Britprius

There is nothing particularly difficult in bleeding the inverter coolant in any of Toyota/Lexus hybrid systems. Using the correct coolant Toyota SLLC is a must however. There is a new radiator on Ebay item number 272419397971 for £70-90 pence delivered. John

I get the same if I set the set the clock to auto time set. If I leave that function turned off it behaves correctly. John

Very different. The ECVT works by using two electric motors that can also act as generators, controlled by a computer. All the gear ratios including reverse, and neutral are the same. In fact the same gear. Look at the link below scrolling down to the bottom of the page. Move the sliders for MG2, and the ICE (internal combustion engine) in the monograph to see how the engine and electric motors work together at various speeds and directions. The car moving without the engine running, engine running with car stationary, and mg1 (motor generator one) changing direction dependent on car and engine speed. The yellow ring drives the wheels through the differential, and is connected directly to MG2. The blue gear is connected directly to MG1. This also acts as the starter motor. The orange gears are driven in a circular motion by a carrier shown faintly in the background connected directly to the engine. In reverse the movement is purely electrical. If the engine runs it reduces the power available to the wheels because it turns in the wrong direction. This is for a Prius but the system used in the Lexus is the same. The Prius, and the CT200H use the same engine, and transmission. http://eahart.com/prius/psd/ . John

Pity he does not mention the fifth type of transmission that uses non of the principles of the other four. The ECVT no belts, no brake bands, no cllutches, no torque converter, and no gear changes even for reverse. John

Having had a Prius, and belonging to the Prius forum it was proved long ago that accelerating briskly up to speed, and then easing off got better MPG than gently gathering speed over a longer distance. It is quite possible this principle also applies to the GS450H. John.

Cars manufactured after 01/11/2014 require a TPMS to be fitted at the factory under EU regulations. There are systems that use wheel speed to trigger a puncture warning called iTpms "independent tyre pressure monitoring system" , but these are not considered as accurate or reliable when signaling a low pressure tyre within the regulation levels. Going through a puddle of water on a warm day can give alarms along with tyres from different manufacturers having different rolling circumference even for the same size tyre. The system using a sensor within the wheel is called a dTPMS "direct tyre pressure monitoring system" can not only give actual tyre pressure, but tyre temperature as well. This gives the ability to protect against all the tyres on a vehicle being under or over inflated to the same level from a faulty inflation gauge. John.

Each sensor has it's own individual code. This code is written on the sensor, and has to be entered into the TPMS ECU memory so that it can read that sensor. Without such a system, with all new cars requiring TPMS parking next car or even driving alongside could confuse the ECU. John.

With careful digging into the sealant around the battery of the TPMS sender in the wheels it is possible to remove the old dud battery and solder in a new one. The unit can then be re-sealed using body filler, silicon, or epoxy resin. This brings the cost of replacement down to around £1 per sensor with no registering in the ECU. Standard rubber valves can be fitted while this work is being carried out if required. John.

Water has the highest coefficient of heat transfer. Anything added to water lowers the heat transfer rate. So plane water in your cooling system will take away more heat from your engine than antifreeze mixture. This means the engine will heat up faster with an antifreeze than with water. A long warm up period suggest that the thermostat is stuck open. Checking the top and bottom hoses to see if they warm together from cold will confirm this. if the top hose gets hot with the bottom staying cold the stat is ok. Both getting warm means the stat is stuck open. John

You must have a heavy right foot. Try taking off your boots. I get the mid 30's in my GS, 32 MPG is low for me. Where I live even dual carriage ways are rare. There is a section on the A49 going in to Hereford but it only runs for about 1/2 a mile before going back to single road. When I was working I often came your way "well maybe once a month" as the company I worked for were based in Thetford. John.

I agree. The CT200H is based on the Prius, and this also has no cruise control on the basic model. However the wiring is there up to where the cruise stalk control should be. The cruise stalk has to be fitted along with a stop switch on the brake pedal to cancel cruise when the brakes are applied. The cruise switch grounds a control pin on the hybrid ECU through a series of resistors. The value of the resistor grounding the connection selects the function of the cruise. The extra stop switch circuit puts a positive feed to the ECU to cancel cruise. John

I find in sport mode on rural country roads my fuel consumption actually improves. I do a 50 mile trip on a regular basis over the last 28 years so I know every twist and turn along with the potholes, and hidden overtaking places. In sport mode I can use around 2 MPG less than in normal mode. In the year that I have owned the car I have never been on a motorway with it. This is simply because there are no motorways close to where I live. John

I would agree to the above. A figure in the sub 5K area would be my estimate. You could import a late Lexus GS for 16K if they are that rare. John

If you have Techstream this should give sub codes to the P0420 code and point you in the correct direction. John

I am not saying that music is not listenable to with a cassette adapter, but compared with say a CD with the same piece of music the sound quality is poor. As an electronics engineer I can understand why. The electric current (the sound) is fed into a tape head with 2 channels in the adapter this turns the current into magnetic waves picked up by the tape head in the player. Unless these heads are very accurately aligned, and touching each other the magnetism for want of a better description leaks across to the other channel. In normal use this magnetism is embedded in the tape that rubs across the tape head, and is of a much weaker level. Base signals are of a much higher electrical energy than higher frequency sounds leading to magnetic saturation of the tape heads. John

I have tried a cassette adapter in my GS450H, and although it does work the sound quality is at best mediocre. The base comes out muffled, and the channel seperation is poor. At first I thought it was a bad adapter, but after trying 3 different manufacturers devices I realised this is not the way to go. John

The braided strap should be fastened to an engine or transmission bolt. Without that the engine and chassis can be at different voltages. The engine will be slightly positive compared to chassis so feed back from any engine or transmission sensors will be higher than expected. John

Glad you got it sorted without miss hap. John

Bluesman is quite correct in his statement. For instance in the bottom of the range Toyota Prius "the T3" cruise control was not fitted. However all that was missing was the cruise control stalk, and another switch on the brake pedal that canceled cruise. All the wiring was there as were the inputs to the ECU. So if other models in the same range as your car have cruise do some checking. John.

Yes, and on the US LOC forum. John

If the battery has a shorted cell the battery voltage falls from around 14 volts fully charged to around 12 volts. The alternator sees this a a flat battery, and will put out large amount of amps to try to charge it quickly. This can make the alternator and drive belt noisy. Check the battery voltage with a load such as side lights turned on. If below 12.5 the battery is probably faulty. If the engine will start the battery voltage should go up with gentle revving to about 14.2 volts or more. No rise in voltage points to a faulty alternator. This could be something as simple as the slippring brushes stuck or worn. Usually only one brush wares out as one runs at the centre of the shaft the other at a radius point. It is the radius point brush that wares the most. Sometimes swapping them over will cure the problem. John

Does anyone have instructions for getting to the rear or contact side of the drop down button panel for boot opener, fuel opener, mirror adjust, ect. GS450H John.

While I would generally agree this would assume all washer bottles on all of the Toyota/Lexus range of vehicles are the same size, and that I doubt. John

I do not like the genuine Toyota/Lexus washer fluid. I find it is inclined to smear like oil on the screen. Toyota always put a bottle of concentrate in the car when I have it serviced because I always make sure the washers are full when I take it in. The really strange thing is although it says concentrate on the container no where does it say what the dilution should be. I must have 12 or more bottles in my store shed. I'll get round to taking them to a Charity shop some day. John