Britprius

One thing that really does impact on fuel consumption is the tyres you are using, and the pressures you run them at. Few people bother to find fuel efficient tyres yet the correct choice can add 5 mpg over the wrong choice. This does not require spending more money on tyres. With my Prius the more fuel efficient tyres paid for themselves in fuel saving over the life of the tyres. So my advice check the tyre lable when buying, and buy nothing that has a rating below "B" for economy. John

Hi DJ. As puma above suggest the likely thing is the fusible link. This is not always readily noticeable. It is often hidden in the fuse box under a clear cover, and looks like a long metal strip with metal take offs along it's length, and is not always easy to replace. Sections of this link may be burned away. As with all modern electronics reverse polarity connection can cause havoc. John.

Yes many people seem to miss the fact that it is also a DVD player. You must however have the parking brake on for it to work. This is so you cannot drive with the DVD player operating in video mode you can still hear the audio. John

Martin. Enjoy the car, and Lexus experience. Do not watch the centre display to much until you have got used to driving the car. It can mesmerize you, and at the speed the car travels at you could quickly get into trouble. I do not know if you realise the multi CD changer in the dash also plays DVD's through the screen as long as the parking brake is on. Well done. John.

I think as far as seat heating/cooling goes the colour of the seats does make a difference. In the summer dark or black seats can become unbearably hot, and in winter although cold outside a little brightness soon warms up the seats a little for when you entre the car. Cream seats suffer much less from the burning temperatures attained by dark seats in the summer, but are cooler in the winter. My car has cream seats "something I sought after when looking for the car" I find although subtle in use the heating is adequate in winter, and the cooling very comfortable without that sticky seat feeling in the summer. They do draw cold air from the AC system, but never get to the that's really cold feeling. John.

Gav, I doubt very much the dealer would check the 12 volt battery. I have had no hybrid issues with my GS or the Prius that it replaced. The Prius I had for 10 years 128,000 miles, and in that time the total repairs amounted to one front wheel bearing. The Prius uses exactly the same battery modules as the GS, but 28 of them instead of 40 in the GS. High voltage battery problems are rare, and does not necessarily mean replacing the complete battery. Single modules can be replaced, and member Richard from "Hybrid Battery Solutions" can refurbish the HV battery at reasonable cost if required. John.

The batteries in the hybrid system do not require that they are used regularly they will hold there charge for months if not years. The 12 volt battery if the original will be at the end of it's life. It sits in the LH side of the boot. The dealers will have you believe it is special, but this is not the case. It does have a temperature sensor on it, but this can be removed and fitted on the top of any suitable size battery. With all the electrics in the GS450H including the DVD player on the front screen a battery with as high an amp hour (AH) should be used. Minimum 75 AH ideally 90 AH. If the battery is weak and the car left standing strange fault messages can appear on screen, and the car refuse to go to ready mode. The 12 volt battery is not used to turn over the engine. The car has no normal starter motor, and no normal alternator. These functions are done by the motor/generators in the transmission. John

Wass, I am a retired electronics engineer, and was involved with the original Toyota hybrid system. The Toyota Hybrid will start another car, but it is by no means a good idea to do this. Show me someone that has never made a mistake, and I will show you someone that's not telling the truth. These things happen. I am not saying it is not simple, but I am saying it is fraught with dangers. Opening the drivers door puts a load on the 12 volt battery that increases to over 40 amps for a short period. The so called boot sequence adds over 20 amps more. John.

There is another coolant pump on the drivers side of the car between the engine and inner wheel arch forward of the suspension tower. It can be seen after removing the side cover. If you wish I could take a picture.

I do not see how this would make the car unroad worthy after all you can turn the passengers air bag off in most cars with the switch provided. I do agree that changing the steering wheel to one without an air bag would be something the insurance companies would frown on. John

It is not just reverse polarity that causes problem, and lets face it even the experts can get it wrong. Again going to the Prius forums will show just how many people get this wrong. The fewer jump starts done is fewer possibilities of getting it wrong. Sometimes for whatever reason we are late or in a hurry the weather is lousy, and it's throwing it down with rain the very time when things go wrong.There are other problems. Many people insist on running the engine on the car that is providing the "jump" this is a definite no with the hybrid with normal alternators giving out very spiky supplies. A much better solution is a small jump pack carried in the car or better still carry jump leads protected against reverse polarity. This is cheaper than the fuse in the battery terminal. The other definite no is jump starting another car from a hybrid again because of the fuse in the positive battery terminal. The Panasonic AGM battery is also not designed for engine cranking. The owners manual also tells how to jump start from the terminal in the fuse box at the front of the car. This is fine if your jumping the hybrid, but not if your jumping another car. Why Toyota/Lexus did not put a diode at the jump point to protect the cars electrics is beyond me. The cost would be minimal. The 12volt battery does other things apart from booting up the computers before you even touch the start button. Opening the drivers door starts up the hydraulic pump for the brakes. Pressing the start button then boots the various ECU's, and these interrogate many sensors on many different systems a low voltage or missing return signal causing an error, and failure to go to ready. John

It is reasonably strait forward on older operating Windows systems "XP and earlier 32bit", but not quite so easy on Windows 7/8/10 64bit. Make sure you chose "mini VCI as the adapter in the drop down menu. If the computer connects to the adapter without being connected to the car things are reasonably intuitive once connected to the car. John.

