Britprius

Plus 1 for the above. There is a date stamp on the battery, and the strong probability is it will be 2006. John.

Well done Lee. I do not think new springs would have given much if any increase in clearance. Your measurements give an increase to ride height to spacer fitted of around 1.5 to 1. A little more than I calculated, but of course it may settle a bit. John.

I'm jealous I really fancy an SC430, but unless you get an early one you get hit by high road tax. So at the moment I am contemplating a Tesla. If you still have the old tyre monitor would it be possible to send it to me, "I'll happily pay any costs involved". The idea is to dissemble one to component level to see what can be done with them. I am a retired electronics engineer. John

Look in the handbook or on the specification plate on the door pillar. If the trailer weight is shown as zero it is against the law to tow a trailer of any size. "I came across this problem with a Prius". If there is a weight listed you can tow with the car, but only up to that limit. You may have to get a tow bar from the US if the car has a tow limit as the US allows towing with any vehicle, and manufacturers such as Thule make tow bars for most cars. Even this is problematic as the bars are not type tested, and again under EU rules are not allowed to be used. John.

Lee I have just measured my spare rear spring marked with two orange spots the same as yours appear to be from the pictures. It measures 315 mm unloaded at it's longest point. How does this compare with your springs? John.

I will be very interested in the ratio of increased ride height to fitted spacer height. John.

Lee the welded shock is an early one "they all came like that" The one without a weld is a later version the washer just being pushed on so has been changed. This saved a welding process in the manufacturing stage reducing the cost of manufacture. I would not be concerned over the rust near the end of the spring apart from removing the loose powder coating and giving it a coat of paint. John John

Yes even the very rusty one I had came off easily. I found out because I wanted to clean, and paint a couple of shocks, and I was unable to get into the underside of the spring seat. I gave it a tap just to see, and was amazed when it moved. After removal it was obvious how simple it would be to alter the height of the seat. John.

I have found a simple method of raising the rear suspension on the GS "can also be applied to the front". As shown below the spring seats are only pushed on to the shock absorbers. A gentle tap with a mallet will remove them easily. The seat can be raised by fitting a short piece of a tube over the shock with another short piece of smaller diameter tube to centre the spring seat. I used some stainless steel tube left over from my rear exhaust build. This was a perfect fit. Picture (1) shows from left to right:- Standard rear shock. Standard rear shock with spring seat removed. Standard rear shock next to one with a 1" spacer fitted for comparison. Picture (2) shows a 1" spacer with a 1.5" centralizing tube. This is a snug fit inside the spacer tube. Picture (3) shows the tubes fitted on a shock. "needs a gentle tap" Picture (4) shows the spring seat refitted on the spacers. Take no notice of the rust. These shocks will be refurbished, and painted before use. The front shocks follow the same design, and in fact use the same spring seats. The suspension can also be lowered simply if you have access to a lathe by turning the step that the spring seat sits on after removing it to lower it. This can be reversed by fitting a spacer of the same length as the material removed. The suspension raises or lowers by about 1.3 times the amount of spacer added or removed, and is ideal for vehicles with gas conversions, tow, or simply low suspension. John.

Seems to me a small drill, and a self tapping chrome screw in each end would cure the problem. John

With a hybrid the braking system does benefit from using the brakes a couple of times a month down a hill in neutral. Using neutral forces the brakes to operate purely in mechanical mode "no regen". This keeps the discs clean, and free of rust while also removing the contaminated surface layer of the pads. John.

Toyota/Lexus do not seem to have a consistent policy for spark plug change intervals. My Prius service interval using iridium plugs says remove and inspect plugs at 60,000 miles. lubricate threads with anti seize compound, and refit. Change plugs at 120,000 miles or 10 years. Now we all know plugs generally only deteriorate with use "number of sparks", and the Prius engine probably runs at higher revs than other cars Toyota/Lexus make. John

Hi Ben. As you have discovered Lexus GS's are a great range of cars. You will have to consider at some time in the future a hybrid version. If you have not driven one your in for an eye opener for both performance, and economy. John.

I am not a diesel fan either, but surely that cannot be as it would mean you have to break the law to get regen. In the area I live there are no motorways, and very little in the way of dual carriage ways. This means anything over 60 mph is illegal. John

Only when you have the points, and timing done correctly. Balancing the carbs is a waste of time without doing this. John

The hybrid AC electrically driven compressor is somewhat different to a normal engine driven compressor. As such it is very unusual for the compressor to leak as there is no rotating shaft seal as there is with an engine driven compressor. The electric motor is sealed within a housing with the compressor in much the same way as a domestic fridge or freezer. The single most common reason for failure of the compressors in hybrids is the wrong oil being used. The electric motor is cooled, and luricated by running in the gas oil mixture of the system. The oil must be ND11 for hybrid compressors, and not PAG oil that is generally used in engine driven systems. Even a small amount of PAG oil such as might be transferred by using a refill set that has been used with PAG oil, and then used with the correct ND11 oil to work on a hybrid can, and is likely to lead to compressor motor failure. This is because PAG oil is partially electrically conductive. This leads to the motor winding's becoming short circuited. This not necessarily immediately it can take as long a three or more months for problems to appear making it difficult to prove if it occurs some time after AC service work has been carried out. John.

