Herbie

First of all Blessing, check those error codes - I think you'll find that they should be: P0AA6 rather than PA006 If I'm right then the screenshot below will help you understand the problem: 526 shows possible areas in order of possibility but 611 narrows it right down: And to give you an idea of what's possibly happened, the photos below show the windings of a motor that has gone (a) short-circuited coil and (b) shorted turn. The copper wires have got enamelled insulation and you can see where the insulation has been damaged, which is likely what's happened to your compressor motor. I'm afraid that yes, the whole compressor will have to be changed because it's all one unit - a combined compressor, motor and inverter. Just a guess but I'll be that the part alone costs over a grand. And the whole aircon system will need to be thoroughly flushed to make sure that not a single drop of PAG oil remains to contaminate the new compressor assembly.

More than likely correct, yes. The aircon compressor is driven by a 500V 3-phase AC variable frequency motor and the motor windings are submerged in the lubrication oil for cooling purposes. In conventional cars the oil is known as PAG oil but to put it simply, that oil will conduct electricity. Hybrids need to use ND11 oil which is a high dielectric oil and does not conduct electricity. It's been found that as little as one percent contamination of ND11 by normal PAG oil will cause electrical breakdown of the motor windings. It appears that at sometime in its life, the aircon has been serviced and regased using the wrong oil. The refrigerant gas itself is the same, just the oil that must be different. Those error codes are showing that there's a breakdown of the electrical insulation in the compressor motor and the system is trying to prevent high voltage leakage to the car metalwork so that you don't get electrocuted.

Don't think so. Normal manufacturer warranty is three years and then you can pay for extended warranty if you wish to do so and that's it.

Go to a place that does custom stainless steel exhausts and they'll fabricate one for the car for far less money than Lexus could supply the OEM one.

I'm sorry but I find this rather sad and annoying. Why buy something so expensive and so nice, just to have it garaged up 99% of the time? To my mind, the previous owner has just robbed someone else of having the pleasure of driving it. I'll never understand people like that - if you don't want to use it, don't buy it. Rant over

Photobucket tells me that "The owner of these photographs has set them to private" so I can't see them.

Aha, fair enough. If I accelerate up to 45mph and then just slightly back off, I can stay at 40mph in EV operation for quite a while, barring any hills to climb. It definitely holds higher speed and further distance than the 3RX.

Didn't know that Colin, but I was talking about the latter.

I don't know about that but having owned our 18-plate RX450h Luxury for exactly two weeks today, I can tell you that EV mode holds at 40mph in ours.

Something that young people will never understand until they get to their advanced years is that in my head I feel 20, my body is knackered and feels like 80, but my actual true age is 63.

That's quite correct William.

As long as it physically fits in the battery tray, can be clamped down, and the terminals are in the correct orientation then yes, it should be fine. 12VDC is 12VDC is 12VDC. Halfords probably broke something else in the example above.

As Peter said, is the engine up to normal operating temperature? Are you seeing the green READY light? Any messages onscreen? Any OBD2 error codes?

Just click on this link and watch this very clever 53sec video: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-6783820978490228736-VZTU

Now that's one mod I do approve of

You forgot about Gordon (Thunderbird 4) named after Gordon Cooper. They were all part of Project Mercury and were known as The Mercury Seven, the other two astronauts being Wally Schirra and Deke Slayton.

This is true - I just mentioned Photoshop because I have it and I don't have either of the two that you suggested.

The isolator switch is on the right-hand side rim of the glovebox. Open the box and it exposes the switch, but it's on the rim, not inside the glove box.

Advantages are twofold (maybe more): 1. If the battery is in the boot like it is in the RX, it's effectively in the cabin. If the car rolls over in an accident the acid is held in gel form in the glass matting and can't leak out and possibly come into contact with the occupants of the cabin. 2. AGM batteries can handle a deeper discharge without being damaged [as much as a wet battery would be].

That's the thing about forums - no one comes on to post that their car doesn't have a water leak or this, or that. Most posts in forums are people looking for help with things that have gone wrong but there will be many thousands of people out there who have cars that don't present with problems, so don't let that put you off because there'll be many, many RX300s available that don't leak.

It won't tell you that it's a "suitable" battery because, according to their systems, it isn't. It's like medical drugs being licenced for one use but then they find it's also useful for something else although it's not been licenced for that use yet. I think what Mark means is that it's the correct physical size to fit in the battery tray and it has the terminals the correct way round. If that's the case then it will work and do the job, even though it's not the 'correct' battery for the car. It's just a short-term workaround to keep your car on the road until the dealer rings you to say that they have your 'proper' battery in stock.

I have to take issue with that Linas. The only thing that can really be done incorrectly is to reverse the polarity, but as long as you pay attention to what you're doing, that should never really be a problem. The main issue here is if the recipient car tries to draw more current than the hybrid's DC/DC converter can supply. An alternator on a conventional car can provide far more current, some of them up to 300A. If that sort of demand was put on a hybrid DC/DC converter it could possibly all end up in very expensive tears. Of course, you may get away with it but is it worth the risk? Personally, I think not.

My wife will fly but it's awkward due to her disability so we tend to drive on holiday so that we can stop when and where we want to. In order of importance, a very close second to that is that we can fit a lot more in the boot than we could in a bag in the hold

It was law for a year or two but then the requirement was dropped, so no need to carry them anymore.

Yes, the bin Windows only I'm afraid. I believe that it is possible to run Windows on a Mac in a virtual machine but I know nothing about it I'm afraid.