Thackeray

21 minutes ago, zed007 said:

I will spend bit more time on this including recording whilst going forward and will post the video. I honestly don't think this is normal though

I don't think it sounds normal either. When you're doing more recording and checking what happens, it would be worth checking what happens when the car doesn't move at all while you select drive or reverse.

On your first video it sounded as though when you selected reverse it made the noise before the car was moving. Does it always do this? Does the sound occur while the gear selector is moving? Or is it while the brakes are gradually being released?

If it happens when the car is stationary as well as when it is moving this might help to establish what's causing the sound.

4 minutes ago, zed007 said:

He said to give it a few days as it might be the breaks need to be bedded in

It would be good if you could check whether the noise happens when the car is stationary as the video seems to show. If the car is not moving and the footbrake is fully applied as you select reverse, it's difficult to see how the brake discs can generate noise when the brakes are fully on.

Does the noise always happen when you select reverse?

Or in the video is the noise happening as you release the brakes but the car is still stationary?

According to the Which? guide to your legal rights (see this link), you can reject the car in the first 30 days and get a full refund. Their article says:"In the first 30 days after you buy a car, if it is unfit for purpose, of unsatisfactory quality, or not as described you can ask for a repair or replacement. You are not obliged to accept one and can insist on a full refund, which the dealer will be legally obliged to give."

I think the key phrase to use in any letter of complaint is that the car is "not of satisfactory quality".

Have a look at the Which? guide so that you at least know what your legal rights are. You probably don't want to reject the car as it seems like a hassle. But the threat of doing so may persuade the dealer to take your complaint seriously.

On 9/23/2024 at 4:44 PM, zed007 said:

I noticed a few things on the car, which are not right.

One of them whilst turning and reversing . I've tried to capture some of it on a video. Is this normal? it was louder when turning.

I noticed from the video that you also hear the noise when the car seems to be completely stationary and reverse gear is engaged. So I wonder if it could be something to do with the gear selector.

This seems a bit unlikely as the gear selector is really just a fake gear selector to make the car look like a traditional automatic. The selector does almost nothing mechanically, if I understand it correctly. Instead it simply sends instructions to the computer to control what the power split device (the transmission) is supposed to do.

The one thing the gear selector does do mechanically, I think, is to engage and disengage the parking pawl on the transmission. Some Toyota/Lexus hybrid transmissions have electronic engagement of the parking pawl but I think this one (model L210 for rear wheel drive cars) has the parking pawl engaged manually as you move the selector.

It seems really unlikely that there's an issue in the transmission. I've never seen any transmission problems reported on this forum. But I can't think what else could be making the noise when you select reverse unless it's loose linkage in the gear selection or something loose in the parking pawl mechanics. This is something I would want to be sure could be ruled out - I wouldn't want to keep a car which had the potential for parts coming loose in the transmission, which, as I've said seems extremely unlikely unless someone has previously dismantled parts of the transmission or gear selection.

Incidentally, I've never heard a similar sound on my now 10-year-old car.

14 hours ago, Christian89 said:

if I get spark plugs at 64k and something goes wrong is there going to be an issue

Actually, according to the documentation I have with my 2014 IS300h the spark plugs are changed by mileage not by age. This says that they're due for change at 60,000 miles. This used to be an issue because it used to make the 60,000 mile service more expensive than other major services. But Lexus now seems to have switched to fixed prices regardless of what parts are used. So it's no longer much of any issue.

Having said that,

15 hours ago, Christian89 said:

if I don’t get it done until 54k and there happens to be an engine issue, is the warranty going to be voided

obviously there are forum members reporting faults they have had but i can't remember anyone ever reporting engine mechanical issues. I wonder if anyone has had any engine problems.

There have been problems with starting because of immobiliser faults or because the 12v Battery is dead (which is very common!). But I don't remember seeing reports of any actual engine faults. Has this been a concern in your previous cars?

In fact, the hybrid system operates to avoid much stress on the engine. For example, when starting the engine it spins it to around 1,000 rpm before it provides any spark to fire the engine. Conventional cars start at much lower rpm, where greater stress and vibration is caused as it starts up. I'm not sure about this engine but I also remember reading that the Prius hybrid system  would fire initially only on two cylinders to make the start as smooth as possible.

