GSLV6

Surely the dealer supplying the vehicle should ensure that's included? Or is it that they (Lexus)don't routinely supply a full owners' manual any longer?

Sorry to hear that John. Which franchise out of interest was that?

Thought that I'd post an update after finding the fault. I tried every trick but the rear door failed to work despite multiple re-sets, charging the auxiliary battery, checking wiring and connections. Left it with Listers Lexus in Cheltenham who've seen this issue with quite a few 450h's and they were brilliant. They stripped the rear tailgate panels, removed the roof headlining,checked the ECU and Canbus system and wiring, ran fault code readers and finally discovered that the rear motor unit had failed prematurely, not uncommon it seems. The car was with them 3 days and during that time they gave me the keys to a brand new UX250h (which by the way was brilliant...the best driving Lexus I've had the pleasure of using since my old GS300 V6). The motor was replaced, the headlining and panels all replaced faultlessly and the car washed and vacuumed inside. They then had someone drive the 30 minute trip to where I live and drop it off. Charge? I was expecting to pay £1000 plus. The damage for the work was nothing, zip. I was only charged £15 for the insurance cover on the UX. They classed it as a warranty claim and returned the car in perfect working order. Now that's why my next car will be a Lexus, they really do look after their customers.

Anything already pretty corroded can't usually be effectively treated, but what I have done in the past is using a stiff brush, clean off the underside, removing any loose rust then liberally apply ACF50 which can neutralise and prevent further corrosion, leave it a few days to really work in, then using a few old rags, clean it all up as bet you can, drying surfaces. At that point, Lanoguard will at least offer protection against further corrosion. I don't know why its not better known over here where it's made but the groups of off road enthusiasts calling their vehicles "overlanders" (modded 4wd exploration RVs in effect" swear by it in Australia and South Africa where a liberal application only needs re-applying every 3 years or so. Rain won't wash it off as it forms a durable protective film. It's all I use now. Videos taken by Lexus as part of my 450h servicing show the underside as being in very good condition and I put that down to using Lanoguard.

Mine's been into Lexus who spent hours pouring over the vehicle with test probes and laptops. They've narrowed the fault down to a Canbus wiring fault but don't know where. The signal which is being relayed to the rear ECU isn't triggering the motor for the rear door as the power feed is dead to the motor (fuses are all fine) but everything else works fine. They're getting no unusual fault codes which help them so are having the car in again for several days to remove rear panels on door and headlining, go through the wiring, find the fault and repair it. I've already indicated if it's an ECU replacement needed as the car is under warranty, I won't be stumping up for that nor any water damage caused by roof rail bolts as they fitted the roof rails!

I found I didn't need ramps with the RX. I was able just to squeeze under front and read and get to everything not already protected but yes, you could use ramps and move them from front to back and do each end.

I'd recommend Lanoguard. It has served me well for years on my cars and is environmentally friendly, easy to apply and exceptionally good at protection of the metal sub chassis and general underside. It's safe on all surfaces and won't damage rubber, plastic, paintwork nor anything else (just don't get it on your tyres!).

I've waded through stream fords in mine with water to the sills and no adverse effects at all. They're fine with the underside getting a soaking. I clean mine off periodically and liberally spray and brush in Lanoguard. It's kept the worst of the winter road salt at bay and is highly recommended. One one litre bottle is about £60 but enough for three good treatments so good for 4 or 5 years.

Tyre life and road noise/comfort is what I notice differs most between the main brands. The worst I ever had on mine were the OE Dunlops...truly awful. Harsh riding, poor in the wet, noisy and poor overall grip and handling. I switched to Avon ZX7's and they were a revelation. Way better handling, great wet weather braking performance, much quieter and a far more comfortable ride. I stuck with them until now as Avon have now been bought out and are no longer UK made (I wanted to support them whilst they were made here) but their chief drawback for me has been tyre life. Average, irrespective of how I drive, has been sub 10K miles. They are cheap (relatively) at £148/corner but I'll switch to Latitudes now which by all accounts are almost as quiet, have better winter grip and last longer.

Yes, quite right...I meant the ECU not what was supplying it. I'm pretty sure it's an auxiliary battery issue having tested it. Insufficient current despite being charged. Had exacly the same thing a few years ago and a change of battery sorted the issue so will replace the battery which is probably due replacement about now. The recent cold snap probably pushed it over the edge but it's not showing anything like enough residual current on the tester. Once these batteries drop to below 50% it's difficult to recover them. I did try with the recovery mode on the charger but unfortunately it still hasn't done the trick.

