Herbie

It would never make me buy one of the cars but the Fiat Strada 'Built By Robots' advert was excellent, especially the way they drive onto the transporter at the end.

I believe that if you leave the Grom system onscreen when you turn the car off, it will boot back up to the same place when you start the car again. I haven't tried it so far because I've only been doing short runs recently and not needed any of the facilities that the Vline provides, but I'll try it tomorrow. I can say that I usually have the OEM Lexus interface set to Planet Rock on DAB radio, so once that's up and running two or three presses of the Media button takes me into the Vline, which opens up to the Agama Launcher that I use.

74ppl where I live so still viable here. I can highly recommend http://lpgc.co.uk/ who have done two conversions for me in the past. Based in South Elmsall, West Yorkshire, he doesn't just fit a kit of parts like a Meccano set, but he really understands both the practicalities and the science behind how it all works. Consequently, he has the skill to 'mix and match' components to make a bespoke system that will really get the best out of the installation and the car itself.

Do they come on properly, i.e. full brightness, or are they dimmer than usual? I'm thinking there could be a backfeed from some other circuit due to the water ingress/dampness, or current tracking across the passenger side fuse box. How did you dry it out and are you sure it's completely dry? Did you use anything like switch and contact cleaner to clean up where it got wet and have you checked any earthing points for cleanliness and tightness around the area?

That would suggest to me that the original card was giving problems so he bought a new one to solve it and it didn't - which may suggest that the card(s) are not the culprit.

Taken directly from that article is this paragraph: In the main, it remains older cars that are targeted because advances in efficiency and technology mean the latest generations of Lexus catalytic converters contain vastly lower amounts of precious metals, whilst still doing their job just as well or even better; this means their value for recycling is very low and they are not attractive to thieves.

Amazingly, I read the exact opposite! The article I read said that because the ICE doesn't run all the time there are fewer precious metals in a hybrid's cat. Strangely, the ruffians and ne'r do well's don't seem to have cottoned on to the fact that all cars have cats and all cats contain precious metals, ergo all cars are a target, not just hybrids.

This may give you problems in selling the car later on but why not do as I said above, i.e. get a cheap cat and someone to weld the pipes if necessary and continue to run it until it dies? You could even just get a straight pipe welded in because, as we all know, hybrids are not emissions-tested on the MOT and many people have gone through an MOT with a straight pipe and it's passed without problem. It's absolutely criminal to write off a good car because of nothing other than a cat theft.

I don't think they use a float these days, but rather 'calculate' the fuel level and consumption by measuring various parameters such as fuel flow rate, road speed and so on. I used to have a 2005 RX300 and had it converted to run on LPG, but the fuel gauge would still go down as though it was using petrol when it wasn't. Just what this means for your particular problem though, I don't know.

This deal has expired now but it's worth keeping your eyes open or signing up for the daily email from https://www.hotukdeals.com/ Some excellent deals on SIM-only wifi dongles/modems/routers come up quite often.

A DAB antenna is a DAB antenna, the same way that a TV aerial is a TV aerial - they all receive signals and they aren't manufacturer specific. More to the point, I think the DAB module was an optional extra at that time, so even if your multimedia head unit has a DAB button, it won't necessarily do anything unless the requisite module is also in there.

Sadly not. It makes a 60 second job into perhaps a 180 second job, but three minutes is all they'll need. They don't care how much damage they do in the process and there's always a 'look out' man with a machete or some such weapon so no one is going to (or should) tackle them themselves. They'll still be well gone before any police appear. I would have gone for one of these cats for about £200 including delivery from Germany and then sell the car as planned.

Well, I decided to go for the ones that Phil linked to from 4x4 Styling. I ordered late on Sunday night and they arrived this afternoon, so I've just got to wait for my mate to fit them for me now. I'll let you know how it goes.

I don't really see any reason why not, although I'll admit that I've never done it so can't say for sure.

Why not take away the uncertainty by having your own alternator refurbished? Everything will be like brand new when the work's completed anyway.

Absolutely! Have a look at my (admittedly not very professional) write-up that I did: You can either buy from Grom HQ in the States or put an order in with the UK distributor to get yourself on the waiting list.

If I were you I would find out exactly what make and model of unit they would use and then check the price of that to buy it yourself. My Grom Vline 2 cost me £510 so if their unit is also around that figure then they seem to be charging an extortionate £980 for fitting Yeah, right. OK, I don't know what equipment they'll fit so I suppose it's possible but I highly doubt it. If I'd chosen to put my Vline in the glove box like a lot of people do and not taken time to extend the Vline harness, I would have had it finished in an hour and a half tops. Please do check and let us know how you go on because if I'm right, this could avoid you and others being royally ripped off.

Hmm.... A few different unrelated codes like that is often a good indication that the 12V battery is failing/failed. Try to get the battery load tested and see if that shows anything. If you can't get it load tested and the car still won't start, try giving the car a jump start. If it fires up, great, it was the battery; if not then maybe check the rear carpets for dampness as it could be water ingress. Let us know how you get on with it.

