Herbie

Don't even be tempted to try it. I never let mine get to less than 1/4 full. If you do run out of petrol then you'll need at least 10 litres (preferably 15) in the tank before trying to start the car. If you have more than 3 failed attempts to restart it, the hybrid system could lock out and you'll need the dealer to reset it.

If you're looking to fit DRLs all you need is a multimeter or even just a 12V bulb so that you can see which fuses have power on only when the ignition is on. To make sure the DRLs go off when you switch the side/tail or headlights on, just tee into the +ve feed to the side lights. In the drawing above, when the ignition is switched on, power goes from 30 to 87A and switches the DRLs on. When the side lights are switched on, power goes to pin 85 which energises the relay coil and breaks the connection between 30 and 87A, thereby switching the DRLs off.

I've never had a CT or a UX so I can only speak from the perspective of an RX, but I think you've misunderstood the way these cars work. The traction battery in the RX is, if I remember correctly, 288V but the requirements of the car are varied. For instance: MG1 and MG2 are 650V 3-phase AC motors (the battery is DC) The aircon compressor is driven by a 500V 3-phase AC variable frequency motor The power steering is driven by a 48V motor The 12V system (lights, radio etc) and the 12V battery are powered/charged by a 14.5V system (the hybrid equivalent of an alternator). All these things are driven by the 288V DC traction battery in conjunction with various DC converter/inverter units and other boxes of electronic wizardry. These cars are amazing feats of engineering and incredibly complex, but one thing they are not, is electric cars. As you already know, if you were to drive on battery alone then you'd only manage a couple of miles at most, maybe not even that.

Yes, it could very well just be a loose/dirty connection or broken wire. For instance, if you look at P0A78-284 in the workshop manual, there's a column that gives the possible trouble area in order of likelihood, the highest possibility being first in the list: If you then go to the end column and click where it says 'Click Here' you get a whole raft of possible causes with Good/No Good flowcharts and other stuff This is why you really need these subcodes in order to make any meaningful diagnosis.

Enjoy!

Hi Leo and welcome to the club. Try not to worry too much and just enjoy the car. The hybrid system is amazingly reliable and as for the high voltage hybrid battery itself, you can have the Hybrid Health Check done each year and as long as it passes, you'll get a further 12-months warranty on it until it's 15 years old. Feel free to post photos of your new steed as we all like to see photos

Given that the Carlinkit needs to use those things itself, I reckon you're using a wrong cable somewhere or not got the CAN connectors (green and white wires on my RX) sorted properly.

Yes, but I really don't understand why anyone would want to. Again, I have to agree with Peter on this. These cars are fitted with Climate Control, which is so much better than just standard A/C

Yeah - the Cayenne looks like it fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down

Oh dear By the way, I've just sent you some info by PM that may help you figure things out. This is what I meant about the sub-codes:

I'm with Peter on this. Prevention is far better than cure and any immobiliser, including the Ghost system, will only come into play after the scrotes are already in your pride and joy. Once in there they may damage something out of frustration and spite before running off. My car sits on the driveway overnight with the keys in Faraday pouches and a big, bright yellow, Stoplock Pro Elite steering wheel lock which is very visible from outside so that they (hopefully) think it's not worth the hassle and move somewhere else to an easier target. The photo below shows the lock on our 3RX but it fits and works just as well in our 4RX that we have now. I also recently installed a GPS tracker system, not primarily as another anti-theft measure (for the same reason as stated above) but purely because I thought the price was excellent and it gives a whole host of information including monitoring battery voltage. Of course, if I suffer the misfortune of having the car stolen, I can ring the police and tell them exactly where it is.

Doh Again, probably technology just for the sake of it. The outside cameras do make the car look slicker but that's more than offset by the ridiculous placement of the two monitors inside that just look like a bolted-on afterthought. And then, of course, there's the ever-present vandals. They seem to take great delight in destroying door mirrors and I think cameras would be an even better target for their mindless antics. Even replacing mirrors is expensive but replacing cameras will just be astronomical.

Hybrid Health Check is done as part of a service but the MOT is no cheaper. In fact, I could get an MOT at almost any local garage for £20 less than Lexus were charging, even on a service plan and warranty.

You really should persevere with it, it does work. In my experience, the problems usually lie with the cable driver rather than Techstream. If you have persistent trouble with Win 10, try Oracle's VirtualBox and set up Win 7 or even XP in there. Generic code readers are mostly OK but I'm not sure you'll get sub-codes like you do in Techstream and that could save a whole lot of hassle. Just a random illustration - the code P0AA6 on it's own may cover 10 different things, whereas P0AA6-123 will point you in one direction, whilst P0AA6-456 will point to a different cause and so on. The sub-codes allow you greater accuracy.

