Delphius1

Steve, It's the same thing. Basically you avoid using a charge current high enough to produce gas in the battery. ANY sealed lead acid battery needs to be charged at a low charge rate to avoid excess gas production. We all know that lead acid batteries produce hydrogen and oxygen as they are charged. The trick with a sealed battery is you charge it slowly enough so that either no gas or very little gas is produced. The hydrogen and oxygen will eventually recombine in the battery case back to water and all is good, the battery isn't damaged. If you overcharge a sealed battery, it starts to produce so much gas the pressure in the case builds up to dangerous levels and to avoid the case splitting from the pressure, the valves in the vents open and allow the gasses to exit the battery case. But that means you've lost that hydrogen and oxygen and it can never recombine in the battery case. You've just lost some electrolyte. If you continue to overcharge the battery, eventually it looses so much electrolyte it starts to fail. A loss of capacity is the result, so you end up effectively with a dead battery. If your battery has removable plugs that you can use to top up the electrolyte then it's not a sealed battery. Sealed batteries don't have any ports. Sometimes sealed batteries are called maintenance free or sealed for life. As for the charge state window, the colour depends on the manufacturer of the battery. Not sure what blue means. Generally green is charged and good, red is low charge and no colour is low electrolyte. Red and green usually mean the same thing but manufacturers use different colours for the other battery states. Way back when I was a young apprentice working on emergency power supplies I had an explosive education into how much hydrogen and oxygen a big bank of rapidly charging wet lead acid batteries can produce and how much acid comes out of a case when you blow it apart. 😞

If you are looking for longer distances on battery power, then a plug-in hybrid may be more suitable for your needs. The plug-in hybrids tend to have a bigger capacity battery pack to allow for more mileage on electricity only. They tend to have smaller engines and use the electricity to beef up performance. But plugging-in allows you to top up the battery without relying on regen. So the batteries are full after a night on charge and ready to give you maximum range on electricity. The normal hybrids like the RX tend to have smaller battery packs and use them as an adjunct to the engine, scavenging energy to extend range through regenerative braking to use with the petrol engine for acceleration, or on electricity only at slow speeds.

AGM and Gel type batteries tend to be sealed and need a different charging regime to "normal" wet lead acid batteries. Being a sealed battery, you can only charge AGM and Gel batteries at a very low charge rate. This prevents the batteries producing excess gas. If they did produce excess gas, the case would blow, so they have valves that vent the gas over a certain pressure. If gas escapes out of the vents, that's your battery capacity escaping into the atmosphere and you can't ever get it back. Always use the correct charger with AGM and Gel batteries. Don't be tempted to use anything else as it can ruin the battery. One thing that people forget is that when an AGM or Gel battery is flat, it can take days to fully recharge because of the low charge rate. Charging overnight isn't enough. Also if you jump start the car after the battery has gone flat the charging circuit on the car is designed to charge at the specified low charge rate, so you'd have to drive the car round for days non-stop to fully charge the battery. :-) Open wet lead acid batteries can quite happily sit gassing for days and you just top up the electrolyte with distilled water. You can't do that on a sealed battery. Even sealed wet lead acid batteries should be charged to avoid gassing because you can't top the electrolyte back up. Basically AGM and Gel batteries hold a small amount of acid electrolyte close to the lead plates in a sort of thin sandwich, which makes them smaller and lighter. AGM batteries hold the electrolyte in a wet mat held up to the lead plates (hence the name Absorbed Glass Mat) and Gel batteries hold the electrolyte in a sheet of gel essentially. They work more or less the same as a wet lead acid battery (where the lead plate is suspended in a bath of electrolyte: So bulky! You can get more technical as the charging regimes for each type of battery is different, but the essential thing is to always use a charger designed for the type of battery you have. Hooking up an old 4 or 8 Amp battery charger to an AGM or Gel battery (or even sealed wet battery) is a sure-fire way to get them gassing thereby reducing the capacity and rendering them useless.

Does anyone know the dimensions of the battery on the hybrids? The MX-5 uses a 32Ah Panasonic sealed gel battery which is 325mm long x 125mm deep x 160mm high. It even has vent ports on it because it's designed to sit in the boot on the MX-5. Not sure if it's the same battery or has similar specs, but it might be a cheaper alternative.

You say you've broken the ignition, but could you be more specific? Is the steering lock not accepting the correct key now and the lock isn't turning and releasing, or is the security system not recognising the key (engine will turn over and not start) when you try and start the car? It just helps knowing what the problem is.

I got a 5 watt solar panel and an obd plug and wired them together so the solar panel delivers 12v to the 12v battery. I use on both the Wife's and my car if we leave them for any length of time. I just prop the panel up on the dash and plug it into the obd socket.

