Britprius

In the summer I got 65 mpg from the Prius in the GS I get "since fitting a home brew stainless exhaust" around 37/38 mpg. Best tank average 40.9 mpg. This is all rural country roads no motorways or dual carriage ways, and plenty of hills. The thing that hurts the most is paying for road tax John.

Like you I came from a Prius to a GS450H. The total of repairs required on the Prius in 128,000 miles was replacement of a noisy front wheel bearing at around 90,000 miles. The GS450H is light years away from a Prius in performance, and comfort, but is capable of putting a big smile on your face while also allowing you to sit back in silence, and watch the boy racers revving there engines at the lights knowing you have nothing to prove. In any mode the car is quick, but in power mode overtaking can be stunning. John.

There is a white outward facing label on each shock about 2 inches square with the part number on. This lable seems to last even after many thousands of miles. There does seem to be some updated number though so the new numbers may not match your old ones, but I assume they can be cross referenced for correct fit. John.

First Question I asked is. Have you checked the pressures? It's the simple things that fool us. John

The rear shocks are not handed so are both the same number. The fronts are handed, but the only difference is one small bracket that holds the cable for the ABS, and this is not a problem. The NS front shock on mine is 48520-80180. If it would be helpful to you I can look at the others on the car and give the numbers tomorrow. John.

Yes. John.

You need to check the current into the battery (amps) after discharging the battery by leaving the headlamps on for 5 minutes without the engine running. An output of at leased 30 amps is expected. A clamp type meter is useful for this. Although I agree 12 volts on charge is low how accurate is your volt meter? Check with another meter to see if you get the same result. Other things to check is how tight is the drive belt, and with a volt meter check the voltage from the negative battery terminal to a clean bolt or piece of metal on the engine with the engine revving gently and headlamps on. This reading ideally should be zero but will possibly be 0.1 to 0.2 volts. Check this reading again while turning the engine on the starter. The reading will be higher but should not be over 0.5 volts. High readings show a bad connection between the battery, the car body, and the engine. Do not condemn the alternator until these checks have been done. If you do not have an amp meter try putting a good quality jump lead from the battery negative terminal to the engine on a clean bolt, and take the voltage readings again. John.

If you have the active roll bar there is an extra 12 volt battery in the boot. John.

Address in Birmingham is FCS "Foreign Car Spares Ltd" The rolling Mill. 166 Parkfield Rd. Alum Rock. Birmingham. B8 3AY. Telephone. 0121 327 8214 / 8200 they will post parts to you John.

As John above says I would change both although not essential, and this way you will only pay for tracking once. There is a place in Birmingham "not a Lexus dealer" that does genuine shocks, and other parts at good prices I'll see if I can dig out the name, and address. John.

It may be of interest that more readily available CR 2032 cells will work perfectly well as the voltage is the same. The downside is that they will only last about half the time period "about 4 to 5 years" because of there smaller size and capacity. John.

The only shocks that fit with full functionality are Lexus, and I have not found any for under £265 for one rear shock. I did some checking a while ago, and it looks as though the ordinary GS shocks of the same year will fit the GS450H, but you loose the ride stiffness control. There is no hole down the top of the shock threaded rod where the adjuster is. The track rod end is easy to change, and again no special tools are needed. To remove the tapered stud just give the outside of the ring it fits through a good smack with a hammer. This distorts the ring momentarily and the tapper stud pops out. You will not damage anything by doing this. John.

The issue with the shock absorbers is bad particularly with the high cost of replacement, but I have found that with a thought a way of re filling, and sealing them at reasonable cost. The high voltage battery is not such an issue as there will always be plenty of spare 6 cell modules available from the Prius that uses the same parts. I can see that in the future it will be possible to use lithium batteries as a replacement source as costs are falling rapidly. Or may be even supper capacitors. There is much going on in this area. With Richard at Hybrid Battery Solutions also doing sterling work in this area keeping costs more than reasonable. They only known "common" issue with the transmission is the oil pump bearings that can be replaced at little cost. An auto transmission from almost any car would cost more to replace than the HV battery. The auto transmissions being less reliable at high miles than the battery in the GS. John.

The rear shocks are easy to change on the GS450H. You do not need a spring compressor, and there are no problems with the high voltage battery. (1) Remove carpet trim in the corner of the boot depending on witch side your working. (2) With the car still on it's wheels remove the plastic cover over the motor on top of the shock "just pulls off". Remove the motor over the shock " 1/4 turn and lift". Undo the centre nut now exposed holding the top of the shock. (3) Jack the car up, and make secure to work on. Remove the wheel. Remove the long thin bolt holding the anti roll bar link, "and ride height sensor on the passengers side only" to the bottom link. A jack under the bottom link will remove any load on the bolt till it's removal. Remove the shock bottom bolt. Remove the bottom link to hub bolt. (4)The bottom link can now be pushed down by hand, and the shock removed with the loose spring sitting on it's top. I can change a rear shock in 30 minutes on the floor with hand tools, and I am disabled. The fronts can be removed again without a spring compressor. If anyone needs details just ask. Changing shocks on the GS this way does not affect alignment. John.