Sounds like a problem with the clock spring in the steering wheel. If this is the case it is not strictly an audio problem as the clock spring not only carries commands for audio operation, but also safety items such as the horn, and air bag deployment. It would not hurt to point this out if trying to claim under guarantee. John.

Most car cooling systems have two coolant top up points. One on the header tank with pressure cap, and another on the radiator without a pressure cap "just a sealing cap" When the system is cold check the level at the rad cap. Fill this up right to the top of the filler point, and replace the cap. Then fill the header tank to the full level, and replace the cap. Check the header tank again after a run to see if this cures the problem. John

In answer to your question it is better to buy a Mini VCI with a CD suitable drivers for 64 bit operating systems. You can use the 32 bit version but it is a bit of a hassle to get it to load on a 64 bit system. Do not let the problematic sounding difficulties put you off. Once up and running Techstream does everything, and more than you can imagine. If it saves one trip to the dealer it will have paid for it's self ten times over. John.

Jimi, sorry I cannot remember where the hole was. I do remember thinking to myself "are that's where the chip gets the pressure from. If you peel away the sealant you put on as much as possible, and check the battery connections with luck it will start reading correctly. The sealant is not a requirement for the system to work. Be careful with the connection on the underside of the battery "negative side" that the connecting strip does not short the battery negative to positive terminal. Near the edge of the battery on the negative side they are in close proximity. You can check the pressure reading before fitting the sensor in the tyre just by having the sensor close to the car. The car will register a flat tyre, but will still show temperature, battery condition "as over for a full battery", and the monitor number. John

I connected all the wiring from behind the rear lights on my GS450H, and I would believe this would also be the best place on your GS300. Picking up a 12 volt feed will be more difficult on your car as I believe the battery is under the bonnet. Feeding a wire through the car is a fiddle to say the leased, and it may be easier to take the wire under the car having picked up a supply "fused" from the battery. I found an existing rubber grommet in the rear boot wall to exit wires to behind the rear bumper. The 12 volt feed could come in this way to feed the smart logic relay fitted behind the lights. If you can make up a small 12 volt test lamp or use a volt meter it is a simple matter to check which wires to use. Turn on the side lights and find which wire has a 12 volt feed turn off the lights, and the feed should disappear. do the same for stop lights, indicators L/R , fogs, and reversing lights. John. Can you supply a manufacturer, and part number for the "black box" or even a picture might help. Most of the connections can be made behind the rear lights, but depending on your needs you may require a 12 volt feed capable of supplying around 30 amps. Are you towing a caravan, small trailer, or is it going to be used for a bicycle rack with a lighting board? John.

Can you supply a manufacturer, and part number for the "black box" or even a picture might help. Most of the connections can be made behind the rear lights, but depending on your needs you may require a 12 volt feed capable of supplying around 30 amps. Are you towing a caravan, small trailer, or is it going to be used for a bicycle rack with a lighting board? John.

It does sound as though you have sealed the very small hole that monitors the tyre pressure. If the fault C2143 is intermittent it is likely a loose connection at the battery in the sensor, and would still be worth going over the work you have done. You can check if the fault is still there after reworking just by carrying the sensor in the car shaking and tapping it occasionally to prove it's reliability. The car should register that you have a flat tyre, and the fault code should be able to be cancelled without reapearing. John.

The No the sensors are not corner specific. However I marked each wheel on the inside with an indelible marker "1 to 4" in line with the list of monitors on Techstream. This enables me to go to a specific wheel if Techstream shows a problem such as a low monitor battery. If the car shows through it's own display which wheel has a problem "mine does not" this would affect the readings, but would then not allow tyre rotation to even out ware. Lowering the pressure of one wheel at a time will show which monitor is in which wheel while being monitored in Techstream. John.

If you have no Cd drive maybe you could get a friend that does to transfer the files onto a USB memory stick, and transfer the files via your USB port. Or they could even be sent by blue tooth. If your laptop is running a Windows 64 bit program make sure the version of Techstream you buy supports this. If your laptop runs a Windows 32 bit program whatever you chose will work. I hope this helps. John.