Britprius

But could you guarantee you only had an accident with the correct wheels on. Your insurance states you must keep your car in a roadworthy condition, and they would then, argue that it was not as it would not pass the MOT. It is also unlikely that any reputable tyre fitter would fit tyres without the monitors as they could also become liable. John.

That does help, but the security system is still running. The problem arises as the battery ages it's ability to hold the rated capacity diminishes, and you cannot be sure it is at the fully charged level when you park the car up. Some find they can leave the car parked for 6 weeks without problem while others report 2 weeks as being problematic. The batteries even in new cars do not have a good start in life. The cars are shipped from Japan.They stand in the docks at both ends of the journey, and are started multiple times for short runs being loaded onto the transport to, and from the docks as well as onto the ship. They then stand in the dealers at a low level of charge "this is not good for lead acid batteries" until a buyer comes along and gives it a reasonable run to charge the battery. I had a Prius on witch the CT is based, and managed to find a battery that fitted rated at 65 AH capacity against the OEM 45 AH. Leaving the car for 8 weeks was not a problem. John.

The only problem would be with the 12 volt battery as this is only a small battery rated at 45 AH (amper hour). If being left for a period of weeks this still has to run the security systems, and the keyless entry system. The 12 volt battery is not used to start the engine. It boots the computers and runs some pumps at start up. If the battery can be left on trickle charge while not in use there should be no problem. An alternative if the car is parked outside is a solar charging panel. John.

This would bring an MOT failure, and possibly void the insurance in case of an accident. TPMS in my opinion is a waist of resources, but is now part of modern vehicle safety systems, and as such we must live with it. Blame the EU. John.

Michelin wiper blades at Aldi. All sizes up to 28 inch $4-99. There is a book on the counter to tell you what sizes you need. John.

I went to my local tyre fitter. The tyres do not need removing from the rim just the outside bead pushed off into the centre of the rim. You can then remove the monitor valve to work on, and fit a standard rubber valve so that you can continue to use the car. There is no need to re-balance because the tyre has not been moved on the rim. My tyre fitter charged me £5 for each tyre worked on including the rubber valves. John.

In my post I used tagged batteries, and soldered them in. This is by no means essential you can use standard CR2450 button cells fitted in the sensors and gluing the lids on with a hot glue gun or epoxy resin. Soldering gives a more reliable connections, but the current flow is so small it is not imperative. The cells can be bought on the bay for around 50 pence each if you order 4 or 5. These will last at leased as long as the original, and can be replaced again without the need for programming. John.

The pressure monitors in the tyres do not continuously transmit the information just every few minutes. This is to save battery life in the monitors. If they transmitted continuously the batteries would not last long, and this is the reason for the delay. John.

The quote I had from Adrian Flux was very high over £900. For the past 4 years I have been insured with Hastings. This year Hastings did there usual trick of quoting £150 more this year than last even though I could get the same policy with them on one of the comparison sites for only £10 more than last year. However on the comparison site I found this year Saga were very competitive at £265 with fully comp, personal breakdown cover for any car that I occupied, protected no claims, and only £150 compulsory excess. This for the Lexus GS450H. On cancelling the renewal with Hastings I was offered the same cover as last year for the same £265, but with a £275 excess. The moral is shop around every year, and do not accept your renewal figure. John.

As the very useful post above, but note in two places it stipulates the pressures, and setting of the system should be done "cold". John.

The tyre pressures should be set in the monitoring system while the tyres are cold and at the correct pressures "cold". So it is likely that a tyre is low on pressure even though it is higher than the warning trigger limit when warm. Warm pressures should be higher than the pressures shown on the door jam lable. John.

I will see if I can dig out the instructions for resetting the gauge, but Lexus should do this for you if you ask. The tank capacity is given as 45Ltrs "approx 10 gallons". So at only 30 mpg you should have a range of 300 miles which is terrible. Around 55 mpg should be easily attainable on reasonable runs if not 60 mpg+ giving the range of 600 miles as per my first post. Around 45/50 mpg on short runs should be a reasonable target. John.

