Britprius

If that is the case it may be worthwhile cleaning out the fan units when the cars have done a reasonable millage as they will pick up fluff, and other particles such as dog hair blocking the fan impeller vanes so reducing the air flow. John

The cooling fan will be close to or even fitted on the battery. The most common reason for the fan to be low on performance is the carriage of pets "particularly hairy dogs" on the back seat. The fan acts like a vacuum cleaner in the area of the intake vent. Once the fan is removed, and cleaned make sure it spins freely as partial seizure of the oiled brass bearing is also possible. To lubricate the bearing "if required" on the back of the fan assembly there is a round aluminium disc about 4 inches in dia. In the middle of the disc is a paper sticker. Remove this to get access to the bearing. Use a very light oil such as 3in1. replace the sticker with a piece of tape to stop dirt entry. John.

In the past I have had the Hybrid check done at the nearest Toyota dealer 28 miles away instead of the Lexus dealer 70 miles away. John.

The universal joint is well broken. It looks like the cups are welded in unless in the picture unless the circlips are covered in dirt. Although the spigot bearing only looks dirty I would change it for what it will cost, and the difficulty to get at it if it does fail. Fill the bearing full of grease and with a round rod or socket with an extension fitted hammer the rod into the hole filled with grease. You may have to do this several times but it will pop the bearing out. John

Ebay have a range of Lexus reluctor rings starting at £2-99 for the LS400. John.

If your headlamps are OEM, and in good condition "not damaged or the outer covers not gone milky" they should be OK. The engine light is more of a problem. The tester will look to see if the engine light comes on at ignition on along with all the other warning lights, and then go out as a systems check. Not coming on at this stage would also be a fail. The way round this would be to disconnect the engine light, and connect it to one of the others. If the light is coming on because of emissions problems the car will fail on emissions anyway. John

To me the leak appears to be where the vertical piece of pipe goes into the aluminium block with the holding bolt through it. The pipe is probably cracked where it entres the block. This will need that pipe replacing as it is a fixture into the aluminium block. The "O" ring seal is fitted behind the aluminium block, and can be seen once the bolt, and block has been removed with the pipe. John

Have you checked the spigot bearing in the centre of the crankshaft? John.

The mirror backing plate pulls out and upwards often taking some force to remove. Use some cloths under the bottom edge of the back plate with it tilted to it's uppermost position. Use as many fingers as you can under the bottom edge. The mirror is just stuck on the back plate with double sided tape. There are usually some wires attached to the mirror for heating and perhaps dimming if your mirrors dim at night. John.

Yes you should use 0w20 in both cars. John

In the hot weather it is advisable to run the AC with the windows shut. This helps keep the traction battery cool as it gets it's air supply through that vent from the cabin. The cooler the battery the slower the fan runs as it is self regulating. Also keeping the battery cool is good for it's longevity. John.

If you read the handbook carefully you will find it specifies 0w20 oil only. If this is not available 0w30 or 5w30 can be used but should be changed for the correct "0w20" oil after a maximum of 5,000 miles. This would double the cost of oil changes. You will also find as I did with the Prius "that uses the same engine, and transmission" you mpg takes a nose dive. This engine was specifically designed to run with 0w20 oil. John.

You can buy self adhesive pads on line that stick on the rear of the pads, and in the past I have found them very effective. Also you can buy "pad goo" a special grease that does not dry out like copper slip. Both items can be had for well less than £5. John

This topic reminded me that I have not checked my brakes for nearly a year. So having some spare time yesterday I decided to check them out as the brakes had started to squeal in reverse. There were no problems with the fronts or rear NS, but the OS lower slide pin was seized to the extent that it took considerable force to hinge the caliper on the pin. After much work freeing off the caliper pin I cleaned everything up, and re greased the pins. While I was at the brakes I descided to paint the calipers, and disc centres adding "Lexus" logo's to the front calipers. Unfortunately I ran out of paint for the front disc centres. paint used was Aldi silver metallic a very close match to the wheel colour, and only £1-95 a can. The results are shown below, and the squeal has gone.

