Herbie

I've got one of these and it's brilliant http://cdslotmount.com/

No offence Neil but you've just been lucky. The crucial thing is that the recipient car does not draw on the traction battery as you state above. The battery of a conventional car is only used for cranking the engine and the starter motor can draw more than 300A while doing this. Once the engine is running and the alternator is spinning, the alternator runs all of the electrical systems (and also replenishes the battery) so the recipient car draws power from the donor car's alternator, not its battery. This is all well and good because an alternator can supply plenty of current, with some of them being capable of outputting 300A or more. Our hybrids don't have alternators, they have DC/DC converters instead, which is basically a complicated box of electronics that steps down the traction battery voltage from approximately 288V to 14.5V but crucially at nowhere near such a high current as a standard alternator would supply. It takes less than 20A to get my RX450h into READY mode so the DC/DC converters are not rated to output hundreds of amps and if the recipient car tries to draw anything like that, then there is likely to be a big bang and lots of smoke from the converter, which will translate to a huge dent in your wallet. To me, it's just not worth the risk.

I've made a schoolboy error here I'm sad to say, and actually posted Part 2 of this project into some other topic, so for the sake of continuity here is a copy of it. PART 2 Well I've finally managed to finish off the job! Unfortunately my back was killing me and my head was still a little 'spinny' so I have to confess that I just ploughed on to get it done and forgot to take many photos. However, there are three below. The first one shows that just up in the passenger footwell where the carpet ends, there's a big rubber grommet that takes the existing wiring loom through the bulkhead. It wasn't too difficult to cut a hole in this grommet to take my conduit out the same way. From there I just ran it along under the carpet and took the centre console trim panel off to get it in behind there to where I wanted it - nothing can be seen and no one would know it's there. The second photo shows the wiring at the engine bay fuse box. Technically I should have used the 12V post under the red cover as that is the dedicated jump start connection, but the yellow insulation on the ring terminal made that quite difficult and it was easier to 'break out' of the other one. They're both permanently energised and a direct connection back to the battery anyway so it doesn't really matter. Because my new wires will be permanently connected to the battery it's essential to fuse the circuit, so I installed an in-line fuse-holder and put a 15A fuse in it. This will be plenty big enough to handle the jump start current but is small enough to protect the cable that I've just installed and prevent a fire in case of a chafed wire/short circuit. I connected the negative (or earth, if you prefer) wire to one of the bolts nearby. The final photo shows that it's all working and if I ever need to jump start her then I'll be able to do it from the comfort and dryness of the cabin, no matter what the weather's doing outside

As a rule of thumb, on most cars fuse boxes are in the engine bay, driver's footwell and passenger's footwell, but your owner's manual will tell you where they are. Are you sure you want a permanent feed to the camera and risk it draining the battery? Normal practice is that the dashcam comes on/off with the ignition unless the camera specifically has a parking mode and not all of them do.

I know it sounds daft but try changing the battery again - just because it's 'new' doesn't necessarily mean that it's good. Oh, and try to clean the contacts as well.

That can indeed happen. Some CD/DVD burning software like the one below will allow you to query the Gracenote database for the info if it isn't already there and merge it into the burn for you.

What Colin says above. This may help:

That's true Colin, although I'm hoping it's because I've had the doors open while I've been doing the work. We'll be having a trundle up the motorway tomorrow so we'll see what happens 😄

If that's true then that's your problem Vlad. https://www.gracenote.com/auto/music-recognition-auto/

Well I've finally managed to finish off the job! Unfortunately my back was killing me and my head was still a little 'spinny' so I have to confess that I just ploughed on to get it done and forgot to take many photos. However, there are three below. The first one shows that just up in the passenger footwell where the carpet ends, there's a big rubber grommet that takes the existing wiring loom through the bulkhead. It wasn't too difficult to cut a hole in this grommet to take my conduit out the same way. From there I just ran it along under the carpet and took the centre console trim panel off to get it in behind there to where I wanted it - nothing can be seen and no one would know it's there. The second photo shows the wiring at the engine bay fuse box. Technically I should have used the 12V post under the red cover as that is the dedicated jump start connection, but the yellow insulation on the ring terminal made that quite difficult and it was easier to 'break out' of the other one. They're both permanently energised and a direct connection back to the battery anyway so it doesn't really matter. Because my new wires will be permanently connected to the battery it's essential to fuse the circuit, so I installed an in-line fuse-holder and put a 15A fuse in it. This will be plenty big enough to handle the jump start current but is small enough to protect the cable that I've just installed and prevent a fire in case of a chafed wire/short circuit. I connected the negative (or earth, if you prefer) wire to one of the bolts nearby. The final photo shows that it's all working and if I ever need to jump start her then I'll be able to do it from the comfort and dryness of the cabin, no matter what the weather's doing outside

Look for any settings to do with Gracenote - that's the database of tracks/artists. Maybe it's been disabled?

