Britprius

I had the Toyota version of those on my Prius. They replaced the lights in the bottom of the doors. They not only gave out more light than the OEM fittings, but shone the Toyota emblem on the floor. If anyone has a Prius I have a couple boxed unused. They do fit other Toyota's. John

The paint is available in large aerosol cans freshly mixed to the paint code for your car. The can comes with two spray heads one fan horizontal or vertical, and the other round. At under £10 per can. They supply in base coat, and clear lacquer "lacquer extra" or in gloss finish "needs no lacquer". The companies name is "Romart" at 8 Providence St Lye, Stourbridge 01384 891281. You can order all refinishing products, and they will supply by return post. I have nothing to do with this company other than buying there products for many years. John.

Time for action, and not words. This morning an unlucky pigeon and my door mirror had a collision at about 50 mph "probably more like 70 when you add the speed of the pigeon". The result is in the picture below. Damage is more than it looks in the picture but at leased I have all the pieces, John

Yes it does. It is fitted on the side of the filler neck just below the filler cap visible in your picture. John

It is quite possible the drivers door lock is just jammed with corrosion. This is common where the lock is rarely if ever used. Some WD40 squirted into the lock and the key worked backwards and forwards usually clears the problem, but the lock can be very stiff at first. This can be a reminder for us all to go and check the key operation on all of our cars now. Try washing the printed circuit in windscreen washer fluid "preferably non diluted" then gently drying with a hair dryer on low heat. Washer fluid contains isoprynol alcohol, absorbs water, and dries rapidly. Unless physically damaged water does not usually damage the components on the print. The copper print it'self will dissolve away in time by electrolysis with a battery fitted in the presents of water. Fit a new or known good battery. John

Have you tried squirting some fuel into the air intake after removing the air filter. This will prove that the problem is or is not fuel related. John

Yes the cap is available from motor factors, and is pretty much standard. Perhaps surpisingly an ordinary pressure cap can be used in this position without problems. John

Few people know that you do not have to take a car for repair to an insurers preferred repairers. You can have accident repair work done where you wish. Of course they do not tell you this, but it is your prerogative. John.

Having the cap on the radiator does make it easier to fill the system without air locks. The system with a rad cap only uses a flat non pressurised cap "no one way valve" on the rad the pressure cap being on the expansion tank. Filling the system should be done through the radiator cap filling to the brim. Any coolant expansion that takes place will go into the expansion tank, and be drawn back from the tank to the rad as the liquid cools, and contracts. John

For people to to young to remember the 50's there was an "actress" named Sabrina "rather in the style of Marilyn Monroe", and possibly where the well out in front came from. No political correctness back then. I started my career on building valve amplifiers. Oh for the days of ECC82's (double triode), EL84's (output pentode), EZ81 (double diode rectifier), and the like. Assembling with lead solder, Fluxite, and a Henley Solon soldering iron. using a mains transformer with 350-0-350 volts output that could give you a real kick if you were not paying attention. Many people in the 50's and early 60's built there own amps often from kits produced by companies such as "Leak". This being much cheaper to get good results because of the purchase tax on so called luxury goods. No VAT back then. John.

I'll give that a thumbs up as well. Prius chat has such a system and it makes referral to another post so easy. John.

I would class that hole as an easy DIY repair with a small fiberglass repair kit, and a spray can of matching paint. Materials would cost less than £20. John.

P0705 is PRNDL range circuit (GEAR RANGE SELECTOR) C1241 is Ignition power source circuit ( Motor Relay - Cell) I cannot find a legitimate code with the numbers B2281. The other codes as already stated relate to the amount of light on the sensors in the dash. John

The batteries do not supply all the power for MG2. Under heavy engine loads MG1 adds it's output to the battery output. John