Well, I think I have my answer. Whilst checking charger settings, I noticed I didn't have it set for AGM so decided to disconnect the charger as it was showing fully charged, and try the reset by disconnecting the negative battery terminal for 10 seconds, reconnecting then re-initialising by closing the tailgate fully. Et Voila...the tailgate operated manually again (but not on power) and boot courtesy lights came on. That would indicate a battery issue. Sure enough, when reconnecting the charger, this time setting it to AGM mode, instead of rapidly rising to almost fully charged, it stuck mid way up the charging cycle which would indicate to me a battery issue. Last time this happened I got away with a battery charge but a few months later ended up having to replace the battery after the problem re-occurred and didn't have any problems up until now, so I'm almost certain this is a battery condition fault. I'll replace the battery and see if that does the trick. It's expensive at Lexus but at least it's cheaper than a new ECU or power module. Moral of the story is unless run for 30 minutes or more regularly, and especially in cold weather, these batteries take a hammering and need really to be hooked up to a conditioner when not in use. I'll report back when I have changed the battery but fingers crossed, this will be the solution. It's my third battery in 6 years!

Just had the same thing happen on a 2014 RX3. Charging the auxiliary battery normally sorts it but this time it didn't so also open to suggestions as it's a right pain clambering about over the back seats every time I need to open the tailgate!

Apparently there are two power packs. One looks after central locking for the main doors and powers the windows. The second is purely for the tailgate and is a higher torque motor with associated power supply. These are all driven off the 12v system. The change to Lexus warranties might cover it as long as your car is serviced by Lexus, which mine always has been. Last year, they included work within the service warranty at service time which otherwise could have set me back over £700 so its a no brainer to keep any Lexus car serviced by them. I use Cheltenham and they've always been very good with me. I use independent for MOTs as there's no sense in a 50 mile round trip for an MOT but on reflection had I had the car MOT'd (which was last week) with them, they may have picked up on this and a split bushing and done the repairs under warranty anyway. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Struggling to find a source for a modestly priced auxiliary battery as it's an odd size. Anyone happen to ave a link?

I went from a GS300 V6 to a 2014 RX 3rd generation F sport. I bought that because I wanted an estate that wasn't a diesel and just couldn't find a decent alternative to the RX that provided the seats I needed for my back (spinal injuries). Despite not being completely sold on " legendary Lexus reliability" which shouldn't be confused with "cheap to run" as they are after all fairly complex machines I decided on an F Sport because I didn't want the headache of air suspension (which is a case of "when" and not "if" it goes wrong) and wanted something with less body roll than the standard RX which I found a little too wallowy. I didn't know that ACC was an option on those but bought a 2 year old model with standard cruise control but have to say I rarely use it as I prefer not being lulled into a false sense of security. The car has been very practical, if a little thirsty (long term average is 28mpg) and the ride height means improved visibility, something I'd now find hard to give up. It is a supreme long distance mile muncher and very very comfortable, more so than the harder sprung GS hybrids which I found rather uncomfortable on my test drives (both 2014 models). I also considered a volvo estate but that was too spendy and diesel only at the time. Another alternative which might for the bill is one of the newer Toyota RAV4 Hybrids. They have quite a bit more room and larger boot than earlier models and are very economical but still offer the higher driving position and similar levels of comfort, although not quite on par. I believe they come with ACC as an option. A £20K budget is for an RX is RX3 territory and the F-Sport imho is the most practical proposition with slightly less to go wrong than premium models. You'd likely be looking at a higher mileage one at that as low miles examples (say under 50K miles) tend to be still north of £20K. Engine wise they're bomb proof, so mileage is less important than condition. Bear in mind that Hybrid batteries and inverted are only warranted for 10 years (or were). In terms of performance, don't expect the same shove as a 450h GS due tot he extra weight but they're still surprisingly rapid.

I had similar issues with the suspension and needed trailing arm links replaced. As mine is still low mileage despite being 8 years old, Lexus kindly did this under warranty for me. With such a heavy car, bushes don't seem to actually last that long and as the bushes themselves are not considered economic to replace, they replace the whole link. One of my OEM ones failed after just 3 years. I have two that were noted as having splits in them which I'm, monitoring and will probably have repaired at the next service. £270 a pop so not cheap and looks like I may have to pay for this set.

Thank you and it's been good to us despite a few odd things coming back from the last service such as one of the front sub frame arms to the suspension being badly bent! No idea what would have done that except perhaps a pothole but I don't remember hitting one that hard. Sub frame replacement was quoted at £5,500 but I had them apply heat and bend it back so fingers crossed! The only other thing that's gone wrong in coming up 6 years of ownership is the rear tailgate electrics failing and that looks set to cost us over £1000 to repair.