I think all cars back in the 60's/70's/80's were generally rot boxes or had serious mechanical issues be they Austin Rover BL, Ford, Vauxhall, Triumph, or Jaguar. Ford 105e early Capri, and Classic engines with three main bearing engines would last 25,000 miles if you were careful, and did that millage within 3 to 4 years before the body fell to pieces. BL engines A, and B series lasted possibly double those of fords. However the bodywork fell to pieces quicker. Vauxhall's rusted through while still on the forecourts especially the Cresta's, and Victor's. Jaguars produced good mechanical's but some of the bodywork was terrible. Anyone remember the MK10, and early XJ's Triumph 4 cylinder engines used to drop there crankshaft thrust bearings because they only fitted half the radius of the crank doubling the load and ware rate of the thrusts. Gearbox first motion shaft to main shaft bearings disintegrated under load. This box was used in the Marina and Ital making the gears noisy in lower gears with the noise disappearing in 4th. Body work was probably better than most. Foreign cars were no better. Some had good engines notably Fiat, and Alfa's, but the bodywork fell to bits. John.

Back in the 60's I bought a clean one owner Triumph 13/60 Herald for next to nothing. The story being it had lost drive in any gear. The owner had a new clutch put in, but still no drive. A garage diagnosed a broken gearbox. I bought the car for peanuts, and removed the cardboard gearbox cover inside the car. "On the Herald, spitfire, and Vittesse the gearbox came out from inside the car". First thing to do to remove the gearbox is to remove the four propshaft bolts. There was none fitted just empty holes. I fitted four new bolts, and problem solved. The car drove beautifully. John.

Normally Toyota/Lexus use Toyota SLLC ready mixed coolant. From new this is what is in the coolant system, and lasts 10 years or 100,000 miles before changing. There after it is recommended to change every 5 years or 50,000 miles. Any good quality antifreeze suitable for aluminium engines would do, but perhaps it best to stay with OEM. Check the colour of your existing fluid if it is pink/red it is possibly SLLC, and just top up with this. John

My turn to be pedantic😉. Individual cells cannot be replaced. Only a module containing 6 cells can be replaced. There are 40 modules in the GS450H battery making a total of 240 cells at a nominal voltage "depending on the charge level" of 1.2 volt each cell or 7.2 volts per module, and 288 volts for the 40 modules making up the battery. These modules are the same as the Prius module "although the Prius only uses 28 in a battery". The best module to use for replacement are from the Gen3 Prius (2010 on) as these modules have two internal connections between cells lowering the internal resistance of the module, and the heat generated when being charged or discharged at high currents when in use. I have done much work on these modules in the Prius including rehydrating them "adding fresh electrolyte" to extend there life. John.

To much grease can be a problem on the lower fixed slide pin. If the blind hole the pin slides in has a quantity of grease filling the void at the end of the pin it can cause a hydraulic lock. A sensible modification to the lower pin is to drill the housing and fit a grease nipple. This allows easy regular lubrication without any dismantling, and if the pin does seize the pin can be pushed out with hydraulic pressure from a grease gun. John.

It may be worth checking for signs of repairs "respray" on that door or it could simply have fell off. John.

Well you have achieved what you set out to do without spending a fortune. It is easy "not on the pocket" to throw money at this sort of problem, and it feels even better knowing this. Well done. John.

I cannot see why it should "apart from a placebo effect", but does the car seem to ride any better. John.

The NSR spring does carry the 12 volt battery mounted behind the axle line on that side. So this will add more than it's own weight to that spring which could account for the difference. You seem to have gained on average about 20 mm rise from a 19 mm spacer. A little less than I anticipated. John.

Thank's Jimi. Very much appreciated, and this could help other Lexus owners in the future. PM on it's way. John.

The screw goes into the flat circular side of the grommet. John.