The transmission in the Toyota/Lexus cars is a PSD (power split device). This is rather like a differential the engine drives the pinion gear. One output shaft drives the prop shaft to rear axle this same shaft is also directly coupled to the electric traction motor/generator (MG2). The other output shaft is coupled to the smaller motor/ generator (MG1). The major difference is that the output power of each shaft (for the Prius) is split 28% to MG1 and 72% to MG2. Other models vary this ratio, but not by much. If neither MG's are fed with current or have no electrical load the car is in neutral. Even if the engine is running there is no drive. Supplying MG2 with electricity gives electric drive forwards. Reversing the electrical supply to MG2 gives reverse drive. In both cases the engine need not run as long as MG1 is free to rotate. If the engine is running 72% of it's power drives the wheels and 28% drives MG1 as a generator the output of this can either charge the HV battery or be fed to MG2 to help power the car. The engine can stop as long as MG1 is free to rotate. Powering MG1 forces the engine to rotate (starter motor) The HV battery can also help drive the car when the engine is running for short periods, But the engine will only put 72% of it's power directly to the wheels. In reverse if the engine is running it reduces the amount of power available to the rear wheels because the engine can only rotate in one direction "the wrong way". This is why reverse is invariably electric only unless the HV battery is very low on charge. When braking MG2 acts as a generator to slow the car down, and charge the HV battery. The end result is that the engine can only put 72% of it's power to the wheels directly, but you can add the output power of the electric motor MG2 and the hv battery to this. John. If you did not have a headache you have now

My Prius lost 10 MPG from summer to winter. Turning the fan on instantly started the engine. Some Toyota/Lexus cars with Economy switches will make the engine run with the heater on hot if not in economy mode. My GS450H starts as soon as I put the heater fan on or above the mid way setting, and I have lost about 3MPG compared with summer figures. John

Cold weather increases fuel consumption for a number of reasons. Having the heater on high with a high fan speed will force the engine to run. Cold air is more dense than warm air and increases air drag. Tyres run cooler with less pressure this increases rolling resistance. Also if you fit winter tyres these have a much higher rolling resistance than summer tyres. John

I have come across this on other forums, but never experienced anything like it myself. I do get earache in my left ear whenever my wife is in the car never found out why. John.

I have called at Halfords to check there prices for competitiveness. Looking up items in there parts lists hanging from the counters many of the items are incorrectly listed. Oil for my Prius was listed at 10w30 grade when it should be 0w20 only. They in fact did not stock 0w20 oil. Toyota say if 0w20 is not available other grades can be used "list supplied" , but must be changed at 5000 miles instead of 10,000 miles, and then with 0w20. The wrong oil filter was listed, and the wrong 12 volt battery was listed with the wrong size posts, post orientation, and was a flooded lead acid battery not an AGM battery. Spark plugs were also listed incorrectly listing the plugs as platinum when Iridium plugs are used. John

Does the LOC Gold membership give the same service discount at a Toyota dealer if the service is carried out there? Rebecca, and I both live in an area where there is no Lexus dealer within reasonable distance. This probably applies to other members. John.

The rattle is likely to be the anti roll bar drop links. I would change both sides together if it is the case. The only real way to tell if they are worn is to disconnect one end on each side. If either of the two ball joints on each end of the links moves freely then that link needs replacing. A number of people have noticed the "loose" feeling you are getting, and it seems to be caused by the tyres "generally Dunlop". John

I agree with the above. The only time I would lower the tyre pressures is perhaps in very snowy conditions where I still have to drive. I am talking emergency use. In those circumstances speeds would be 30 mph at most and the tyres are not going to overheat. John

The cars being broken in Poland and Lithuania are UK vehicles. They buy them here and ship them over there to be broken, but unlike most of our breakers they strip the cars very carefully selling just about every item. You can Email them to discus requirements, and they are very efficient quoting prices in pounds including delivery. Surely someone in London that post here has access to Ebay UK. John.

On the cost of servicing the "Full service" price from a customer point of view is very expensive. On checking the list Lexus supplies the extras over an "Intermediate service" amount to:- (1) Inspect diff oil (change oil extra cost) (2) Wheel alignment check (extra charge if an adjustment is made) Looking at the tyres will tell if alignment is out. (3) Replace brake fluid (4) Inspect air filter ( I can remove and refit the air filter in one minute) (5) Replace engine coolant model dependent. (I think this is a 100,000 mile 10year fluid with Toyota SLLC coolant) (6) Check transmission oil (change oil extra cost) (7)Tighten prop shaft bolts. The biggest item here is the brake fluid change. There are other extra items on the list, but all would be checked on an MOT anyway. John

You will have to get a bridge built over the river. It will save you 10 of those 15 minutes to get to Callow. John