Rutlandlex

If you go to www.carparts4less.co.uk (basically owned by Euro Car Parts but the prices are cheaper!) then they will deliver to France for just £4.95. I'm not 100% sure that they deliver batteries internationally but worth a punt.

Gary - is it possible that they have recorded the NSF incorrectly i.e. should it be 3.50mm rather than 2.50mm? 3.5 would be consistent wear given the reduction in the OSF tread. Maybe get Kwik Fit or another garage to check them again.

A lot of people say that but has anyone actually tried it? Well last December, I decided that in the interests of scientific research I ought to try it. Faced with a flat battery in a Mini Cooper S I had the perfect opportunity. I moved the Lexus into position and left it in Ready mode. The engine was running because it was cold and I had the heater on. I lifted the bonnet and connected the jump leads which was a bit of a challenge on the Mini due to awkward access but I got a spark. I then jumped into the Mini, pressed the clutch pedal down and hit the start/stop button and it fired up straightaway. So I wouldn't say never, I would say take the same precautions as any other car i.e. don't ***** up the polarity, don't short the leads out and leave the Lexus in ready mode so that it can draw on the power from the traction battery if necessary.

Could the issue be inside the caravan? When you flick the switch inside the caravan to car battery do the other electrics work like the interior lights? It's been a while since I've had a caravan hooked up to mine so I can't remember how it all works but in theory then charging of the leisure battery and powering the fridge as well as operating other electrics should work apart from mains stuff.

Well I've always run the fuel right down until the warning light comes on and even 10's of miles with the warning light on in every car I have ever owned and I have never had an issue. I see filling up with fuel as a necessary evil so in order to reduce the number of fill-ups then I stretch each tank as far as I can.

99% of the time when people get the AFS off flashing light it is the mechanical bit of the rear suspension level sensor that has snapped so I think that you are in the 1% Welland! The fact that the fault is temperamental suggests an electrical issue rather than a mechanical one so it could be a component of the AFS that is a bit dodgy rather than headlamp levelling. That LF Solenoid problem would be Left Front but from Googling that error code and description most seem to suggest it's an ABS issue. I see no reason for AFS and ABS to be linked because they don't share any common parts that I know of. That code could be a red herring that is either completely false or you could have an ABS issue in the pipeline. I think that what you're best to do is plug in your OBD readers when the fault is live and see if any new codes come up. These free systems can't connect to every circuit in the car unfortunately otherwise garages wouldn't spend 10's of thousands on diagnostic equipment if they could just use a laptop and free software would they?

Is the Lexus Recovery for when you run out of petrol????

They are not a great design. Mine kept falling off so I used a very small cable tie to hold it in place and it's been fine ever since.

Towing may or may not have anything to do with it. I was just pointing out that it appeared to have a towbar fitted so towing as a factor cannot be ruled out. The oil cooler could be damaged for all we know and this could have led to it overheating. I have towed a caravan with mine and I would say that it is good for towing except for 2 things - one being the very high rpm's from the engine when towing uphill and the other being the hideous fuel economy. Torque converter autos do have the ability to lock up in the higher gears for better efficiency on the move but they are also immensely complicated with much more to go wrong than an e-CVT. There are scores of Volvo owners who have experienced failed Geartronic auto boxes as a result of towing due to overheating caused by the fact that the gearboxes are tiny which means that they struggle to dissipate the heat and the oil coolers are also too small. The previous owner of this car could have abused the gearbox by constantly changing direction between D and R while the car was still moving or even into P while still moving. I was just shocked to discover a 400h with a failed gearbox as I have never come across that before. It just goes to show that even the simplest of gearboxes can still break.

I used to have a Saab 9-5 Aero which was a fully fledged member of torque steer city! I agree that when you have owned a car like that then the Lexus torque steer is really not that bad.

Have you had the battery tested by a garage to see whether the battery is being drained or just losing the ability to hold a charge? There's an outside chance that it could be an inverter issue. I believe that there was a recall on the early 400h's which involved replacing the inverter and it only affected the 05-06 models. You can go on the Lexus website and enter your reg. number and it will tell you if there are any outstanding recalls for your car. I bought a new aux battery around Black Friday from Euro Car Parts although I have yet to fit it because I thought that mine wouldn't last through the winter but so far it has.

The tyres make a difference too. I think the OEM's were Bridgestone Potenzas which I recently had removed from my car and they are very torque steery. My new BF Goodrich Urban Terrains don't have this issue at all. They are much grippier in the wet than the Bridgestones too so maybe that explains why they don't slither around.

Yes I think £3k is somewhat steep for it given that it could potentially cost £2k to fix. It's impossible to say what the issue might be without seeing it but there are better examples out there with working gearboxes for those who are looking for one of these cars.

