Herbie

Yep, it has gone to battery heaven as the chart below will show: You need to use the car more or, given the lockdown, the advice on Toyota's website was to put the car in P and READY mode for 60 minutes per week. The petrol engine will fire up as needed to keep the 12V battery topped up, but don't leave it unattended because anyone could drive away in it once it's in READY mode - just sit in it and read the paper or something.

Now that worries me. You should not need to "bang it on". Maybe he's damaged it and acid has leaked out, so first thing I would do is get it out for a proper physical inspection. That also worries me. If you didn't try to start it then the clunk can't be the starter motor. There is a thing called 'solenoid chatter' but I don't think it's that. This is where the battery is low but has enough power to energise the starter solenoid. As the contacts pull in to pass power to the starter motor the voltage drops like a stone to the point where the solenoid drops out, whereupon the battery voltage rises again and the whole process is rapidly repeated again and again and you hear a series of rapid clicks as the contacts keep pulling in and out.

No idea but isn't it still under the manufacturers warranty? If so, don't mess about, get it straight back to the dealers.

Hi Andrew and welcome to the club. There have been many threads about this so you should be able to search for them, although I have to admit that I rarely manage to use the search function successfully. What I can say is that where the tailgate gas struts fix to the body is often a suspect area, as are the rear lights and their seals. There may be some standing water, say under the luggage area floor, so if there is you may have to drill a hole through the floor to let it drain out. I'll send you a private message with some info that may be helpful.

Even better: £112 from Lexus Parts Direct

^^^^^^This

I know what you mean. I'm in Preston and just itching to get a good run to see family around the country. If you really don't use the car much then even a brand new, fully charged battery will be completely flat in about 41 days (5.94 weeks) but for the purposes of starting the car it'll be useless way before that, maybe in about three weeks. During the first lockdown when we really couldn't travel anywhere the advice given on Toyota's website was to run the car in READY mode with selector in 'P' for 60 minutes per week, just to keep the 12V battery topped up. However, don't leave the car unattended as someone could drive off in it!

Almost certainly the 12V battery dying, but before spending money on a new one can you charge it overnight or stick jump leads on to see how it behaves with a 'known-good' 12V source?

Almost certainly the 12V battery given its age. The chart below should help in your decision - values given are the battery 'standing' voltage. If you check with the car in READY mode you should see approx 14.5V at the battery terminals. As for Techstream, what's to gamble? It works perfectly on my Windows 10 laptop, just as it did with all previous versions back to XP, so for £20 to £30 you get a superb diagnostic tool - it's the very same software as their own techs use in their workshops.

My feelings exactly Paul! I know that some people may not be able to get about as much for medical reasons which is fair enough but, and I don't mean to cause offence to anyone but it has to be said because it does seem to be part of the problem, some people seem to have two or three, maybe even four cars to go at. Some only get used as a weekend 'toy' and some are garaged for months on end. I know it's not my place to say it but it really narks me My wife and I just have the one car, our RX, and it's in daily use doing everything we need - tip runs, Asda/Sainsburys runs, pleasure runs, European driving holidays to places like Poland, Czech, Latvia and so on, and anything else you can think of.

Thanks anyway Jeff I've now discovered it's an Apple file of some sort, which is typical - the whole world does things one way but Apple are out on their own and don't want to play with us

Have you got Techstream so that you can run an active test on it? The only other thing is to use a multimeter or 12V test lamp to check for voltages and/or continuity in the wiring and connectors. EDIT: The isolator switch for the tailgate is a small round switch on the right-hand edge of the glove box. Open the glove box 'door' and it reveals the switch - it's not actually 'in' the glove box itself.

Dodo Juice have just won 'Best leather cleaner' or some such award for the 4th year running so I'm sticking with that.

I have no idea what a .heic file is but my Windows 10 computer can't open it. Can you post in a normal .jpg or .png file format?

Yep, like brand new.

Absolutely, and it was delicious 😊

Why not have your own alternator professionally refurbished? I live a couple of miles from these guys https://www.ribblesdale.co.uk/ and they are brilliant. You may have a similar place near you but if not you can sent it to Ribblesdale.

Absolutely, yes - but the salient point is "suitable". As long as it's a modern charger like the CTEK that has a clean and regulated output and not some 40 year-old transformer-based charger that would have a dirty unregulated output then yes, it'll be fine. That dedicated 'jump start connector' under the red cover in the fusebox is connected directly back to the battery positive terminal, so whether you put the charger/jumper at the front or the back it doesn't matter.

It depends mostly on if you want to take out a Lexus Extended Warranty because one of the conditions attached to it is that you have the car serviced at a Lexus dealership. If you are the sort of person who likes to have a warranty then forget third-party ones as the Lexus warranty is about the best you'll ever get. It includes the hybrid health check, full breakdown cover (including Europe) and it even covers your spouse as well as you, no matter who the car belongs to - doesn't even need to be a Lexus. If you're not bothered about a warranty then just have any work done at any recommended, known-good, garage and get the Hybrid Health Check done as a stand-alone service from Lexus for £59. As long as it passes it's covered for a year or 10k miles.

You must be on a slow connection John. It had fully downloaded for me in 15 seconds and I can hear the indicator/hazards ticking away but just no video. Not sure about the key, he doesn't mention that (or not that I've seen anyway) but like Mark above, I'd almost guarantee that the 12V battery is too low.

Video not playing but 11V isn't brilliant:

Is it the oil level light or the oil pressure light? Not sure if your car has both but some do.

There is a dedicated jump start connector in the engine bay fuse box, usually under a red plastic cover. I have an RX rather than an NX so your fusebox may look slightly different but the connector will be there somewhere: Although it is primarily a 'jump start connector' you can connect a trickle charger (such as the CTEK MX5) to that point if you wanted to. Rather than keep calling the AA for something so simple, you'd be better off buying a jump start battery pack like this one here or something similar - there's plenty available out there. These are small enough to be kept in the glove box and they hold their charge well so that it's ready when you need it. Just remember to take it into the house maybe every 6 months to top up the charge. To make an even better job of it you could even fit a more convenient jump start socket somewhere in the cabin like I did here: EDIT: I forgot to answer this: I can guarantee that this would be referring to the high voltage hybrid battery (because it self-charges rather than having to plug it into the mains). This is a completely separate thing from the 12V battery system.

Yep, as Dave says above, whenever you're parked up with the radio or whatever on, always have the car in 'P' and READY mode so that the engine can fire up and stop the battery from depleting too much.

Not so interesting really as that's how it's supposed to work. The DC/DC converter, just like an alternator in a conventional car, will supply all of the electrical demands once the car is running. If there's enough energy 'left over' so to speak, then it will also keep the 12V battery charged up. Whether conventional or hybrid, the 12V battery is only used for starting then the alternator/converter takes over.