I should have added to my post above the Panasonic battery fitted as OEM does not stand up well to being discharged, and there is no safety cutoff. A flat or low 12 volt battery gives rise to all sorts of strange fault messages when turning the car to ready mode, and jump starting can and does cause serious expensive electrical problems particularly if the jump leads are reversed even for a split second. All this is well documented on the Prius forums on which the CT is based. John

The 12 volt battery in the CT is the same as in the Prius rated at 45 AH (amp hour) capacity and as such is quite small. The only safe way to sit listening to the radio for extended periods is to put the car in ready mode. This way the high voltage battery keeps the 12 volt battery on charge. The car will use very little fuel while stationary just enough to keep the engine warm. Fitting a higher capacity battery would also overcome the problem, but the only available batteries of a physical size that will fit are mobility batteries for invalid scooters. These are AGM ( absorbed glass matt) batteries the same type as those fitted in the car but are rated at 60 AH. I ran one of these batteries in my Prius, and now use an even larger one in my Lexus GS450H rated at 120 AH capacity. John

As long as you did not remove the cats, and there are no leaks in the exhaust system any modifications made will have no effect on emissions. John

If the heating element has gone open circuit, but everything else is ok you can epoxy resin a couple of ceramic wire wound resistors of about 10 or 12 ohms each on the rear of the mirror, and connect them in series across the original supply wires. This will effectively reinstate the heater function. If you want less heat use higher value resistors 15 or 20 ohms each. Resistors 10 ohms rated at 7 watts are available at Maplins for a few pennies. Maplins part number L10R at 39 pence each John

My guess would be a faulty engine or transmission mounting. The hybrid cars do not have a starter motor in the conventional manor, but use a motor/generator (MG1) in the transmission. When the car is stationary MG1 is used to turn the engine for starting. This only works in park or in gear, but not in neutral. The engine cannot start in neutral. Once on the move MG1 is still used to control the starting action, but dependent on vehicle speed may be electrically locked or turned in reverse with the vehicle momentum being used to turn the engine. There is a clutch mechanism between the engine, and transmission with no method of operating it. This is designed to slip on sudden high loads (torque limiter). There is an outside chance this may be the problem, but the system has been proved to be very reliable, and would be a rare accurance. John

After you close the leaver you must then slide it sideways. This is the step that most people miss. John.

The high voltage safety plug must be fitted properly. There is a slide movement after closing the handle, and if this is not done two small contacts in the mechanism are not made. John.

I suffer from the same problem service wise. My nearest dealers "Wolverhampton or Cheltenham" are a 120 mile round trip, and although they will supply a courtesy car a service effectively takes two days out of my weak. At first I was told we can pick your car up, and deliver it back to you, but this offer disappeared when they found the journey involved no dual carriageways or motorways just country lanes. In Wales there are only two dealers "Chester in north Wales or Cardiff in south Wales" I live just about half way between the two. John

Removing the lip changes the frequency that the disc rings at. This alone can cure brake squeal. When cars had drum brakes on all four wheels it was not unusual on a drum that squealed to stretch a spring round the drum hooking it on to it'self. This changed the frequency of the drum ringing out of the human hearing range. John

When you say you have oil on the spark plugs can you be more specific, and say if this is at the spark gap end, or on the top part of the insulators. John.

The phenomena of the non spinning wheels on the MFD (multi function display) is not unknown on the gen2 Prius that uses the same display screen. This is more often than not bad contacts on one of the ribbon cable connectors within the screen. Poor soldered joints within the display can also cause the problem. The signal that makes them turn comes from the speedo display board. Under certain circumstances it can cause problems with turning the car off. This is usually when the fault is at the speedo board. The hybrid system receives this signal, but if it is missing the system cannot tell if the car is moving or not so refuses to turn the system off in case the car is still moving. Pressing the stop button while moving does not turn the engine off unless you hold it in for about 3 seconds to force an emergency shutdown. The reason for this is in case you accidentally touch the stop button on a motorway. If the car shut down you would have to brake while pressing the start button to effect a restart. On the Prius, and also the Lexus CT200H turning the car off automatically puts it in park locking the transmission. This could be catastrophic if you could do this at speed. John.

I think it is a strong possibility that the scuttle not being seated against the screen will cause wind noise. Also any missing clips are likely to cause some noise either a rattle or a squeaking rubbing noise as the scuttle moves with vibration, and wind pressure. It should be sealed against the screen. John.

JBL the premium Toyota sound system is also part of the Harman Kardon group. they also incorporate, Lexicon, AKG Acoustics, Infinity, and Sound Craft. John.