Britprius

The place that the "dash" noise originally came from was the plastic scuttle under the bonnet. This is the plastic tray that the wiper shafts come through. I found pressing it gently produced the squeaking noise. Along it's top edge is a rubber thin trim that sits against the bottom of the screen. It was this that made the noise rubbing on the screen. The black lid over the inverter is held in place by 2 spring clips at the rear corners by the screen. At the front it is held by the same sort of white nylon clips that are used to hold things like car door trims only this one is tiny in comparison, and is just a single clip near the centre. John

Under normal circumstances I would return the car, but since the dealer is a 120 mile round trip to visit it is not worth the effort. I will however notify them and ask them to send new clips to me in the post. I know it is only a minor thing, but not something I expect from a Lexus dealer. The leased they could have done was inform me of the situation, and asked for the for a solution that was acceptable to me. John.

Known problems with the key-less entry system are keeping the key close to a mobile phone, and keeping the fob to close to the car when not in use. This could be the car on the drive, and the fob hanging or on a table near the front of the house. The car keeps sending out a signal that the fob keeps responding to. John.

I had the same problem with my car, and found a liberal coating of silicon spray around any possible noise areas cured the problem. The noisy illusive dash squeak was also cured in the same way, but from the plastic scuttle where it touches the bottom of the windscreen under the bonnet was the culprit. I had been trying for weeks with felt pads pushed down between the dash and screen to no or little affect. Also a new rattle appeared today seemingly from above the glove box area. After some investigation it was found the black lid over the high voltage inverter was just sitting there. It looks as though this was removed for the recall on the fuel system loosing one of the plastic clips and breaking another. This area was cleaned by myself shortly before the work was carried out, and it definitely was not loose. John.

If the GS300 is anything like the GS450H the rear shocks are not handed. Possibly the reason for only listing one shock. John.

It takes a few minutes to change the settings. The best way over the problem is to buy a "Mini VCI with Techsream" from Amazon/Ebay, and use your laptop to program any of the settings yourself. Cost is about £15, and you will then be able to also read any fault codes in the future without paying the dealer. John

It is a change to see that the offer excludes hybrid/electric vehicles. Many Prius owners found in the past at great expense when many of the garage chain operators were offering this service without realising the problems. The wrong or contaminated oil can take up to 3 months for problems to appear. It is then difficult to return, and prove the garage was at fault. The advantage with the hybrid compressors is that the motor is sealed in the compressor "as in domestic fridges, and freezers" so there is no rotating shaft seal to leak. Also the speed of the compressor can be varied to suit the cooling demand making it more efficient in use. John.

Although you say the offer is for vehicles using R134A a warning for those of us that have hybrid versions of the Lexus. The oil used in our system (ND11) is not the same as normal cars that use (PAG) oil. The use of equipment that has been used with PAG oil to re gas the hybrid cars can seriously damage the compressor motor. This causes a ground fault on the motor, and high voltage battery circuit. This brings the car to a standstill. ND11 oil has a high voltage insulation quality where as PAG oil is conductive. The refrigerant gas, and oil is used to directly cool the air conditioning electric motor high voltage winding's. The use of the wrong or contaminated oil causes a voltage leak to ground. The high voltage battery ECU see's this as a shock risk problem, and shuts down the car. Disconnecting the compressor from the inverter clears the fault allowing the car to be driven If this happens a new compressor is required along with a complete system flush if your lucky. John.

If you do not put the car in park before turning it off. Then put it in park the radio will work, and the alarm will not go off. John.

I am sure you have made the correct decision. I had a IS300H as a loan car a few days ago while some recall work was carried out on my GS450H. I so wanted to like the IS, but it's lack of power, and most of all the high level of road noise made it a no go for me. John

Will autonomous cars be able to spot potholes, and drive round them? John

The Hybrid battery will still be under guarantee till the cars 10th birthday if you have a small service at a Lexus or Toyota agents or pay a fee of about £50 for a hybrid health check. This check is free with any service, and extends the guarantee for 10,000 miles or one year. If you do a lot of miles you can do this as many times as you wish up till the ten year limit. This could mean the car is guaranteed well into it's 11th year. I would not be worried about the battery as it is battery cycles "the number of charges and discharges" that is the main limiting factor in the battery life. John.