All the carb-equipped cars I had always need fettling. Usually worn jets, broken heaters or auto-chokes on the damn things. Electronic fuel injection (as opposed the the mechanical variety) provided a step-change in reliability as far as I was concerned. Factory rust prevention measures stopped cars rotting to bits within 5 years, so bodies got better. My first car was a 9-year-old Audi 80 that was so rotten the rear suspension parted from the Body and had to be welded back on and even after that was fixed, the boot floor was so rusty if I filled it and jammed the boot lid down I expected everything to end up on the road below! I had a 10 year old Peugeot 505 that needed complete new sills both sides. Now cars easily surpass 15 years without any welding being needed. Suspension parts needed to be changed almost on a yearly or two-yearly basis. Thankfully they last a lot longer. Some things like fuel injection improved the car without a massive increase in cost and complexity, but when CANBUS and the other "networked parts" systems came in, it saved the manufacturers cost, but increased complexity and cost for the consumer. And the more intelligent safety systems will only make things worse. Not only that, if parts are replaced and not aligned correctly can actually be dangerous. Just think of a lane-keeping system that isn't aligned correctly and keeps swerving to the side... And the alignment is complex and dealer-only. OBD2 diagnostics started out as a great idea to help the independent and home mechanics, but manufacturers then went and made all but the basic diagnostics only available through proprietary software. Or mega-expensive professional readers that can interface with all the different manufacturers. I assume that's why some of the simpler and cheaper makes like Dacia have such a good following. They're simple enough to be cheap relative to other makes and therefore easier/cheaper to service. Car manufacturers sell some front end parts at a loss in order to reduce insurance costs and therefore groupings to boost sales. That's how expensive things like headlamps and bumpers with parking sensors can be.

Another place to look would be the boot. The nav ecu and the camera ecu are in the boot as is the bulb failure module. But there is no common connection for all the things that are failing. Each if the three modules have indicator, reverse and camera lines.

I can't think of any single module that is common to all of the issues you mention. It's more likely a wiring issue. The dashboard would be a good area to look as the wiring for all of those would at some point be in the dashboard area. Most of the wires run to the tailgate and I'd have suspected pinched/broken wires at the tailgate, but the climate control eliminates that and pushes the fault more to the dashboard area. The camera goes to the multimedia module, as does the climate control wiring. The indicator wiring goes to the hazard switch in the centre console, the reversing switch wiring also goes to the multimedia module to switch the screen to the camera signal. So my first thought would be to look in the dash area around and behind the screen to check for damaged wiring. It's amazing where little rodents can get and chew wires. 😉

Progress isn't always good. I well remember when virtually every car on the road had round 7" headlamps. Then cars got individual styling and manufacturers moved away from standardised parts to parts for a particular brand or range of cars. Now we have intelligent parts that link to a CANBUS network to save cabling, but that "intelligence" adds cost. Then manufacturers moved to LED headlamps where the LED lasts longer and is brighter than a filament bulb, but is part of the headlamp module. So if an individual LED fails, the whole headlamp needs changing, instead of having replaceable LED modules. We've also added complexity in the form of "adaptive" headlamps that illuminate corners. All of this adds cost. I've seen replacement headlamp units now costing over £1200 each. But this cost isn't just limited to luxury cars. Sure, a Mercedes has more gadgets that a Peugeot 106, but the gap is becoming narrower. Small cars are getting the tech inside them such that extras like cruise control are just a software upgrade rather than hardware. But then adding accessories can sometimes require a software update because the car's systems need to be aware of the new accessory. An update only available at the dealer, so we're back to additional expense. All of this complexity does have a benefit when it comes to safety, but does the advantage outweigh the cost? If you're buying a new car probably yes, because parts are covered by warranty, but outside the warranty period, it's buyer beware, because eventually having to replace a headlamp could write the car off, or it may be impossible to (say) add a towbar because the car requires a dealer-only software update. The same goes for electric cars: the battery is a huge cost and eventually replacement could be more than the value of the car. We've already seen it with "lifetime" filled transmissions, where the word lifetime could mean anything. My advice is take "lifetime" as meaning the warranty period, however long (or short) that is. But all of this really is an indication that manufacturers want to move away from selling cars to leasing them instead (the Apple "sales" model!). The era of car ownership will eventually come to an end.

On my rx300 I had a rattle/squeak at the front edge of the dash when the car was cold. I sorted it with some sponge cord pushed into the gap between the dash and the windscreen. It put just enough pressure on the front edge of the dash to stop it moving about. Sponge cord is what the dealers use to plump up door seals that don't quite fit snug and plug rattly gaps. I'm sure I saw it first on wheeler dealers.

If it's held in by cable ties, doubt it'll be a Lexus install. 😉 Probably someone wanted to make a seat rumbler by putting a subwoofer under the seat. Not sure sound quality would be any good without an enclosure, but it'd keep the wife happy.

I'd second Peter's diagnosis. The RX is very hard on the anti roll bars and drop links. The bushes and the linkages wear out quite quickly. The rear anti roll bar bushes are easily accessible at the rear of the car and are easily replaced. The drop links again are an easy DIY job, you just need to remove the rear wheel to get access. The parts are cheap. I got my roll bar bushes for about a tenner.

