Herbie

Not necessarily. A proper conversion will cost about £1300 to £1400. Ours paid for itself in about 14 months and was great, well worth the outlay. I had an 85L tank fitted where the spare wheel used to live on our old RX300 and just carried a can of Holts TyreWeld goo around for small punctures, letting the breakdown service take care of anything too big for the goo to handle. LPG really is excellent and I'd have it done again in a heartbeat but, although it's technically possible to convert a hybrid, it may not be a wise move as you're just adding yet another layer of complexity to an already very complex car.

It is possible that it's the alternator but somehow I doubt it. The alternator only comes into play once the engine is running and it feeds all electrical circuits first, then if there's enough power left over (so to speak) it will charge the battery. If the battery still has enough power to feed the starter motor (draws about 300A on cranking) and fire the engine, it should also power the radio etc. Does the radio work without the engine running? I don't know of anything in a car that is intelligent enough to decide what needs power and what can do without it, so my money is still on a major fuse. Having said that though, how have you tested all the 'normal' fuses - just by looking at them or by checking continuity with a multimeter? Multimeter is the only reliable way really. EDIT: Also possibly a bad earth somewhere. Take off and clean both the main earth strap from battery to body and also the engine earth strap too.

I think I'd disconnect the battery for a few minutes as it may reset something but it may be one of the master fuses.

I have to confess that although I fully intended to do the job myself, an injury prevented my use of the spanners so a mate of mine who is a mechanic of more than 30 years experience did it for me. It is an awkward job for a DIY or hobby mechanic but not impossible and for someone like my mate it was merely slightly annoying 😉 I'll PM you a copy of the workshop manual tomorrow but for now this may give you a bit of an insight:

My late (November) 2013 RX450h displays four separate pressures but doesn't identify which pressure relates to which tyre.

Exactly what Linas says. Put a screwdriver in the slot and lift the cover off to expose the button for the shift lock, as in the video below (starts at the point you need):

Yes - stick to the proper Toyota Type-IV. The fluid has various friction modifiers and other properties and the seals within the system are engineered to cope with that particular chemical makeup. It's not worth trying to save a few quid now and then possibly have a major tranny failure later. When we bought our 2005 RX300 it had 79k miles on it and, as with every secondhand car I've ever bought, I changed all fluids as a matter of course. I intended to drop the pan from the transmission to install a new ATF strainer/filter so bought that as well as the gaskets etc. I think the strainer and gasket set were about £80 if I remember right and I bought two 5L tubs of Toyota Type-IV ATF for £75.60 from my local Toyota main dealer (nearest Lexus dealer is about 30 miles away).

A week after buying our RX450h from Lexus Teeside we were visiting family in Carlisle and I called in to Lexus to ask advice because I was unsure if the 'Hill Start Assist' was working correctly. I had to ask three separate people, all from the sales side, before I finally got the answer "I don't know how it works and I've got to unload these cars so I haven't got time to find out". Rather unhelpful I thought, to such a degree that I'll never go back in there!

Is yours a Mk 4 because my Advance is a Mk 3 (first registered in November 2013) and it doesn't have the ML system. Maybe they were an option rather than standard?

I think it may mean that they are literally spare fuses, not necessarily spare slots that are available to be used for circuits. Pull the fuses out from 40, 41 and 42 and you may even see that there are no metal contacts for the fuses to push into and they are just 'place holders' to leave spare fuses in. When you look at a fusebox you see the top end. The wires that feed the fuses come in and out from underneath, at the bottom end, so if there were spare wires, where would they go to and how would you access them? I think the only way is to utilise a piggyback fuse tap. Oh, and if you're going to do any electrical work then a multimeter is essential. You can get a cheap and cheerful one for under £10 if necessary but even really decent ones can be had for about £30.

I completely agree, along with Kwik-Fit too, but as you say, if money's a bit tight at the moment....

Just received the latest newsletter from the Money Saving Expert website and thought this may be of use to someone: Free MOT at Halfords

Are you sure the problem is at the gearbox end? The reverse light switch is part of the neutral safety switch (makes sure that the car only starts in P or N) so are you getting any other symptoms to do with starting that would indicate a fault with that switch and have you definitely ruled out a simpler solution, like a fuse perhaps?

Yes - thread about it here (look for other posts by @BrightonRX300 for more details of his conversion):

I'm calling Occam's Razor on this one. No one can defeat the laws of physics and the fronts will always do the lions share of braking, so it can only be a different brand or grade of pads in the front that give off less dust than those at the rear.

According to my service plan I'll get three MOTs at £49 each - but I can get them done at my local bus depot for £29

Not sure I agree with that Roger, which is why I qualified my statement with "if you can afford it and want to do it then go ahead". If you can afford it and want to do it then it's not a downside. If you can't afford it or don't want to do it, then don't. Most car batteries will indeed last longer than five years, some quite considerably longer, but given the importance of the 12V battery in a hybrid car and the abundance of problems it can cause when it begins to fail, I think I'd err on the side of caution and replace it after five years if I could afford it, purely as a precaution.

'Preventative maintenance' it's called and yes, of course, if you can afford it and want to do it then go ahead. Having worked in maintenance all my life (first as an electrician and then a telephone engineer) it's the sort of thing that I routinely do as there just can't be a downside to doing it.

I think the best speed cam database out there is the one done by these guys https://www.pocketgpsworld.com/subscription.php (that links to the description page so you can see how good it is) It's just £19.99 per year, available for almost all stand-alone satnavs and both Android and Apple phones. The database is generated by reports of cameras by the public and if you happen to be the first person to report a new camera, you get a years subscription free. It also covers all the different camera types - fixed, average, red light, mobile etc. Well worth the money in my opinion.

Again - it's not an error, it's designed that way! The technology does exist to calibrate the speedo to perfection but they cannot do that, there has to be a calibration margin because it is illegal for a speedo to under-read. The fact that you could calibrate boat instruments is neither here nor there as I've never seen a fixed or average speed camera in the water and boats aren't subject to the road traffic acts, rules and regulations that road vehicles are.

Sorry then my friend, I'm out of ideas. Good luck in your search.

Sorry, my mistake, I read your post as 89 instead of 99. All I can suggest is that you email them or phone them to see when they will have more stock. I think they manufacture the struts themselves onsite, so they should be able to do something for you.

Here you go https://www.sgs-engineering.com/car-boot-tailgate/lexus/ls/gsc1592-lexus-ls400-bonnet-strut

That's exactly it. I've never had a car new enough to bother about a warranty before and I've certainly never had such a complex car before. It's five years old but looks and drives like it's brand new so if anything goes faulty then I think it's early enough in its life to warrant new parts, hence deciding on a warranty. As it gets older then parts from a breakers yard will suffice and my mate who's been a fully qualified mechanic for more than 30 years will be happy to do the work needed.

Only two things are needed, duct tape and WD40. If it moves when it shouldn't, use the duct tape; if it doesn't move when it should, use the WD40 😂😂