Prius had self parking on the UK Tspirit model from 2003 so there is no reason why it could not be on other models. I had it on my Prius. It was very reliable, but took so long to setup unless I was on a supermarket car park with very defined white line parking spaces. In this situation the camera recognised the white lines, and the empty spaces, allowing for instant auto parking. Parallel parking took for ever to set up. Allowing the car to reverse to quickly stopped the auto parking. John.

One of the things about hybrids that is not generally realised is that the system is designed to reduce emissions. When the engine is started cold it's emissions are high so the battery is used as the prime moving source of energy with a little assistance from the engine to help bring down emissions. Once the engine is warm the engine then becomes the prime mover unless this means high emissions such as when moving from a standstill when battery power is used. John.

A TPMS warning light is not an MOT failure or part of the MOT for cars registered before 2014. John.

I presume you mean they lost the locking nut key. Lexus will sell you a new key for £22 if I remember. If you have the box the nuts, and key came in there is a card in there that gives the code for the key. It is cheaper to buy a new set of nuts, and key from the Bay looking better in you newly refurbed wheels. The people that lost your parts should pay the cost is not your problem, but theirs John.

With the onset of the new MOT regulations LED bulbs in a halogen headlamp will be a fail as will a HID conversion. As Peter above states the only real alternative is the Osram Nightbreakers bulbs. As with anything there is a downside in that the running life of these bulbs is short. John.

If you are replacing the battery in the wheel monitor you do not need Techstream as you do not need to register the monitor as it is already registered. You also do not need to completely remove the tyre. You just need it pushed off the rim seat on the valve side so that the monitor can be removed, and replaced temporarily with a standard rubber valve. This enable you to use the car while carrying out the battery change. Because the tyre has not been moved on the wheel rim it will not require balancing. John.

Hi David, welcome to LOC. Congratulations on your new Lexus. In spite of it's name the driving mode makes little or no difference to economy. Most people find using ECO mode makes the car very unresponsive. Initialy just drive the car as you would any other, but if you wish to get the absolute best economy accelerate briskly up to speed " do not baby the car" then take your foot off the accelerator, and re apply just enough to maintain your speed. Be prepared to loose speed gradually on hills to get the maximum MPG. However you will be amazed at the fuel figures just driving it. John.

It depends on your point of view of fair. It does seem to be the going rate to effectively replace a battery costing less than £1. If you do have a new sensor fitted insist on keeping the old one. You can then fit a new battery at your liesure, and use that when the next one expires. Since they were all fitted at the same time, and get near identical use the others will fail soon making your total bill £340, and four time the wasted time. For that money you could have bought a new set of tyres. John

Thanks for the clarification. I did not have the book to hand when I wrote to answer the question on the position of the button, and was working from my poor memory on it's operation. John.

If you open the glove box. On the right hand side you will see a push button. Pressing this stops the boot being opened from outside the car. I believe you can still open the boot from the drop down tray button on the drivers side of the car. John