I also easily achieve the low to mid 30's in my 450h. The best tank average so far has been 41 mpg using purely rural country lanes. In the 3 years of ownership I have yet to go on a motorway in the car. I get better mpg than you towing a 16 ft caravan. The car is not about trying to go as far as you can in electric mode. Doing this then requires the engine to propel the car and recharge the battery. This should be done by steady braking, and coasting "regeneration". The electric assist then being available to aid acceleration "the time the engine uses the most fuel". The warmer weather will also help bring up your mpg. Getting the needle on the KW meter on the left of the dash into the blue section as far as possible for as long as, and often as you can will reap big gains. John

The thing you do not state is how much fuel you are having to fill up with. It is possible that the gauge is reading low when there is still half a tank left. There is a procedure to reset the fuel gauge. I had a gen2 Prius and I would expect the CT to have very similar fuel consumption figures. I used to get 600 miles to a tank on a regular basis "60+ miles to the gallon. The CT is based on the Prius gen3 drive train, and engine that is more economical than the gen2 version, but the CT does not quite get the same fuel figures as it is heavier, and does not have the Prius low drag figures. If the CT has an electric mode button? using it on the road will use more fuel not less. About the only time this feature is of use is if you need to swap cars round on your drive. John

Not knowing the actual compressor fitted to the car you could be correct, but many compressors now have no clutch just a valve operated by a solenoid that allows internal circulation of the coolant gas without compressing it. John

Modern compressors do not have clutches. They have an internal solenoid that allows them to idle without compressing. John.

From your description it sounds like the AC compressor has seized. New compressors are around £350 + fitting, and re-gassing. On Ebay used units start at around £25. John.

I had my car done the middle of last year, and had a new lS300H as a loan car for two days because of the long distance to my nearest dealer. The recall is to replace a sealing ring on the fuel pressure regulator, but takes 4 hours to remove and replace other items to get to it. John.

The car is now at 133,000 miles, and still drives like new. The MOT examiner had to ask me as he pulled off the rolling road brake tester if the engine was running "it was", and when being told such remarked it was so quiet and smooth he honestly could not tell. The engine uses no measurable amount of oil between oil changes, and the oil remains remarkably clean. The pre-lube system is working well completely eliminating the cold start VVT rattle. John.

Took the car in for it's MOT yesterday, and I am happy to say it passed with no advisories. John

All electric motors have a a design maximum output that if exceeded leads to burnt out winding's in the motor. So the electric motor is not limited in it's output in the normal sense used for petrol engines. The main drive motor MG2 (motor generator 2) is electrically rated at 140kw (140,000 watts). A hp is 746 watts giving the motor an output of 180 hp. The problem is the motor has to get an electrical supply of 140kw to give the hp output. This could come from the battery, and although it is capable of this output it only has enough capacity at that output for about 20 seconds. The supply then has to come from MG1 (motor generator 1) this is rated at substantially less than MG2, and gets its mechanical power from to provide electricity from the engine. This is why the output of the engine and electric motor cannot be added together as as the engine has to split it's output between driving the wheels, and MG1 to drive MG2 that also drives the wheels. The transmission is sometimes called a power split devise for this reason. John. John

I would say not although not ideal as the steering, and suspension has to be able to withstand the forces generated when braking hard while cornering, and perhaps hitting a pothole at the same time. John.

As already mentioned the wider the tyres the more noticeable is the effect. The reason for this is because with a wide tyre the inside and outside edges of the tyre when cornering should follow different radius circles, and be running at different speeds. A physical impossibility. At low speeds the tyre grip is such that the tyre tread must when cornering slip on one edge backwards, and on the other edge forwards on the road surface to maintain the same centre tread rotational speed. A very narrow tyre only follows one radius, and consequently only needs to run at one speed. John.

As long as the actuator motor is still in place on top of the shock strut no warnings will be given.. John

The mirror glass it's self is a liquid crystal device. Try removing any supply wires to the mirror. If it goes bright there is a voltage leak in the circuit "possibly water ingress". If it stays dark the glass will need changing. John.