Thackeray

Here's a link to a pdf version of the SatNav manual for the IS from August 2015. I found this on the manuals section on the Lexus website at this address https://www.lexus.co.uk/owners/about-my-lexus/manuals/#hero

Maybe that's what the police press office means when they talk about "key cloning". I understand how relaying the key signal works - I always turn off my key overnight so that my car can't be stolen like that. I thought "key cloning" was like in this video This allows you to actually make a new key from an original. That's what I thought cloning meant. Maybe the police mean "relaying" the signal, which isn't quite the same. The story also talks about using a "skeleton key" to start the car. What's that about? That sounds like the cloned transponder. A skeleton key is usually a universal kind of key that can be used in any lock. But I don't understand how you can have a skeleton universal transponder. I hope someone can explain this.

There's a story here about key cloning gang members being arrested But I don't understand how the cars are stolen. Does anyone have any ideas? When they say "key cloning" I thought this could only be done if you actually have available the original key. But the number of thefts is so great that it seems unlikely that the thieves would have had access to the actual keys of the cars, made a transponder clone and then stolen the car later. Or maybe they did. Perhaps they took possession of the keys briefly in a car park, for example. Anyone have any ideas on how these thefts were done? The newspaper report doesn't explain it clearly.

That sounds pretty good. If your car is 2014 then it looks like a lot of motorway miles - around 24,000 miles a year. So maybe there's something in the theory that there's less demand on the tpms batteries at sustained speeds. I had an early calculator from the 1970s whose battery was still working after over 40 years. So depending on the type of battery perhaps there's no reason to expect them to fail very quickly. Maybe there haven't been any failures on the current IS model as no-one has said they've needed to replace them yet. I suppose they're standard Toyota sensors.

I've been trying to find out how long the batteries should last in the tyre valve sensors for the Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS). I've seen various suggestions on the internet; five to 10 years, up to around 100,000 miles. I've also read that motorway use at constant speeds makes less use of the sensors than stop-start town driving, so the batteries last longer with a lot of motorway driving. Has anyone had to replace the batteries and if so how old were they (the battery, not the driver) when they needed replacing?

I don't often look at the Lexus "My Lexus" webpage but I did today to see if a recent service had been correctly entered. Not only was the recent service not listed but a lot of the previous service history had disappeared. Some of what remained looked as though it been made up by a panicking data operative. There's a minor service labelled as a major service. There's a service recorded one month, followed by a hybrid check recorded for the following month but bizarrely at about 10,000 miles earlier. Has anyone else noticed that their car's service record has disappeared from the My Lexus website? I did wonder if I was looking in the wrong place - it's not the easiest of websites to navigate. But the fact that some services are recorded suggests that I'm looking at the right page but all the earlier records have disappeared.

The price also apparently varies according to how long before renewal you get a quote. Moneysavingexpert did a review and found that the cheapest quote was 24 days before renewal. The best range of quotes was between 26 and 20 days before renewal.Too close to renewal the price goes up, presumably because they think that the customer is less organised and therefore perhaps a worse risk. Or perhaps they just think they can charge more because the customer is in more of a hurry to take out insurance. Why they charge more for someone who gets a quote a month in advance I can't imagine.

Are you thinking of the Cat Stevens song "The First Cut is the Deepest"?

Yet another vote for Michelin Cross-Climate. They seem nice and quiet, though I haven't had any other tyres to compare. I've driven another, newer, IS300h with different tyres - possibly Bridgestone - and I think the Cross-Climate was more comfortable and quieter. The thing that has impressed me is how little they wear. They're down about 1-2mm in 15,000 miles. I think they've done around 30,000 miles so far, (though I can't be certain because they were on the car when I bought it) and they still have 4mm on the back and 5mm on the front. At that rate, they should last around another 10,000 on the back and maybe even 15-20,000 on the front before they need changing at around 3mm.

Did changing the tyres have any effect? Was it better or worse with new tyres? Did you change the brand of tyre? Maybe some brands of tyre make the GS more stable than others.