I think whilst at over £200 a corner, I'll be switching to cross climates. I usually buy Avon ZX7s for their road-holding and good wet weather performance but as Avon have now been bought out and are no longer being made in the UK I'll make the jump. In my case, I was lucky really to get out of the Prinknash estate given the conditions were similar to those in that video clip above but I still have faith in the car in such conditions. Physics being what it is, no-matter what you use, once traction is broken, 2.2 tonnes of car isn't going to be as sure footed as something like a little lightweight MkII Rav 4. Wish I'd kept ours but we had to sell it to help finance our last move. It would go just about anywhere a landrover would with Outlander tyres fitted to it and was fabulous in the snow and off road.

I wonder if anyone else has had a similar issue and if so, what the remedy was? about 14 months back, the tailgate wouldn't operate on the button and even if manually opened from the inside lever, wouldn't properly shut. The electrics operating the motor and lock seemed to have failed and when I contacted Lexus, their reply was "sounds like the rear power pack has failed". I wasn't so sure is the failure coincided with the auxiliary battery going flat as the car hadn't had enough use. I connected it to a CTEK charger and put it in battery reconditioning mode and left it for two days and hey presto, all was good again. The battery seemed to be holding charge and itself was only 2 years old, replacing the original (the car's a 2014 model). No problems since until just after the recent cold snap. I noticed that when at a supermarket a few days ago, the tailgate was slow to close and I suspected that the auxiliary battery might be low on charge, making a mental note to charge it over Christmas. Anyway, yesterday when wanting to open the tailgate manually, it wouldn't open and showed no signs of life. Rear lights, indicators and wiper work fine. I manually opened the tailgate using the manual lever in the boot and hooked up the battery charger, again setting it to recovery mode and sure enough the battery seemed quite flat, but thankfully took a charge and this morning the green light on the CTEK confirmed it was charged. I tested it withy a multimeter and got 14.7 volts with engine running and 12.7 volts with engine turned off although this voltage very slowly dropped over a few minutes by a little (perhaps 0.2 volts). I tried the tailgate but no joy. The electrical feed seems dead. Given that the battery should have enough charge to open and close it this leaves two options. One is the rear powerpack itself and perhaps if I'm lucky the ecu may just want reflashing (I had this on my GS300 where the same thing happened and the boot wouldn't close and I was told that it needed an ECU reflash which solved the problem). Lexus say it's most likely the power pack still and (gulp) a replacement is £1000! Has anyone perhaps had the same thing happen and if so, did you have to replace the power pack or is there a chance that a low auxiliary battery has upset the ECU and thrown a fault which locks out the power pack from engaging?

Just do it. Read this from today: In 35 years of motoring, the 450h has frequently lulled me into a false sense of security in terms of how outright capable, comfortable, rapid when needed, load hauling, mile munching, reliable and thoroughly enjoyable car it is. I chose the F-Sport model for better handling at the expense of plusher suspension due to far less body roll but that aside it is without a shadow of a doubt one of motoring's all time classic gems of a car. It handles well enough to make a lie out of the number of journos taking one for a 10 mile spin who say otherwise and whilst no sports coupe, it can be pushed with some rapidity on B roads, cruises effortlessly, all day, in relative silence at motorway speeds, carries a shed load of cargo with the rear seats folded down and offers rear passengers legroom and comfort like few others. It's quick off the lights if that matters, overtakes with relative ease thanks to huge torque on tap and (relatively speaking) sips fuel at 30mpg which betters some 3 litre diesel competitors in fuel cost/mile. The question is "why wouldn't you?", and not "why would you?". It does all this in luxury with all the usual gadgets and the best seats in the business.

