Herbie

Ah, the perils of being an early adopter 😉 Sorry Michael, I can't answer your question but to be honest, I'm not surprised that there isn't one yet given that the 7-seater hasn't been out very long at all. Only other thing I could suggest would be to give Westfalia or Witter a call and see if they do one.

If the refrigerant has leaked out I'm not sure if it will do any damage to run the compressor without gas/oil or not. I'd assume not but I'm no mechanic so I can't be responsible for anything if you decide to keep running it 😉 First thing, check that sight glass to see what's happening there for a start. EDIT: - As always, Google is your friend, and it appears that you can damage the compressor if it runs without refrigerant (although a low pressure sensor should stop it from doing so): http://autotechac.com/ac-facts-and-myths/

Although you can turn off the AC it's not really a good idea. These cars are equipped with climate control, the idea of which is to set the temperature that you want in the cabin and then the car computers use a mix of hot/cold/AC to maintain that temperature automatically. Another reason is that the AC system will contain one or two rubber seals in the pipework. If the seals dry out it can lead to a leak of the refrigerant gas, so an oil lubricant is circulated around the system with the gas to keep the seals supple - if the AC isn't running then no lubricant is getting to those seals. If it has already leaked out then you obviously need to get the fault rectified but don't go to somewhere like Kwik-Fit, ATS, or Halfords - go to a proper aircon specialist who has the right equipment and the right gas oil lubricant - that is extremely important. The AC compressors in normal cars are belt-driven from the engine but in a hybrid, because the engine doesn't run all the time, they are driven by an electric motor. The windings of the electric motor are actually immersed in the lubricating oil for cooling purposes, so the oil must be non-conductive. Normal PAG oil found in belt-driven AC systems is conductive and as little as 1% contamination of PAG oil in a hybrid AC system can cause damage to the compressor's motor. Of course, your particular problem may be something other than needing to be regassed, but it's one of the easier things to check so makes a good starting point.

Yes, the solar panel I linked to above. It works with either natural daylight or artificial lights from underground car parks - probably not as well, but it does work. I'm assuming you have a jump start battery pack, which is the thing you refer to as "a portable remote charger boost" that looks something like the picture below? If so, then no, there's nothing like that that you could keep connected because the battery in that would just go flat like your proper car battery does. You've only got four options: Access to mains so that you can use a trickle charger Solar panel Battery goes flat and you use a jump start battery pack when you get back. Disconnect negative terminal from 12V battery and put up with having to reset windows, power locks etc.

Sounds like you need one of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/AA-5060114614185-Solar-Powered-Battery-Charger/dp/B00AC1LLQY

You can check the level of refrigerant by looking at the sight glass and compare to this:

That sounds very cheap. Just to confirm - you're getting a new aircon compressor and they're doing the job, so that price covers parts and labour?

Very occasionally you'll get a huge surprise and find that the main dealers are actually competitive on price and if that happens to be the case then fair enough, I'd go for it. However, Toyota/Lexus don't make such things as batteries, tyres, wipers and exhausts, to name just a few of the 'wear and tear' items. They just buy in from whoever does make them, put them in a Toy/Lex box, add a markup and sell them out again, so you're not getting "genuine Lexus" parts anyway. Of course, I don't advocate going to 'Slippery Sid's' back-street shop where they're selling cheap Chinese knock-offs, but as long as you buy from reputable motor factors who sell to the trade and deal in well-known and respected brands, you can save yourself a few quid and still be safe in the knowledge that you're fitting high quality parts - possibly even from the same people who made the 'genuine Lexus' parts in the first place. I suppose it also depends on what you're going to do with the car, to a degree. If you're the sort of person who changes their car every year or two then you may want to keep it as close to factory as you can for the next owner and I suppose I can see the rationale behind that. However, we're the sort of people who buy a car and run it until it can be run no more and it goes to that great scrapyard in the sky, so any perceived value in having everything supplied and/or done by Lexus is lost on us and I'm more than happy to put in other high quality aftermarket parts.

+1 for this ^^^^^^^

Lovely looking motor. My wife took to ours straight away saying that she felt safer and the best view of any car we've had. What's your wife having trouble with?

