Herbie

It doesn't really matter. Personally I've always removed the battery and taken it into the garage to charge, but only because running an extension lead out overnight isn't ideal (our garage is storage space rather than a house for the car). It sounds like there's something more involved going on, rather than just a flat battery though. The reason I say this is because the 12V battery of a 'normal' car provides more than 300A to the starter motor for cranking the engine, but hybrids don't require anywhere near as much power. As you'll see from the photo below, my RX450h only draws 15.32A to get the car to the READY state, which should have been very easy for your VW van to provide when you put the jump leads on. I'd be inclined to try with the jump leads again but clean the battery terminals and clamps first and then connect directly to the battery terminals instead of any 'dedicated' or 'special' jump start point.

Use Rainex or something similar on the lens?

Sounds like the lock actuator isn't operating. Take the door card off so that you have access to the gizzards and check both electrically (loose connections, broken wires, correct voltage etc) and mechanically (something seized, push rod not pushing etc).

No idea what's wrong but I'd take it to a vehicle AC specialist (and I don't mean Halfords) rather than a standard mechanical garage.

I've recommended this one below many times on here and other forums. This guy has reviewed about 50 or 60 dashcams and this is the one he chose to use in his own car, so if it's good enough for him..... Actually, if you have an interest in any technology and/or gadgets, his other videos are well worth watching. Very informative and entertaining. My own dashcam is a Viofo A119S (which is very similar to the Aukey one) because I hadn't seen the review before buying mine.

It is financially viable for them to come over here with a trailer to buy a scrap or damaged car and take it back there for stripping. We've seen many such cars on trailers on our drives around Poland too.

If you don't smoke, simply replace the cig lighter with a USB charger socket like I did in our RX300. I think the socket was about £6 or £7 from eBay and worked brilliantly, giving a fast charge at 2.1A

OK, fair enough, I know that the car comes equipped with 'auto high beam' but honestly, have we really become so lazy that we can't just flick a finger to maually switch the headlamps ourselves? I'm not having a pop at you Lukas, I'm just thinking that this is a piece of technology that doesn't really need to exist and has been developed solely for no other reason except 'just because they can'.

But you said that you gave them a good layer of ordinary wax/sealer - I would imagine almost all automotive waxes/sealers will have some form of UV protection in them, so you did protect them and you didn't just leave the newly-rubbed-down surfaces open to the elements. The semantics of 'clear-coat/wax/sealer' are neither here nor there - the relevant part is 'UV-resistant'.

I doubt the new results would last even a year if no UV-resistant clear coat is used.

400h will be fine, just take one or more of the precautions I mentioned above, just in case.

I think we're both half right Dan because it'll obviously depend on the age and condition of the 12V battery. A new one will obviously hold charge longer than an old one will.

There are steps you can take to keep the 12V battery in shape, such as keeping a trickle charger connected if it's parked in a garage with mains power, or even connecting one of these solar chargers if your car is kept on the driveway overnight instead of being garaged. If the battery did go flat then you could keep one of these in the glovebox like I do. I've not had to use it yet but I know they work well so I'm confident that it'll get me out of the mire if ever it's needed.

Do you mean the condenser is leaking as well as the pipe or just the pipe? If it's both, that price may well be right because they'll just replace the condenser. I'd enquire at an aircon specialist before making a decision.

Incorrect, I'm afraid. The manual also says that you should have the donor car's engine running but that's incorrect too. That jump start terminal under the bonnet is only for convenience, just in case the boot is full of stuff, but there's absolutely no difference between the two and certainly no harm in connecting directly to the battery if it's easier to do so or you just want to. All you're doing is supplementing a dodgy 12V supply by piggy-backing a good 12V supply on to it and it doesn't matter if you do it at the front or the back, 12V is 12V.

That's very good of you Alan but can you also just post details of the Lancashire breakers please, as it may well help others. I think it may be Paul Frost but happy to learn of another one if there is one. Thanks.

Glad you got it sorted but don't chuck the old one out, try to fettle it first so you have a spare and also gain the knowledge as to what, exactly, is wrong so that you can pass that knowledge to others

LEDs are fine as indicator bulbs as long as you wire in a loading resistor (6Ω 10W if I remember correctly but may be wrong).

Well folks, I'm happy to report that the armrest was indeed replaced under warranty! Andy Pedersen at Lexus Teeside wasn't very hopeful but I asked him to just put the claim in under the premise of "Nothing ventured, nothing gained" so, with nothing to lose he submitted the paperwork and it was authorised, so a great result and much kudos and respect to Andy. We took the car up there today for its 60k/6-year major service (spark plugs etc) and, even though he was only notified about the success of the claim this morning, he managed to get one in and it was fitted this afternoon while the service was being done. Very impressed, to say the least.

Welcome back Syd, that does indeed look to be a superb motor. I don't know what you paid for it but it certainly looks the business. I just really cannot understand the reasoning behind buying such a car and only doing a few hundred miles a year in it. I don't know who the previous owner was but I feel like giving them a good shake and saying, "Life is not a rehersal. Get out there and drive it, enjoy the spoils of your hard-earned cash!" I sincerely hope you're going to enjoy it to the fullest extent Syd - get out there and enjoy every single minute of driving your new beast around!

There will inevitably come a time when the traction battery begins to fail but so far it's rare, which would suggest that their 'end of life' hasn't been reached yet. Even when they do fail it's rare for the whole unit to go at once and individual cells or blocks of cells can be bought from eBay to swap out the faulty ones, or you could have someone like Richard at http://www.hybridbatterysolutions.co.uk/prices-and-services/ to rebuild/replace the whole pack. As for the inverter, they seem to be fairly robust and I wouldn't worry about it failing but again, if it did, a secondhand one will be available from the Bay of Fleas.

Therein lies your answer Ja. It's when they've not moved for a while that the problem arises, such as being left in the airport car park for two weeks while away on holiday and the owner comes back to a flat battery.

Use the search function and you'll see at least four different threads with one going into five pages, all about this Bim.

I've spoken to two different MOT testers (both personal friends) and they say it's a very grey area and they would have to ask for guidance as to whether it would fail or not. Technically it's an immediate fail if it should have a cat and it's been removed, but given that hybrids don't go through emissions testing anyway there could be an argument for it passing. I think the government are going to have to make an official decision one way or the other.

At only 4000 miles a year you may have problems with the 12V battery going flat in the 400h as they don't take kindly to being stood around for any length of time. Probably best to go for a 300 instead.