AshGS450h

Hi Yes I am still very happy with it. It is still very strong and performing the same as the day it was fitted. This morning I did what would be a normal commute for most people (stop/start traffic, and crawling along barely above walking speed for about 20 minutes), but I was impressed with the "electric only" distance I managed with Air-Con and Heated Seat (I know a bit daft but I like a warm rear and cool air!) both on. The battery was "full blue" / 6 bars when beginning the crawl of about 1.8 miles, and by the end it still has 3 bars just as the traffic began to move the engine fired and on accelerating it dropped briefly to 2 bars before beginning its regen/recharge back to 6 bars within another 3ish miles of steady 40mph driving. Fuel consumption is obviously dependant on terrain / driving style / speeds driven, but can still get low to mid-40s on a level-ish longer steady run, but on shorter town driving it returns 32-33mpg (keep meaning to do a manual calc "fill-to-fill" but fuel consumption isn't my biggest concern with such a large/heavy/powerful motor). Would still definitely recommend as I am chuffed with the results.

Hi John Thanks for the insight. I wouldn't have thought a chain could stretch enough on a car with "only" 134k on the clock. The previous BMW 330d had over 230k on it and that hadn't had an easy life and not a single issue with the chain and looked like new when inspected! Probably a daft question but is it a massive job to do this or reasonable? Also, is access not too bad or will it take the mechanic a long time to do? Are special tools required? Just wanting to have a bit of insight into the job rather than going in blind to the garage. Thanks again Ash

Hi All Thanks for the reply’s and pointers on where to look. I have had the car into an Indy mechanic and on his fault code reader he got P0017 I think. Something about Crank and Cam sensor mismatch and the timing not being as expected. As it was due an oil change/intermediate (using genuine Lexus/Toyota parts & 0w20 oil) service he’s done that as he says the oil can sometimes be the issue with it breaking down over time and not allowing the VVTi work correctly??? But it has again not started when the engine is warm and the ambient temperature was on 18deg today 😕 He did say that the crank sensor could be reasonably easy to change and if the service didn’t cure it, then this would be his next idea. Just wondering if anyone has any pointers from the P0017 code? Thanks again

Hi I have an issue where the car drives and runs fine from cold, but once the engine is up to temperature, pull up at a set of lights and the engine switches off (all normal so far). When setting back off the engine starts for about 3-5 seconds and then shuts off without delivering any power. The check engine light comes on and the display shows Check Hybrid System. I pulled over and turned the car off, left it a minute and restarted it and the engine did the same again. I left the car for 90 mins and went back to it (only round the corner from my house luckily), and it fired up as normal and drove fine, power, response, etc, all normal until I drove it about 1.5 miles and the same again. I left it a further 2 hours and it worked fine again but I didn’t drive it to “fail” again but it drove fine the 0.5 miles back home and charged the battery 2 bars back to 6. I managed to ready the codes and the generic reader only read P3191. Reading this it looks like it’s reasonably obvious that it’s going to be a crank sensor, cam sensor, MAF or throttle body. The throttle body was cleaned just under 12 months ago but the others are untouched. Does anyone have any experience of which of the three are most likely place to start? I’m hoping MAF because I can imagine the others are buried under many other items 😞 Thanks in advance for any suggestions Ash Car: 2007 GS450h, 134k, new traction battery at 124k and full service history (Lexus up until 2017, then Local Indy 2018-> but using all genuine parts/oil/etc).

Hi Farqui Sorry for the long time until replying. I have now had the battery 3 months and finding on long runs I’m getting about 3mpg more than before and around town about 2mpg more. The attached photo is from doing about 40miles of a mix of 30/40/50/60 (mainly 50) on reasonably level terrain so I’m pretty satisfied with the battery and the improvements.

Yeah the battery was obviously getting tired (nothing lasts forever). When it was refurbed by Richard it was very strong, but a combination of the terrain (hilly and plenty of twists) and my “spirited” driving style doesn’t give it the easiest life. I don’t think the hotter weather has exactly helped either (soaking the car in 8hrs of direct sunlight at work) as I have been getting in, wacking the air con and cooled seats on full blast before leaving and climbing a nice steep hill (550ft in 2 miles - 1-in-6 climb) is fairly hard on it. Discharging a large amount and regening back down the hill quite hard is just increasing the heat factor in the battery “wear”.

Hi Farqui My car is an 07 model with 120+K on the clock and despite having the battery refurbished about 12 months ago, it was already appearing to be weak - giving it a bit of toe would take the battery from 6/7 bars down to 2/3! The battery charge would be up and down like a brides nightie! It had thrown the lights/warning up when the car had been stood in a hot car park a few weeks ago.l and the MPG had also dropped to 26/27. I live in Derbyshire near the “most dangerous roads” in England, so the battery does get a workout pushing it up the hills and out of bends, so the MPG is never going to be the same as riding round a nice flat city or somewhere like Lincolnshire but considering it’s power and bulk it’s very impressive.

Hi I just wanted to post to give some positive feedback to Richard at Hybrid Battery Solutions. I decided to take the plunge and purchase a Hymax battery for my GS450h and have collected the car today. I have only driven home (130 miles) and the car felt so much better to drive with the battery being ridiculously stronger than the original one. I haven’t had chance to see the benefits with regards MPG as I have been enjoying the endless battery power. I only managed to get it to drop to 4 bars once and most of the time it was at 6 even when given a boot full 🙂 If you are thinking of buying one, do not wait as it will be the best decision you ever make with this vehicle, and Richard’s customer service is second to none. Thank you very much. P.S. I’ll try to post an update in a couple of months when I’ve stopped enjoying it too much 😁