I can't really see any unless it records what it sees. I think expensive cameras instead of mirrors is just a case of technology for the sake of it and they're not really needed.

Well, yes and no. If you want a warranty it's only right that you have to stick to the conditions they lay down. If you're not bothered about having a warranty then you can do as you please and take it to any garage you fancy.

Absolutely no need whatsoever. It's a sealed system. The gas doesn't wear out or degrade; the oil doesn't wear out or degrade. Unless there's a fault that's caused a leak (which would show as the system not getting as cold as it was) then it won't need "servicing". I never turn off the aircon at all and I've never experienced a loss of gas/oil in any car I've had. Every car I've had has been just as cold on the day I sold/scrapped them as it was when I bought it.

Well, being as no one has replied to you in almost five hours, I'll just say try using the search facility because there have been literally hundreds of posts about the demise of the traditional Extended Warranty and the introduction of the Lexus Relax Warranty. In a nutshell, if you have the car serviced at a Lexus dealer, they will "give" you a 12-month warranty "free of charge". Of course, nothing in life is free so they've increased the price of servicing to recoup some of the costs of providing the "free" warranty. Or am I being cynical?

Hi Katherine and welcome to the club. I'm not sure if you'll find something for a 2012 model but as I see it, and if they do the year, you've got two choices: The GROM VLINE at about £600 or a Carlinkit unit like this one for just over £200 I've got one of the Carlinkit units and I have to admit it's not brilliant but I genuinely feel that it could be. It's close to being good but just not there yet but who knows, the next one or two firmware upgrades may sort it out.

Anything will last for a long time if you don't use it. By your logic you could turn it off now in 2021 so that it'll work when you want it to in 2028? Fair enough It is indeed.

The PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) is due to be switched off by the end of 2025. All telephone exchanges will close and everybody will be on VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) for voice calls. You'll probably see a port on the back of your router that you can plug your landline phone into and it'll work OK now, as long as you have VoIP activated on the fibre.

I suppose it's a very personal thing, so you may not get many replies. For instance, I cannot understand why you wouldn't want the seat to retract when the ignition is switched off as it makes it far easier to get in/out of the car, so for me, that's a 'must have', but obviously not for you. I've never needed the windows to be operated by the remote* but I think it may already do that with a long press? *Far too much opportunity for a 'false' press while the remote is in my pocket.

Get used to it Phil because that's the whole reason for Smart Meters to exist. They know the existing infrastructure won't be able to cope and we also have a couple of nuclear stations reaching end of life with no viable new ones to replace them, so generating capacity is going to be well down anyway. At the moment, smart meters 'phone home' a couple of times a day at most but will soon be altered to every 30 minutes or even less. This is so they can micro-manage demand by charging more per unit at peak times and 'incentivising' people to balance their loads across the day more efficiently. They also have the ability to cut you off completely for periods of time if demand gets too high at any given time.

Look, no offence meant but just what do you think could go so catastrophically wrong as to need a warranty claim from Lexus? It's not like we have to delve into the ECU modules with soldering irons, or reprogram any EEPROMs or anything. It's a camera, nothing more, nothing less. It only needs a power supply and that's it - it works. It doesn't have to be compatible with, or 'verified for use' with anything, and all it's doing is 'taking' (power) from the car, not injecting something 'into' the car that could do any harm. It's no different from connecting a TomTom or any other third-party satnav, or connecting your phone to the car. There is a legal entitlement to be able to take your car to a third-party garage for work to be done without it affecting the warranty and there are many, many, highly-qualified and hard working mechanics and auto-electricians out there doing great jobs. Unless you're going to go to Lexus for every bulb change, every tyre change, every wiper blade change etc., etc., you'll probably use some of their services so that situation may or may not arise anyway.

Why would you not be able to continue posting on here? Many members aren't Gold but still make very valid contributions. I must admit that mine auto-renewed at the beginning of August but I'm also beginning to wonder about whether it's worth it now or not. Halfords are usually so overpriced that the discount we get only brings their prices down to about the same as every other place anyway and the only time I seem to go there is if I need anything when other places are shut. The only other thing Gold seems to be good for is the ability to edit forum posts at any time, rather than having just a 1-hour window in which to do it.