I don't know but have a look here.

You're right, it is a doddle and much easier than getting at the battery under the boot floor. However, given that I'm clumsy at the best of times I just know that if I needed to do it on a cold, wet, windy night I'd either break or lose the little plastic 'poppers' that hold the engine cover on, which is why I decided to bring the jump point inside the cabin. That is indeed, expensive. Assuming your failing battery still has some juice left (if it hasn't then there's no settings to save anyway) then all you have to do is to ensure an unbroken 12V supply to the car. A cheaper alternative would be to drill a small hole in the top of the lead terminals of the existing battery and use either croc clip to croc clip leads or croc clip to banana plug and just connect from lead terminal to the clamp that you're undoing. These are available for just over a couple of quid a pair from eBay and will do just exactly the same job: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1m-Banana-Plug-to-Crocodile-Alligator-Clip-Multi-Meter-Test-Leads-Red-Black/112866954164?hash=item1a47650bb4:g:BtUAAOSw9GhYa8j8 Another alternative would be to get an OBD2 plug with 'fly leads' at the other end and just connect the Genius to the correct wires. The example below is just under seven quid delivered from here.

It doesn't matter, just personal preference and whichever is easier for you. As Barry says above, I did install a more convenient 'jump start socket' in the boot at one time, but then I discovered that the tailgate can't be opened if the 12V battery is flat. I then decided to install another socket in a really convenient place but I still haven't been able to finish the job off yet as I'm still suffering from extreme vertigo when I have to get my head into strange positions.

Without a doubt, yes it will. A conventional car has a starter motor that takes upwards of 300A to crank the engine, but a hybrid car doesn't have a starter motor as such and all the 12V battery does is to boot the computers and pressurise the brake system, which takes less than 20A to do. In fact, 'starting' a hybrid takes so little current that you could in theory use a pack of 8 AA batteries - but I wouldn't advise trying it 😄

And how much to replace the transmission if that filter lets metal filings into places where they shouldn't get to? OK, yes, there will be a benefit to changing the fluid alone and yes, I'm talking extreme, worst-case scenario, but is it worth the risk? I'd say not, but of course, that's only my personal opinion. And I can see that the filter and gaskets may have to come from Lexus (I had to go to Lexus for my RX300 filter and gasket) but you should be able to get nuts and bolts from any engineering or fixings suppliers.

I don't see the point of changing any fluids but not the associated filters. The clue is in the name - they 'filter' out any crud and stop it from getting to places where it could do harm. There may well be a time when the filter gets so full of crud that it can no longer do its job and you can bet your bottom dollar that recovering from that will be much more expensive. Even if I live to be a hundred I'll never be able to afford a brand new car so all my cars, from the day I passed my test in June 1975, have been secondhand ones. As soon as I take ownership of a 'new to me' car I change all fluids and filters and then I know where I'm starting from. It may or may not be overkill but it keeps me happy. Having said that, I didn't do it when I bought this RX, but it did only have about 30k on the clock and full Lexus history so I made an exception this time.

Head Up Display?

There is indeed, just under £800 including shipping but it would seem that Stan doesn't want to do it:

There are quite a few Prius taxis over 300,000 miles from what I can gather so I see no reason why the RX can't get there.

If you've only had the car for a few weeks I'd take it back to the dealer you bought it from and get them to sort it under warranty, especially if it could turn out to be something expensive. And to put your mind at ease, there is absolutely nothing wrong with jump starting a hybrid. As long as they got the polarity correct (which I'm assuming the man from the AA did) then that's fine, although you should never use a hybrid to jump start anything else.

Why not just tap in at the back of the socket instead of trying to trace them to another place?

You could get your own ones wrapped or hydrodipped. Just one example of available wraps And just one of many Youtube videos on how to do it - I haven't watched the video so I don't know if it's good, bad or indifferent, but there's plenty more anyway:

Welcome to the club Sean. Have a look over in the dedicated RX group and you'll see all sorts of useful info - and don't forget to post a few photos of your new beast

Short answer - no. And if that really is happening then that's very worrying. The 12V battery can go flat almost at the drop of a hat but the traction battery should be able to last at least a couple of months without use and probably a lot longer than that, so it's looking like there may be a serious problem somewhere.