I think Audi drivers have a different perspective of personal space. A bit like cats. I'm pretty sure pulling out and switching lanes when there's a 2-ton 4x4 bearing down on you at 50mph 20 feet away isn't a safe manouvre. Luckily I slammed on the brakes, the EBA kicked in and we slowed down in time for him to duck back into his own lane when he saw us in his mirrors. Fair play he used his mirrors, but bad form for waiting until after he'd started the lane change. lol. We braked that hard I thought my car was going to end up on it's nose. It's still weird when the brake pedal shoots away from your foot as the braking assist kicks in.

A good buy, I like my SE-Nav. You get most of the toys and none of the worry. Being heavy they tend to wear the anti roll bar bushes and drop links. Keeping all that weight upright on corners is hard work! Luckily cheap to replace and easy DIY jobs. You learn to coast and use the weight. I've had mine nearly two years now and this summer I'm planning pad replacement. I'm going to order new slider pins and rubber boots because the boots disintegrate with age and the slider pins seize. They're not that much for a set off eBay, so it's worth fitting new ones and making sure they're greased up and move freely. Even with all that weight, when the emergency brake assist kicks in, it can really stop! It surprised me the first time it happened and it saved me on the M5 fully loaded when an Audi pulled out of a stationary queue into my lane!

I have a musty smell in mine, but it's in the air conditioning unit. It can be fine and then I switch to recirculate or back, I get a musty smell. I've tried the usual aircon freshener type aerosols and they get rid of it for a little while, but it always comes back after a couple of months. The tray that catches the condensation from the aircon can get mouldy and it's bu**er to get clean again. There are videos showing people putting aircon cleaner foam up the condensation drain pipe. I might try that in the summer.

I take it you replaced the linkage between the height sensor and the arm? In that case all you need to do is adjust the link to the correct length and the headlamp levelling motors will automatically follow the sensor until they are at the correct beam height. It's not easy though adjusting the link arm under the car whilst keeping an eye on the beam height. But if you can contort yourself, you can see the beam raising as you adjust the link.

I wonder if it was resprayed for an advertisement or something? I've seen a Lexus on eBay in the same green as the cars they use on the LV adverts. I just wonder of they get the cars sprayed in a particular colour to suit the ad and then end up at dealers afterwards with strange paint schemes. Of course these days they can be vinyl wraps as well, so it may be a standard colour underneath.

Having to do anything like a cat clean indicates some issue. Why did the cats need to be cleaned? Were they covered in oil deposits from oil being burned in the combustion chamber? The matrix of metals in the cat can only work when they are fully exposed to and touching the exhaust gas stream, so coating them reduces the cat efficiency. In some cases the soot from burning oil can start to clog the cat. If the cat efficiency was restored by cleaning the matrix, then I'd talk to the mechanic about it. High hydrocarbons in the emissions results would point towards oil being burned in the combustion chamber and confirm the reason for needing to clean the cats. The reasons can vary, but it could be down to something as simple as a blocked crankcase breather valve (a £15 part). Oil in the exhaust will coat everything downstream of the engine, so all the oxygen sensors and all the cats can be affected.

Haven't heard of any chafing issues at all on Lexus'. But I've seen plenty of cars attacked by rodents where wiring looms have been nibbled, causing issues. It's worth checking around the engine bay for nibbled foam and plastic parts. That's a good indication of a rodent infestation.

It would be worth asking the mechanic about the emission results. Although cats do eventually wear out, I'd expect them to last a lot longer than 90K. There's usually some underlying engine issue that kills the cats. Either burning oil or an air leak in the exhaust. Make sure any engine issue is resolved otherwise you could be looking at another big bill in a year's time.

Looks like it just got a bit wet, that's all. Possibly a 2-colur stamp and the blue ink ran worse then the black.

My own experience is that due to expense of the air suspension parts and the high probability that they will rust and fail, then I went for an SE-Nav instead of an SE-L. Rust is the killer of the air struts, because the air chamber is partly steel and it rusts quite badly and as soon as the rust creates even a pinhole in the steel, it's a new shock at £700. I'd advise anyone getting a new air strut fitted to have the steel part of the air chamber waxoyled or something like that to make it last longer.

I know that some of the modern LED adaptive headlamp units being fitted to cars these days can cost North of £1000 per unit and you have to replace the whole unit, not replaceable bulbs. Eye-watering. And they're not just fitted to high-end cars. If you're buying a new car these days, it may be a prudent thing before you buy to walk into the spares dept of the dealer and attempt to order something a low-flying Pheasant is liable to take out on it's Kamikaze run across the road. Headlamps, fog lamps and Daytime running lights, cruise control radar, the grille and possibly mirrors. As cars get more complicated and these parts move to being motorised, or include sensors, cameras and the like, it's worth checking how much that technology costs if you need to replace it.

Not sure on the best one, but if you have the fob in a pouch on your keyring, it removes the need to put your keys in a tin box in the house. Most tend to come in packs of two, so you can cover the spare fob as well. I think most of the pouches tend to work to some degree, the best are the ones that have some sort of closure that completely covers the fob. Obviously the next consideration is how easy you can get the fob out of the pouch. If it's hard, you end up not bothering to use the pouch. Easiest thing to test the pouch is to put the fob in the pouch and walk up to the car. If you can open the car, the pouch isn't working and you need to send it back.