The engine also idles at around 1,000 rpm instead of the more stressful 400-500 rpm of a conventional car. I've found that most of the time in everyday driving the engine will be running at only around 1,500 to 2,000 rpm, even at 70 mph. There's also no turbo to add stress to the engine.

So you may not need to be concerned about the engine itself. Maybe you've had problems in other cars which makes you cautious about the engine.

4 hours ago, wharfhouse said:

Yes that's what I thought and why I thought it may have something to do with the pop up head mechanism especially after it went down by pressing on it 

Here's a picture of a car where the popup hood has activated; https://www.clublexus.com/forums/lc-model-2018-present/934329-pop-up-hood.html

I Imagine the gap here is bigger than 2 cm but it gives an idea of what we're talking about.

I may be wrong, but just a word of caution - I think the popup hood actuators are explosive. A bit of caution might be needed in pushing them down or hitting them!

13 hours ago, Paul29 said:

the bonnet was sticking up about 2cm on the right under the passenger side windscreen

For the bonnet to be sticking up about 2cm on just one side seems very surprising. This is such a big gap that it would be impossible not to notice the need for it to be repaired. How could it get like this? Was the metal bent? Had the popup hood been activated? Had the car been in an accident and had the bonnet badly repaired (or not repaired at all)? It would be interesting to see pictures to clarify what you're describing.

On 8/27/2024 at 4:26 PM, zed007 said:

We would mainly use this for school runs and shopping.

Don't expect too much from the fuel economy on short trips, especially in winter. If you buy a car now, you will see the fuel economy deteriorate as the weather gets colder. The fuel saving features don't become fully effective until the engine has warmed up, which might take five minutes from cold or longer in winter. So if you're doing short trips to the shops or to school, the engine will have little time to fully warm up. Having said that, it will probably be better than a cold diesel engine.

1 hour ago, Vlad_M said:

Hello, I would like to ask for some opinions on whether the Lexus IS 300h is a suitable car for private hire/ UBER, I want to buy one and make the right choice!

Thank you very much.

 

Have a look at this thread . Jayw13702 reported that his IS300h had reached 230,000 miles using it for private hire.

On 7/6/2024 at 6:55 AM, Jose DS said:

Can anyone recommend a reputable garage in south london to have this done?

This reply might be a bit late but you could check with Merit Tyre in Southfields. I haven't had TPMS done there but I've bought tyres in the past.

A couple of weeks ago there was an astonishing (to me, at least) report on solar energy growth in The Economist.

There's still quite a lot of antipathy towards electric cars on the internet. But setting aside whether or not enthusiasts prefer petrol engines to electric, there seems little doubt that solar energy is the future for much of the world, if not for the cloudy UK.

(I'm reminded of the Flanders and Swann song about the weather in Britain: "In July the sun is hot. Is it shining? No it's not.")

Just to quote some figures from the article: in 2015 the wholesale cost of electricity from solar energy globally was around 12 US cents per Kwh. For comparison, electricity from coal was around five to 7.5 cents.

Just nine years later, solar and onshore wind are both around four cents, while coal is little changed.

(They're quoting the "levelised cost of electricity", which includes lifetime costs including installation. They quote the price as around $40 per MWh, which equals four cents per Kwh if I've got the decimal point in the right place.)

Another statistic: in 2004 the whole world installed one gigawatt of solar power capacity. By 2024 it's predicted that installation will have risen to around two gigawatts every day.

The big issue is storage and distribution. As levensnevel says, "This somewhat strange construction is the result of the limited capacity of our electricity grid."

3 hours ago, TomLC500h said:

the IS has been pretty reliable and has cost her the servicing, MOT's, a set of tyres and the only expensive item were the brake pads and discs

Mine's about the same age and in addition to being reliable it has had the advantage of being fitted with magic brake pads. About seven years ago, these had worn to 10.2mm on the front (8.5mm on the back) . The dealer told me pads on the car when new would have been 12mm front (10 mm back), so they were only slightly worn at that time.

At the service for the next year they were recorded as 9mm (and 8mm on the back). Then the following year there was a bit more wear taking the measurements down to 7mm (and 6mm on the back).

But fortunately, the following year they went back up to 9 (and 8) and  the year after that up again to 9 (andnine).