You need to get the OBD codes read and tell us what they are in order for us to give you any meaningful answer. It could literally be dozens of things and without those codes all we can do is guess.

I've never had a car with 'B' mode so I may be wrong but, as far as I know, it's not to do with actual braking but more to do with engine braking. When doing a long downhill stretch you can put it into 'B' to do two things; (a) to give the proper brakes a rest, but more importantly, (b) to dump some of the excess electricity generated if the traction battery is full and can't accept any more charge. Normally, MG1 is used as the generator but if the traction battery is full then MG1 reverts to being a motor and it spins the petrol engine without fuel or spark, so it just acts as a big load to use the excess energy. I think this is what happens when you put the gear selector in 'B'. Again, not completely sure because I've never had a 400h but I assume you're talking of the energy screen. The different coloured arrows show the flow of energy and power at any given moment. For instance, the blue arrows may show flow of power from traction battery to the wheels; the yellow arrows may show when the petrol engine is powering the wheels and so on. I'm sure the manual will tell you or if not then Google should. You should see something like this: No. They aren't electric cars and if you tried to go battery only I bet you wouldn't get more than two miles before the traction battery was flat. In traffic jams, if the car is stationary then the hybrid system will shut off the petrol engine anyway and will start it again as and when needed. For instance, the engine is the only source of cabin heat so on a cold day, if you have the heater on, the engine will fire up more often than it would on a hot day. Hybrids don't have starter motors or alternators, and anything normally driven by a belt from the engine such as power steering or aircon compressor is powered by electric motors instead. Imagine losing power steering halfway through a turn because the hybrid system decided to shut it off! Start-up is like this: the 12V battery powers all the computers and gets the car into the READY state (hybrid system up and running) which is the equivalent of a conventional car sat idling. Once in READY mode you can drive away on battery power alone but you won't get far at all before the petrol engine starts up, controlled by the hybrid system. When it wants to run the engine it energises MG1 and uses that to spin up the engine to 1,000rpm before applying fuel and a spark to fire it. The job of the alternator is done by a device called a DC/DC converter, again controlled by the hybrid system . The traction battery in the RX is about 290V and the converter lowers it to about 14.5V to run all the 12V systems and charge the 12V battery. The converter/inverter assembly also provides for other systems such as 48V for power steering; 500V 3-phase AC for the aircon compressor and so on. The 12V battery is only small and doesn't like being stood around doing nothing for very long and it's not unknown for it to go flat if not used for a couple of weeks. Either use the car regularly, or keep it on a trickle charger, or carry a jump start battery pack in the car for emergencies. Oh, and never use the hybrid to jump start a conventional car. You can get a jump from one but not the other way round. The traction battery should be alright stood around for months without going flat but if it ever does, you'll need the dealer to come out and sort it, or at least someone with the specialist gear and knowledge to use it. The AA, RAC and so on can't do anything with a 290V battery. Try to never let it run out of petrol. If it does, you'll need 10litres in it before attempting to restart it and if you have more than 3 unsuccessful attempts, the hybrid system could lock out and need a dealer to reset it. Wow, sorry, I was on a roll there and never meant to go on for so long. If you think you'll be away within a couple of minutes just leave it in D with your foot on the brake. If you think you may be a while, put it into P and take your foot off the brake. As Andrew says above, the hybrid system doesn't charge the batteries in N. I think most people only use N when they need to roll the car a couple of feet and don't want to start all the systems for that. Most of all, enjoy your new beastie to the full

How much was it Bart, if you don't mind me asking? Lexus Parts Direct, who are usually quite good on prices, want £20 for one! It does seem to be a bit of an unusual size but I found that CPC sell them for £4.73 each inc. VAT. It may even be possible to get cheaper batteries because the numbers refer to the size, i.e. 24 is the diameter in mm, 12 is the height in tenths of a mm, so 1.2mm. It's not often that the very edge is used to make electrical contact (it's usually front and back) so it's possible that a smaller diameter may work as long as it's held in place and doesn't rattle around. A 2012, for example, is £2.06 inc VAT.

Need doesn't necessarily come into it. It's just nice to have it to see what's going on.

If you have a laptop running Windows (XP, 7 or 10) then your best bet is to buy one of these miniVCI cables from eBay It comes with a pirated copy of Techstream, which is the very same diagnostic software used by Lexus techs in the dealer workshops. Of course, we can't be seen to condone piracy (that's a matter for your own conscience) so the correct way would be to download an official free copy from https://www.lexus-tech.eu/DiagnosticTools/Setup and then pay for a block of time to use it, currently €5/day, €10/week and so on. Whichever way you go, you'll need that miniVCI cable anyway.

I don't know about OE option but they are available: https://lexuspartsdirect.co.uk/product/lexus-rx-phase-4-side-steps/

Are these things actually meant to be used or are they just cosmetic/decorative? I have to take an uncle to the doctors once a month and he weighs about 26-27 stone, so could they cope with that sort of weight?