I meant how would it work given that the running and revving of the engine is not within the MOT testers control and the test is, I think, physically impossible? Yes, I know that, which is why I started my reply to the OP with "I'm not saying that you shouldn't get it replaced because they obviously do an important job" I just meant that if the test was iminent and he was pushed for time, there's no need to worry as it wouldn't be tested anyway and he could sort it at his leisure later.

So get a 256GB flash drive then, simples

Hi and welcome to the club Rob. Nice cars my friend!

When we bought our car last year we did actually take up some of the things you mention above - and then found out that we could have got them for about half the cost elsewhere. GAP insurance was £300 but could have been £150 if I'd known where to look after buying the car, so my advice would be to decline the dealer offers but yes, the products themselves are worth having. As for the dashcam, it's completely overpriced and all you're paying for is the 'Lexus' name printed on the side. Nextbase, who actually manufacture it, sell the exact same model to the public for a lot less, so either go with the same model if you want, or go for a different Nextbase model, or even go for a camera from a different manufacturer altogether. They are very easy to fit yourself (took me all of 20 minutes from gathering my tools together to taking the car for a test drive to make sure the cam was positioned and working correctly and with all wires hidden) but even if you don't want to DIY, any decent auto-electrician will have the job done for about £30.

What gizmo are you trying to fit? Most of these things don't need a physical connection, you just tune the radio to a 'dead' frequency and the widget transmits to that. Also, a photo of any sockets on the radio may help. An antenna will have two wires so any socket with two pins could be a candidate.

This may help: https://cardiagn.com/1995-lexus-ls400-service-repair-manual-rm405u/

eBay or breakers yards are probably your best bet.

+1 for the 12V battery. When that starts to fail it can throw some weird and wonderful stuff at you.

Technically Barry, you are of course, correct. However, there are six major car parks (and by 'major' I mean either multi-storey or open-air with spaces for at least 100 cars) in Preston where I live. The chances of two blokes hanging around in a random car park waiting for a random keyless-entry car to park within range of where they are randomly situated within the car park at any given moment has got to be pretty slim. Not impossible I'll grant you (which is why I use a steering lock) but pretty slim. The relay boxes are very sensitive, so much so that if the guy with the box is at the front door and the unprotected or unshielded keys are at the back of the house, the box will pick up the signal, but as above, you'd have to be unlucky enough to inadvertently park near them for the same thing to work in a car park.

A normal compressor is belt-driven from the engine but the compressor in a hybrid is electrically operated because the engine doesn't run all the time. A 'normal' garage would probably be able to do the 'nuts and bolts' work of removal and reinstallation of the compressor but the parts required will probably be the major cost. Then I think it would need to go to a proper aircon specialist to get it regassed, due to the fact that the compressor motor windings are immersed in and actually cooled by the non-conductive oil that circulates around the system with the gas. If you can get a secondhand compressor from eBay or a breakers yard, I'm sure that there's no special need to have Lexus do the work so you'll save a bit on their labour costs, but as you've found out, many local garages are put off by the word 'hybrid' and the high voltages associated with it. The compressor is driven by the inverter/converter and is indeed fed with three phase high voltage but as long as the safety plug is pulled in the cabin and appropriate precautions taken, it should be fine.

I do know that NCB can only be allocated to one car at a time but that's as far as my knowledge goes. What about a multi-car policy?

Lexus Croydon are dealers aren't they? Servicing is always carried out every 10k miles OR 1 year, whichever occurs soonest. In October my car will be having its 60k service even though it won't even have reached 50k. More about service pricing can be found here: https://www.lexus.co.uk/owners/servicing-and-maintenance/vehicle-service#hero

Have a look at my posting in this topic here - I think it's post No. 5 if I remember right:

Have a look at my posting (think it's 5th one down) in this topic here:

I meant if you pre-book an appointment at a custom exhaust company to have the exhaust system replaced, would that come under the 'you can drive to a pre-arranged appointment at a garage to have the work done' scenario or is that just applicable to MOT and/or retest?