I've been absent a while...mea culpa! I thought I had to post here after a remarkable journey today in my 450h which I've owned for almost 6 years now (still only 40K miles on the clock!), on a 2014 plate. For those that know the Cotswolds, and in particular the Cooper's Hill area outside of Shurdington, you'll know Prinknash Abbey and the steep single track estate road down to the car park. I took my family and a friend to early Mass at the Abbey, leaving just as the white stuff fell, from Cam, near Durlsey, not realising it was forecast to snow heavily, at 7:30am this morning. All was well but on the M5 N, just as I came off for the A417 to Shurdington, the snow started to fall heavily with the thermometer registering zero. I knew we were in trouble heading up the A46 (Cooper's Hill where the Glos "annual cheese rolling" competition is held on an unfeasibly steep hill) towards the narrow estate road dropping steeply down to the Abbey below, the old Abbey, the Grange about a mile down untreated single track lane). The main road hadn't been gritted and was snow covered and treacherous. I decided that I'd be grown up and trust the snow setting on the management system which I rarely used before, preferring the more macho approach of leaving all TC off and trying to control the car myself which I usually prefer doing in snow having lived and driven countless miles whilst living through NE Scotland winters. Anyway, the first few hundred yards off the untreated main road, bad as it was, soon developed into a nightmare. The grip on summer tyres (avon ZX7s) wasn't great and with all the TC on in snow mode, and the electronic low ratio set in 1st, I let the car descend the perilous descent, too rapidly discovering that 2.2 tonnes plus 4 passengers was a recipe for loss of control rather sooner than expected despite my efforts. Half of the 1/2 mile descent was sideways with me trying not to get the car wrapped around one of the many trees or banks and somehow we managed it, left the car in the car park near the cafe, discovering two other cars abandoned where people had decided to proceed on foot, which was by then, the wise decision so is what we did. An hour later, we walked the half mile back in the worst snow fall I can remember for 10 years, by then 5 or 6 inches deep to a snow covered RX, A chap with a late model Discovery attempted the climb back up to the main road and slipped backwards with all 4 tyres spinning but as we had no choice I left my passengers to walk up in case I rolled or crashed the car, set it in snow mode, clenched my cheeks (the other ones!) and with, I suspect, a not inconsiderable amount of divine intervention sailed up the hill without losing traction until I was at the main road when the rear let go and slow motion-esque slid towards the "Chorleys" sign post at the entrance but miraculously stopped an inch short of hitting it. Passengers recovered, we proceeded down the now snowbound and almost impassible hill towards Shurdington, stopping once to help a stranded motorist. There were cars being abandoned attempting to climb the hill so we waved them back...there was no way anything short of a full on 4wd would have a hope of getting up. Despite several hours sat on the M5 for the inevitable accident, we did the 20 miles home completely unscathed and relatively relaxed, Classic FM droning out the repeats of all the popular classics it plays daily, to calm the nerves. I had to go out to rescue a friend, stranded 10 miles away not long after getting in. I am writing this to say how impressed and quite frankly astonished I was at how capable that car was in the snow. On paper it doesn't add up, but with some practiced driving coupled with trust in the car, we made it out where a Land-rover Discovery (also on summer tyres) failed. Probably more to the tyres it was shod with, but then again we were on similar boots and did make it! I think the decision to simply put foot flat to the floor knowing that the electronics would sort everything out, but limiting the ascent to 20mph was the wise move. Had I stopped I would undoubtedly have slid all the way back down, possibly rolling the car on one of the steep corners. I never cease to be impressed with the safety, comfort and all round capabilities of the RX450 which has now cemented itself without a shadow of a doubt as the best car I've owned in 35 years of motoring. For those agonising whether to buy one or not, just do it. It will be one of the wisest motoring decisions you'll ever make 😁

Great news....Lexus have agreed to replace the battery free of charge even though it is just I think outside of warranty period. Now that's customer service 😃

Edit. Mea culpa...while my fuzzy memory thought it was a silver metal base, it is indeed black plastic! I'll blame the confusion on my head cold! I did measure the flat area of the well and it definitely won't take anything wider than 225mm if you remove the plastic base. Max battery dimensions without chopping things up is about 225mm x 200 (it might just squeeze in a 200 wide rather than 180 wide one) by 200 tall. Any taller and you'll clash with the ribbed underside of the battery cover but if you dispense with that cover you can get a 210mm height battery in. Not recommended though as that cover is there for a reason. I just can't see therefore how you can get a 60AH to fit without chopping things about unless it falls within those space constraints. I've yet to see the details from anyone who has succeeded.

On my RX3, the lip is not plastic, it appears to be metal, body coloured (in my case silver) and whilst I cannot see if it is spot welded on, it most likely is so I'm guessing it is not removable but I will find out when I remove the battery. I wouldn't worry about using a timber spacer because there is no likelihood of water "swishing around" LoL! It's dry as a bone in that well and unless there is a serious water leak, in which case I have more to be concerned with than retrieving a timber spacer, I wouldn't hesitate to use a suitable piece of wbP ply sheet of which I have some readily available. The alternative is to pay around £13 for an A4 sized 10mm thick acrylic sheet, cut to size and use that which is arguably a better solution. Thanks for the links Barry, those post extenders are a useful solution and inexpensive.

Lol! Yes. The lip around the edge thingy...

That's a good point Barry. The thing to be aware of if going larger than 220 in battery length is that whilst it may fit within the well base, it (at least on mine) would not appear to fit in the base upstand, designed to retain the battery from sliding. It would sit on top of that which isn't a great idea as it places a lot of stress on the battery base. I have a cunning solution though....simply pack the inside using an equivalent thickness of MDF board cut to fit. The metal strap will secure the battery well enough on it's own. That, or the upstand could easily enough fall prey to a grinder! This upstand is why we all struggle to find one with a large enough AH rating. Why they picked a weedy 51AH is beyond me as this necessarily involves a greater number of deep discharge cycles which is primarily responsible for the relatively short life of these batteries. Most are rated for between 400 and 500 deep cycles, hence the need to use them regularly or charge them when not in use. I would prefer at least a 70Ah as this would significantly improve reliability by extending life but the well is simply too small.