I expect most people know this but I'll just add that wiping the mist off the windscreen doesn't help. It's best if the glass is as clean as possible. Then the demister with aircon running should have no difficulty clearing the mist. But if you wipe it with your hand or a gloved hand it will transfer particles of grease and dust onto the screen. This gives the mist something to stick to, making it harder for the demister to clear the screen. I've always found that keeping the screen as clean as possible and then avoiding touching it is best for keeping the screen clear.

The alarm on my IS went off two or three times in the summer with no obvious cause. I took to turning it off overnight in case it disturbed the neighbours. I assumed (maybe wrongly!) that the immobiliser is still active. I never found a definite cause but I had noticed in the hot weather that there was a fly in the car. I can only think that it was this that set off the movement sensor when it flew around trying to get out. After a few days when I began to forget to turn off the alarm it seemed the problem had disappeared. If it was a fly (or a spider or something else) I imagine it must have died or possibly even escaped. The alarm hasn't been a problem since. The manual for the IS says the intrusion sensor can be triggered by a high-pressure car wash or by hail or lightning storm so I would guess the weather set off the alarm. Maybe a window wasn't completely closed so that it looked closed but there was enough of a gap for high wind to get through.

One of the things I like about the car is how quiet it is. I don't find the fake engine noise a problem - I never turn it on. Do you mean that you'd like better fake engine noise?

Good point. Thanks for pointing this out - it makes sense. But I'm still wondering how the water got in. If it's correct that the water was only 4-6 inches deep any vent hole or pipe must have been well above this. The transmission must be at least 18 inches high and at least nine inches above the ground. So the vent hole must be at least a couple of feet above ground. As Britprius says, it would be good to know what fault codes are being reported.

If it was my car I'd like to understand how this has happened. The transmission itself - the planetary gearset - must be running in its own lubricant in a sealed crankcase. So if the lubricant can't get out, how did the water get in? Does anyone know where the motors are located? I thought they were integrated into the transmission and therefore also sealed inside the crankcase. Are they really open to the elements? Surely just a bit of rain would be enough to damage them. I'm also not sure which car this is - is it a GS450h with an L110 gearbox? Or is it an RX450h with a P313 transaxle? It probably makes no difference to the questions above but I guessed at first from the reference to the "front motor" that it's the RX but this is the GS forum, so maybe not. The transmission model is named on the VIN label on the car. If the front motors (I assume there are two) are damaged by water, surely this could happen whether you went through a flood or not. Can someone who's more expert explain how this could have happened?

Really sorry to hear about your experience. I think the answer to your question is yes. others have had problems. There was this extended discussion last year. when someone else drove through water and the car stopped. I don't think the final outcome was ever put on the forum. But I started another thread to ask about people's experiences. In fact, only last week I was driving in Somerset and Waze sent me down a single track country road. I was a bit doubtful but carried on down a gentle slope towards the valley. And then, as you might guess, I came across a 30-40 foot stretch of completely flooded road. I thought I'd try edging into it, keeping the driver's door open so I could see the depth of the water. But it kept getting deeper and I couldn't tell if I might suddenly hit a dip and end up much deeper. So, with these forum discussions in mind, I decided to go into reverse and gently got out of the water. I then had to reverse about 300 yards as there were no turning points and the road was only wide enough for one car. I did discover that the car is quite easy to reverse over long distances at a reasonable speed. Fortunately, nothing seemed to have happened to the car and it has kept going so far. So I hope there's no damage. I hope you can find a reasonable solution to your problem.

Interested to see your comment on Cross Climates. What difference did you notice? Were they quieter or better road holding? What did you have before?

Thanks for that. I knew there was some reason I'd stored 3mm in my memory - a bit of a safety margin and it leaves plenty of time to get the pads changed. I also aim to change tyres around 3mm even though they're legal down to 1.6mm. I think I've also read that around 2mm tyre grip in the wet starts to deteriorate significantly, so I plan for around 3mm. Am I right in assuming there would be a warning message on the dashboard if the pads got too low? If so, which wheels have the sensors, assuming there aren't sensors on each wheel?

I'd agree with that. Have you got a figure for what the brake pad measurements are? On an IS, front pads were worn from 12mm when new, to 9mm at 45,000 miles. The rear pads were worn from 10mm to 8mm. On that basis, I'd say they still have another 100,000 miles in them! I don't know what is considered a safe margin to wear them down to. But if you can safely change them at 3mm, which I've read somewhere, then 3mm wear so far on the fronts is just one-third of the total likely wear. If you haven't got a measurement for the pads, I'd be inclined to get one and find out precisely what the situation is.