If you give us an idea of the area you live we may be able to point you in the direction of a near by exhaust builder. John

I collected the car yesterday afternoon "Thursday more coffee, and biscuits", and everything seems fine with the recall work. Car cleaned inside, and out. I also got a "safety" report stating I needed front, and rear NS shock absorbers replacing at £659-66 each fitted. This was due to something fitted on top of each shock absorber. I asked if they were leaking at that point and they said no, and they then showed me pictures of the seal modifications I fitted to cure the leaks on the OEM seals. The price seems to give a labor figure of about £300 each shock for a job I can do with hand tools, and a jack on the floor in 1/2 an hour. No wonder I get a GS300H as a loan car. John.

I would contact Lexus on 0845 129 5473 rather than the dealer, or try another dealer a phone call should do. People that I have conversed with that have had the work done there reg no longer shows in the outstanding recalls on the portal. Also check the valve springs have been replaced on an earlier recall. John

When I picked the car up I so wanted to like it. Driving round the town centre of Wolverhampton in slow traffic the noise level was reasonably low. However once on the open road the road noise was obtrusive, and wind noise was also evident. The ride was for me also on the firm side, but this also made the car feel really planted on the winding country roads not once feeling as though I had entered a bend to fast. So the sporty type driver may well approve. Guess you cannot have it both ways without adjustable suspension. The IS does have ECO, normal, and sport modes, but I do not know if this adjusts the suspension. If it does it must be subtle as I could not tell any difference apart from the throttle response. John

I have found when trying to find the exact source of a noise a microphone plugged into the aux audio jack point works well. With a passenger sat in the front or rear of the car moving the microphone around the likely areas that the sound could be coming from. With the volume of the radio turned up soon pinpoints the noise rather like a doctors stethoscope. John.

I agree the updated electronics is better, but really that is across the range. I am not enamoured with the later look of the front end of the Lexus I realise that is subjective, but that lower lip, and the corners of the brake air intakes look very vulnerable to high kerbs when parking nose into the kerb places. John

The rear calipers on the GS are on slide pins, and yes they do seize. The fronts are fixed, and have pistons on both sides of the disks so generally no problems there as long as the piston rubber gaiters are in good order. I have an IS300H on loan from Lexus at the moment. I cannot say I'm that impressed. The internal noise level from the road is high in fact higher than the Prius I had possible in part due to the low profile tyres on the IS. John.

There is a recall for a possible fuel leak at the fuel pressure regulator on the GS450H. From what I understand the parts do not amount to much, but they take 4 hours to replace. This work is carried out free of charge. You can find if your car is affected on the Lexus web site using you reg or chassis number. John

Took my GS450H in to Lexus Wolverhampton today for the recall work on the fuel system. I was given a new IS300h as a courtesy car till tomorrow while the work is being done. (pictures below) I was greeted with the customary Lexus excellent service teem, given a nice cup of coffee, and biscuits while the paper work was sorted. I found the IS300H to be somewhat noisy "mostly road noise" compared with the GS450H, and although perhaps an unfair comparison I did also miss the get up and go of the GS. The IS did feel much better planted on the road, but at the expence of the cushioned ride of the GS. I thought I would like the paddle shift on the steering wheel, but found "perhaps because I have got used to it" I prefer the shift on the gear lever as on the GS. Unless there is a setting that I have not found to alter this I found although the display screen looks large only a small area of the screen actually is the display. The controls for the display I found to be intuitive without having to refer to the book. The IS boot space looks much larger than in floor area with perhaps not quite so much height as the GS. John.

I know this may seem a strange thing to say, but that ball joint is always under tension particularly when you hit a pothole " the ball is always being pulled out of the socket". If the joint had been inverted at the design stage that scenario would be most unlikely to happen. Anyway I'm glad you and the car came away without much damage. John

I'm not to far from you in Herefordshire where the dealers are much rarer than the car. I assume you use the dealer at Cheltenham. There is little difference in distance for me between Wolverhampton, and Cheltenham. John.

There has to be some Japanese logic working, but do not ask me what that logic is. The same logic that gave the Prius in Florida heated mirrors while they were not available in the UK even as an extra. John.

Let me know how it works out. John.