sorcerer

I may be wrong but as far as I know, HID bulbs don't suffer from diminishing light output as they get older but they do 'colour shift'. Instead of a glowing filament, HID bulbs produce light by making an electrical current arc between two electrodes in a sealed capsule, which also contains halide salts. It takes somewhere between 20-25kV to strike the arc and as it strikes you see that characteristic bluish tinge to the light. As the arc continues, the temperature rises and the salts are ionised into a plasma which emits the light we want, and some witchcraft happens in the ballast that lowers the voltage to normal working levels. The size and shape of the electrodes can deform over time causing the plasma region to emit an extra blueish glow, which has the effect of giving a cooler colour to the light output. I think I remember reading somewhere that if the car was fitted with 4300K bulbs, five years later those bulbs would look almost like 6000K ones. At least I think that's how it works.

Nah, the LPG tanks are actually built to the same standard as boilers (steam trains, factories, power stations etc) or any other pressure vessel and have to go through extremely rigorous testing both during and after manufacture.

As I mentioned in another thread earlier this afternoon, I changed the front cigarette lighter in my RX300 for one of these and they work really well, charging my phone quicker than a 'normal' USB socket:

No worries Connor, always glad to help if I can Yep, it completely replaces the cigarette lighter. This isn't the exact same one but you'll get the idea if you have a look at this one on eBay

Well you said that the fuses are alright and ok, it could be the wiring but that's unlikely, which only leaves the socket itself - replace it with one of these and problem most likely solved It charges phones very well. 'Normal' USB output is 500mA to 1.0A, but each of those sockets provides 2.1A so charging is much quicker.

Thanks Eamonn, but I can't really take much credit for it as it's such an easy job. It's simply a straight-forward one-for-one swap with no drilling or anything else to do. Lighter comes out, USB socket goes in the same hole with no adjustment necessary, wires on and Robert is your mother's brother

I've never smoked but I've left the rear cigarette lighter as it is in my RX300 for using a 12V compressor or whatever, but I changed the front one to a dual USB socket

You're very welcome Chris. Keep us posted with your progress and it'd be nice to see a picture or two, both of the car itself in general and also the conversion when it's done.

I hunted out the paperwork and unfortunately, there are no dimensions on there, just says that it's an 85L toroidal tank manufactured by Irene and gives the tank number (the unique manufacturing number, not a model number). Hope that helps in some way.

Mine is indeed an 85-Litre doughnut tank and the most gas I've managed to get in was on one cold winter day when it took 75.3 litres. You've probably seen the photos already but in the one below, 1 is the Flashlube reservoir, 2 is the gas ECU and 3 is the gas reducer. You can't really see much of the tank but the next picture shows tank and filler point. If you're not going to tow anything then that's a great place for the filler because you can easily fill from both sides. EDIT: I've just noticed that you've got the SE-L so it'll have air suspension. I have no idea where the compressor is located but maybe it's something to do with that - either compressor or pipework - that may be stopping him fitting an 85-litre tank for you? I don't know, just a complete guess.

I deal with A-Plan brokers. I live in Preston, Lancs, but deal with my nearest branch which is in Wilmslow. I'm in my first year with them but they were great to deal with, very efficient, polite, quick and easy, and they also got me the best price too. Highly recommended and got to be worth a try.

I don't know if the Pantone System extends to car paints (primarily it's for fashions; printers; graphic designers in the corporate world of printed packaging, logos and suchlike) but as this quote from Wikipedia states, "The Pantone Color Matching System is largely a standardized color reproduction system. By standardizing the colors, different manufacturers in different locations can all refer to the Pantone system to make sure colors match without direct contact with one another. " The Pantone system even provides monitor calibration tools so that you know what you're seeing on your computer screen is the same as what someone else on the other side of the world sees. A Google search for the colour Aspen Green returns far more results closer to the Pantone colour block than it does to the Toyota/Lexus version of the same-named colour, so rather than that colour block misrepresenting the true Aspen Green, I think David hit the nail on the head - the way Toyota/Lexus have named some of their colours seems to make no sense at all. But it's still a lovely car

Then something somewhere is very wrong with the colour guys at the Lexus factory

You are indeed quite correct John:

Out of curiosity I looked but can't see anything obvious, nor can I find anything in the rules that immediately stands out, so what have you spotted John?

What has that got to do with me wanting to see greater and clearer detail in a bigger photo?

You're very welcome Nick, always glad to help if I can.

Green? Surely some sort of silver or grey, to my eyes at least.

You simply copy the number he gave, paste it into the eBay search box and hit your Enter key.

Nice looking car but, and it's only my personal observation, it really annoys me when I want to see a bigger picture but the seller hasn't taken that option.

Ebay search of the phrase "Lexus RX450h bumper protector" (without the quotes) showed this as second down in the list of results

Thanks Les, I'll give it a go.

I replaced the cigarette lighter with something almost like this USB socket on eBay. Mine also gives 5V @ 2.1A from each socket but it doesn't have the LED illumination. Very easy to fit and works brilliantly for charging two phones quickly or whatever you want.

These are good people to deal with http://www.carparts-direct.co.uk/48hr-remanufacturing-service EDIT: just realised that the page I linked to is the one about their remanufacturing service but they also have parts like calipers on the shelf for exchange.

Sorry for the poor quality photo but you'll get the gist. The water jet is powerful enough but only reaches about three or four inches up the screen so the bottom part is clear as a bell but the top half of the screen is getting very smeary. Every car I've ever owned or used has had adjustable washer nozzles where you can just stick a pin in and move them up or down, maybe even sideways too, but that doesn't seem to be working so either these aren't adjustable or if they are, then they've already reached the top of their adjustment travel. Given that the water jet is powerful enough I can't imagine they're blocked in any way so I suppose new ones are called for, but I just thought I'd ask if I was missing anything blindingly obvious first?