And now in the latest service the good news is they're back to 10 (9).

Cynics might say they're not convinced these measurements are being carried out carefully, if at all. But I look at it as evidence that if you use the brakes gently, the hybrid transmission means that brake wear over the years will stop at some point and the pads may even regenerate themselves if you barely use the brakes at all.

3 hours ago, ColinBarber said:

Correct. This is specific NX information showing how the state of charge changes as the vehicle is driven - it lacks scale detail but is essentially the same as all the Toyota/Lexus hybrids with a NiMH traction/hybrid battery.

That's helpful to see a graph for the computer's strategy for the state of charge.

My own testing on the IS300h (I had nothing better to do during Covid lockdown!) showed that the engine would start when the Battery charge dropped to 40% (two bars showing) and would stop when the charge had risen to 50% (three bars). Four, five and six bars represented levels of charge from around the low to mid-50s up to around 60%. From memory seven bars would only appear above about 70% and eight bars at 80%. I was reading the percentages from the Hybrid Assistant app.

The videos on the Hybrid Assistant app website seemed to show higher percentages than I was finding, so maybe the fine tuning varies from one model to another.

11 hours ago, Gaffer said:

Or is the battery meant to get to 8/8 full when driving and I'm just not getting it?

Most people's first instinct is to regard the Battery charge level in the same way as the fuel tank level - Full is good, Empty is worrying.

But this is not the way to look at it. On these hybrid cars, the hybrid Battery is not primarily to drive the car along. Instead, it's a receptacle to store regenerated electricity. If the Battery is full, there's no room for any more regenerated electricity so the power has to be discarded as heat instead. Trying to keep the Battery full would be like going shopping with a full shopping bag so that you have no room to carry your groceries.

After the electricity has been stored, it can then be used to help drive the car along and make use of power that would otherwise have been lost as heat from the brakes.

The computer aims to keep the Battery about half full. This leaves plenty of room for more electricity to be stored, while at the same time having a decent reserve available to power a sudden burst of acceleration.

As others have said, the gauge doesn't represent reality. On other models and probably the NX too, one bar represents around 40% full. The engine will start if it reaches this level to prevent it going any lower. Eight bars is around 80%. Keeping the Battery in this range helps to extend its life.

Just out of interest, are all the VIN stickers present and undamaged on the inside edge of each metal panel? Or are any missing or painted over? There should be about eight of them.

On 5/21/2024 at 7:47 PM, Jim1977 said:

balancing, fitting and nitrogen

Air is already 80% nitrogen so I've never bothered to pay extra for the other 20%, which would be mostly oxygen. It probably makes a difference on formula one cars but I doubt it makes much difference on road cars.

Even if all the oxygen were to gradually seep out, which is quite unlikely in the short term, one topup with air would take it to 96% nitrogen.

The Which? magazine website has a useful guide to Consumer Rights. It looks as though the website will also help you draft a letter of complaint if necessary.

One thing to check is whether all the VIN stickers are in place, or possibly painted over. Each metal panel should have a VIN number sticker on the inside edge. This includes the bonnet, boot, the inside edge of all four doors and the central pillar. If panel repairs are done, Lexus workshops will replace the VIN sticker if that's necessary because of respraying. Other workshops may not bother because each sticker costs something like £100.

This may not be relevant to your problem but it may be worth checking as an indication of whether repairs have been done.

If you decide to reject the car, which I suspect you can still do, I believe the key phrase to get their attention is "Not of Satisfactory Quality" which can be included in an email subject line, as well as the text of your complaint. 

5 minutes ago, WhatNext said:

1. What do the steering wheel paddles control in a hybrid with CVT gearbox?

This topic came up a few days ago on the IS300h forum. I expect the principles are the same. Here are the comments about it.

18 hours ago, Stever750 said:

Other things I've tried an wondered just how/why is the manual sport mode with the paddles. Briefly tried it, and thought it might just be an engine revs thing; but how is it supposed to work? And just why on a vehicle with a CVT

I think it's mostly just for fun. In a manual car you might change down to get more power for faster overtaking. You can simulate this for the same reason - higher revs gives more power, perhaps when you're about to overtake. But with this transmission you can get higher revs just by pressing the accelerator in a way that is not possible in a manual. In past years, journalists who didn't understand this described the transmission as being noisy. This is wrong. It's not the transmission that is noisy it's the engine, which like any other engine is noisy if you change down to the lowest available gear when the car is moving at speed. It's just that you can get maximum power in this transmission just by pressing the accelerator, rather than having to manually change down.