Hi Chris welcome to LOC. The most likely cause of a screeching noise from the area you are talking about is a worn or loose serpentine belt "fan belt". Squirting some water on the ribbed side of the belt will usually stop the noise for a short while "a minute or so", but long enough to prove if this is the problem. Tensioning the belt should remove the screeching noise, but get it checked out for ware. As for continuing to use the car short journeys should be ok, but I would not advise motorway use as if the belt brakes the engine will rapidly overheat. John

If you search "Ebay for Tabbed cr2450 button cells" you will come up with a list of suppliers. Some of these are two cells in parallel, but these can be used by cutting the tabs between the two cells giving you two separate batteries. Cells supplied from China are the cheapest, but take longer to arrive. However whatever country you buy them from they will almost certainly be of Chinese manufacturer. Some button cell suppliers will fit tabs/tags if asked to do so. It is by no means essential to use tabbed/tagged batteries just fitting a standard cell the correct way round in the TPMS case and closing it up works perfectly well as it does in your key fob. Soldering does make for a more reliable connection though. John

The tyre valves can be removed, and replaced without actually removing the tyre from the rim. Just pressing the tyre off it's shoulder on the valve side of the rim gives enough room to remove the TPMS valve, and fit a temporary rubber valve. This saves the need for re balancing after the fitting of a new battery is completed. It also saves the stretching effect on the tyre inner sealing rib possibly leading to slow leeks around the rim this along with possible damage to your precious alloys. John.

As a retired electronics engineer if you lived close I could no doubt have solved the problem for you, but there is so much that can cause this sort of problem at a distance I can be of little help. Corroded connections "tarnished" at one of the plugs is a strong possibility. After that dry soldered joints "the pain of the industry since moving to lead less solder" is the next likely culprit. John.

Is there a fault code showing in the hidden menu for the audio system. I am not sure this was available on the 2004 LS but worth checking. John

I'm with you as far as tyres go. There are some extremely good low priced tyres on the market that some are afraid to try because they may come from China. Tyres are now a global product, and even the most well known makes come from countries that a few years ago we would never have bought tyres from. The tyres I have on free test "Three A" for 10,000 miles are are proving to be very good in all respects including the ware rate. This at the moment would seem to suggest they would last till at leased 25,000 miles. This on a tyre that costs a little over £50 for the 245/40/18 size. The only conditions I have not tried them in are snow because we have not had any since they were fitted. Would I buy a set when needed? Definitely. They are certainly better than the Yokahama's fitted to the car when purchased that are now in storage ready to be refitted at the end of the test. A tyre that my friendly tyre shop is recommending "the shop that fitted the test tyres" is a tyre called "Landsail". They have slightly better label ratings than the Three A, and apparently last as long. John.

Yes CR2450 are the same batteries. It seems it is the 2450 that is the important part of the type number as many different letter prefixes are used. It is by no means essential to use tagged batteries soldering them in, but it does make for more reliable connections. John.

Have you checked the pressures, and set the system to those pressures. If you have it is likely to be a battery is going in one of the sensors. In that case you have three choices. Find out which sensor is not working, and replace it at about £60 plus the cost of having it fitted, and registered in the TPMS ECU. Or you can remove the sensor, and fit a new battery as in my post in the GS section "TPMS system fault". This will cost about £1-50 plus the cost of fitting only (no registration). Or just ignore it. John

Hi Norman. I have not used MIJ myself, but have had reports from others that have had good service. I was quoted £295 including VAT to replace the rear exhaust on my GS450H using stainless steel, and my OEM tail pipe trims. This was less than half the prices I was quoted else where, and I feel a very reasonable price. I had contacted them, but had finished doing my own system before I got a reply. I do not regret making my own system in any way saving £100 even on MIJ prices, but would have gone with them if I had received a faster reply due to there Email problems now sorted. John.

Hi Richard. Welcome to LOC. As your in the West Midlands I would pay a visit to MIJ exhausts Pleck Rd Walsall. They could possibly make you a new one using your old cat or a new one for less money. I recently replaced the rear exhaust on my GS450H with stainless parts doing it myself. See my post in the GS section "Exhaust problems". MIJ quoted about half the price of other exhaust makers, and I would have used them if it were not for them having Email problems at the time, and getting a slow return response to my enquirey. John.

I am sorry I cannot help you with the position of the pump, but they are usually under the bonnet. I have a GS450H, and a Prius. Both have pumps to circulate the coolant when the engine shuts down. Try "googleing" it. John.