Ah well, being a gentleman, this is just one of the burdens you have to bear in life.

I've checked a couple of card receipts I've still got from different filling stations and they both say "Unleaded" on them. Then quantity, pump number, price etc. If she's got the receipt, there's a good chance it would confirm one way or another whether it was diesel.

Did you or she manage to check the receipt? I expect the diagnosis is correct, unfortunately, but it would be good if you'd seen the documentary evidence on the filling station receipt. You probably don't want to spend a lot of money without being absolutely sure of the problem.

I would suspect that school runs will keep the fuel consumption high, assuming the distance is fairly short. It will get worse as the weather gets colder! But don't worry about it. My long-term average is about 44 mpg but for a couple of months last winter my mpg figure went down to around 30 mpg (can't remember the actual figure and can't find the forum post I wrote about it.) I was doing four-mile journeys from cold; the outside temperature was close to zero; the heater was on, the air conditioning was on, the lights were on; the windscreen wipers were often on; the heated seats were on. All of this took extra fuel with a cold engine. The minute by minute fuel consumption graph in the car showed that for the first five minutes after starting from cold, the car was only getting about 20 mpg. After ending the trip before the engine had had time to fully warm up, I was just going through the same process again a couple hours later. Even in traffic the engine will keep running if it still needs to warm up to provide heat for the cabin. (You could turn off the heater but I wouldn't bother - it all averages out over the year.) By contrast, cruising on motorways in temperatures around 20, with just me in the car and minimal luggage, the dash mpg display is usually in the upper 50s or sometimes low 60s. On a 20 mile trip I've even seen it above 70 mpg. I was so surprised by this I checked on a map to see what the altitudes were at the start and end points. Sure enough, imperceptibly, the trip ended at a lower altitude than at the starting point; not exactly down-hill all the way but presumably enough of a decline overall to take the mpg over 70. But these highs and lows mean little. If you're keeping the car, it's really the annual figure that counts and it looks from websites like spritmonitor.de and fuelly that most people get mid-40s in the long term.

The air conditioning compressor is driven by a 230v motor which is powered from the main hybrid battery. So I don't think the ICE needs to start to run the AC. By contrast, in conventional cars the compressor is driven by a belt from the engine; so the engine needs to be running to have air conditioning. If the engine starts when the car is stationary in warm weather it's because the battery is getting low and needs to be charged. After running for a minute or two it will stop but the air conditioning continues to work, powered by the battery. On cold days, however, the engine will run to provide heat in the cabin. If you turn off the heating the engine will stop sooner after startup, If you turn the heating back on, the engine will start immediately if the coolant temperature isn't yet high enough.

Here's a page that might be useful. It's about the 2010-2014 Prius and code 3004. I wonder if the 2012 CT200h is mostly the same mechanically and electrically. The page says: P3004 TOYOTA - Power Cable Malfunction Possible causes Faulty Inverter With Converter Assembly Inverter With Converter Assembly harness is open or shorted Inverter With Converter Assembly circuit poor electrical connection Tech notes Toyota recently released a warranty enhancement for 2010-2014 Prius, extending the coverage of the inverter/converter Intelligent Powertrain Module. Toyota Bulletin Information: Toyota has received some reports where the Intelligent Power Module (IPM) located inside the inverter assembly of the hybrid system may fail. This condition is indicated by hybrid system diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs): P0A94, P324E, P3004, and/or P0A1A. If one or more of these DTCs are detected, various warning lamps on the instrument panel will also illuminate and the vehicle will enter fail safe mode. Although the Hybrid Inverter assembly is covered by Toyota’s New Vehicle Limited Warranty for 8 years or 100,000 miles (whichever occurs first), we at Toyota care about the customers’ ownership experience. Toyota is now extending the warranty coverage for repairs related to failure of the Intelligent Power Module (IPM). Possible causes Faulty Inverter With Converter Assembly Inverter With Converter Assembly harness is open or shorted Inverter With Converter Assembly circuit poor electrical connection