You can also use the paddles on a long descent of a hill. But I generally use the brakes in order to get maximum power regeneration. If the hill is not too steep you may be able to slow the car enough with a light touch of the brakes which will only use the motor-generators, rather than the brake pads, to feed electricity into the Battery. And when the Battery is full, the car will increase engine revs automatically to provide engine braking when the Battery can take no more electricity. Sometimes you might think the engine is running when in fact no fuel is being used but electricity is being drawn from the Battery and the motor-generators are turning the engine without petrol. This is done to reduce the charge in the Battery when it's close to the maximum.

18 hours ago, Stever750 said:

Another refuel, trip said 42.3, app calculated 39.5 What's slightly bizarre is that the average dropped by around 3mpg after a 220 mile on the M4, followed by pootling around the lanes of Pembrokeshire for the last couple of weeks. Could that be a symptom of impaired battery cooling? using E5 petrol makes no difference either.

My average since 2017 is 42.25 mpg, calculated from one fill-up to the next. I've excluded the covid years when it was averaging mid-20s because I wasn't using the car much. Peak real mpg was around 50-54 mpg, always in August or September for a 300 mile motorway journey. I think the mpg might have benefitted from long motorway 50 mph speed restrictions. Incidentally, I never turn off the air conditioning. Expect to see better mpg as the weather improves.

The highest number I've seen on the car computer is 71 mpg after a 20 minute drive starting with a warm engine. I found it hard to believe and the only thing I could think of was that it must have been downhill all the way, even though from the car it looked like flat countryside. I checked on a map and sure enough, although it didn't look like it at the time, there was a gradual decline in altitude for the whole journey. It's a trip I've done more than once and fuel consumption is always much better than usual even though you don't notice the downhill effect while you're driving.

37 minutes ago, wharfhouse said:

First in Audio Settings / DAB Settings / DAB Alternative Frequency - set this to ON

Then when the DAB signal is too low for good reception, the radio automatically switches to the matching FM station (I think it only works for DAB national stations with a matching FM station - it works well for Radio 2 that I listen to mostly).

Many thanks for this. After having had the car for so long, it's a surprise to keep discovering new features that I knew nothing about! I'll check this when I'm next in the car. Of course, it might be turned on anway and I've simply never noticed.

2 minutes ago, wharfhouse said:

The BBC presets work all over the country (and revert automatically to FM if the DAB signal is poor)

I didn't know that. I've never noticed it happening on my car. How can you tell if the station has been switched to FM? Is this something you have to set up in advance and if so do you know how it's done?

16 hours ago, Stever750 said:

Biggest gripe so far is that DAB radio is dead radio. I've tried it in multiple locations between south Wales and the Midlands and all I get is no signal. No amount of fiddling in the menu has woken it up, so welcome any trouble shooting suggestions.

Most owners seem to struggle to get the DAB to work. I imagine most just give up and stick to FM. But in case you feel like persisting, I'll add a link to a discussion from three or four years ago. This may or not be helpful as your car may have a newer system. But just in case it helps, here's an explanation of how I got DAB working on my 2014 car.

2 hours ago, Mr_Groundhog said:

higher octanes are for engines with a compression ratio above 12 to 1, and this Lexus has 13 to 1, so I have always given her the slightly more expensive E5 for peace of mind.

A long time ago there was a discussion about whether the compression ratio was really 13 to 1. I know Colin Barber explained the setup but as I can't find the thread I'll relate what I remember and hope that someone will correct me if I've got it wrong.

The engine uses the Atkinson cycle for improved economy. What this means is that the exhaust stroke is effectively longer than the compression stroke because of the timing of the valves opening and closing. This is aimed at making best use of exploding fuel before it's extracted from the engine. As I remember the discussion, it was concluded that the exhaust stroke is indeed 13 to 1. But the compression stroke after the valves close is actually less than this because of the Atkinson cycle. I got the impression that it's therefore not strictly true to say that it has a compression of 13 to 1, when it's actually the exhaust stroke which is 13 to 1.