Not my car thankfully but I was browsing Gumtree looking at RX's and found this one for sale. The engine starts but it has no drive so I just wonder what that could be. The only thing that I can think of is that there is an electrical issue causing a break in communication between the gearstick and the gearbox or the planetary gearset has broken. I've never come across a failed gearbox on a 400h before so I thought that I would share it. The car does appear to have a towbar on it albeit with no towball attached so maybe the gearbox could have overheated as a result of towing something heavy but again a very rare event indeed. https://www.gumtree.com/p/lexus/2006-lexus-rx-400h-3.3-se-cvt-5dr-auto/1324610681

It's not illegal but it is being economical with the truth. That's the good thing about the Autotrader website/app in that it will show if a car has been a total loss and what category it was. Maybe that's why this car was advertised on Gumtree instead! That said always do your own checks for insurance loss and outstanding finance regardless of which site the car is advertised on. As long as it's been professionally repaired then there will be no safety issues but being written off does affect it's value after being put back on the road. Did the HPI report say it was a 400 or 450?

The way I look at it is that the hybrid system works unless there is any evidence to the contrary. I had mine serviced at 125k at my local garage and paid less than £200 (about £190 ish I think) and that included new pollen and air filters. For me to take my car to a Lexus main dealer would be a major PITA because of where I live and work so that's also a factor for me which wouldn't apply to others. My local garage noticed that my rear wiring loom for the Hybrid system is quite corroded which was impressive seeing as it's not part of a normal service. They said that it may never cause an issue but if it did then they would be prepared to fix it for me rather than having my pants pulled down at a Lexus Dealer!

Welcome to Lexus land. I don't know much about the CT's other than them being based on the Auris hybrid so I can't answer your questions from experience. The only thing that I would say is is your phone fairly new and therefore using a modern bluetooth standard?

See image below. Do you ever run your battery low by driving on electric only because if you do it should go blue until it gets down to 2 bars then it will turn purple and the engine may kick in. Hybrids are affected even more than normal cars because you are comparing the summer when the engine will shut off readily even if not warm with winter when it is running a lot of the time. There are other variables particularly heater settings that affect when and how long the engine runs. On a normal car the engine runs all of the time anyway save for stop/start technology so the difference is smaller.

Best of luck in your search. In my opinion you should be looking at one with just over 100k on it that has had the cambelt replaced. The interval is 100k so if you buy one with 89k on it then in no time you will have a very expensive service to pay for. Buy one with 100k that has had the belt changed and then you have another 100k before it needs doing again. Ideally it will have had the waterpump done at the same time. If there's anything that you're not sure about then you know where we are 😊

Yes that’s right. The sensor is formed of a mechanical bit and an electrical bit and it’s only the mechanical bit that breaks. Main dealers of all makes, Lexus included, don’t repair things they just swap whole units so they will charge £400 for a complete new sensor or £500 fitted. All you need is a bit of thread and a couple of ball joints to make a new mechanical bit. There are many other examples of similar situations where dealers charge a month’s wages for changing a unit when only a tiny piece has broken when it can be repaired very cheaply either as a DIY job or a local garage job. 🤚

Holy sh**! How do you get it so low?

I was getting 31mpg in the summer and 26-27 in the winter so what sort of figures are you getting Gliderpilot? Does your battery ever go green on the power meter because if so then that would suggest that it is healthy enough?

Well I bought my 2007 56 plate 400h at the beginning of April last year with 113k on the clock and it now has 129k on it so I've done a fair few miles in it. Reliability has been horrendous. In that time I have had the spring clip on the fuel filler cap come off, an exhaust heat shield come off and the rear ride height sensor snapped meaning no headlamp levelling. It has cost me £12 in repairs on a nearly 12 year old car which is outrageous!!! I remember thinking to myself the other day "Why didn't I just buy a German diesel of the same age so that I can have the pleasure of listening to the soundtrack of a Massey Ferguson every day whilst choking people to death and spending thousands in repairs?" Ah well I've bought the Lexus now so I guess I will just have to live with it 🤣

I'm pretty sure that these are 2 separate issues. I'm now convinced that the loss of braking power is caused by a combination of bumps and cold, damp conditions. I have been taking more notice recently and I have been braking using the regen brake then hit a bump then suddenly no regen. I'm guessing it is the wheel speed sensors that detect a tiny momentary wheel lock so the system stops the regen brake to allow the mechanical brakes to take over in case the ABS is needed but it isn't because the wheel lock-up is over with so quickly. I never noticed any issues in the summer with this.

Not as "new fangled" as a DPF! The first Prius went on sale in 1997 but DPF's in their current form weren't sold until 2004. DPF's aren't considered to be new fangled so why should a battery that's been around even longer? My dad's just bought a Toyota Auris hybrid and you should see the size of the battery on that. It makes ours (400h) seem big! It's tucked away behind some trim in the corner of the boot near the OSR light cluster so there is very little space in there.