Barry14UK

Thank you for replies, particularly Herbs. Have to admit I am concerned about the the quality of the £10 ish Chinese battery memory saver accurately storing the information and not causing other problems. It may work fine and this is used by many, but you don't know for sure until you have used it. So potentially, I might lose my settings or worse still cause some damage to electrical components. Clearly, it would be safer to connect my slave battery to an earth on the car and clamp the positive to the outside of the positive lead terminal before removing the terminal to post on main battery. I can use my jump leads for this enabling my heavy slave battery to be used outside the car. Yes, I think I will go that way. I appreciate need to keep positive insulated and thank you for the idea of a plastic lunch box, I know some people use a rubber glove tied in place for this purpose.

More incentive for owners of cars of 5+ years to use Independent specialists if Essential Servicing is to be dropped. S/plugs used to be just a few minutes job and now take hours. Engine should be fairly hot to minimise risk of c/head threads being stripped. These plugs should really go to 100,000 miles which I believe was recommended figure for Nissan Fairlady many years ago. So 80,000 for the Lexus would not be unreasonable. (Interval on turbo charged cars is a lot less).

Hi folks, I would be grateful if somebody who has used a Battery memory saver when removing their 12v battery on their Lexus, preferably an RX model, would clarify some things for me. The instructions that came with the one I bought off ebay are not very clear and the procedure shown in utube videos also varies and some readers comments add to the confusion. I have tested the continuity between the saver and a spare battery I have and it is ok, showing 12.5v. I have also checked the saver is working when plugged into the OBD2 (with the croc clips unconnected). I then come to my first query. Some videos show the crocs being applied to the slave battery and after this has been done then connecting to the OBD2 port, whilst others show this reversed. Is one way correct or more appropriate or does it matter? Also, after you have replaced your main battery, does it matter whether you disconnect the crocs to the slave battery first or remove the saver to OBD2 first? Next query, some say doors should not be opened/closed as well as other powered circuits operated, (assume this would include hatch), while battery saver being relied on. So if this is the case, hatch and driver's door would need to be open all the time the saver was in place. There are some horror stories about damage to electrical components using battery savers but these seem to be brought about by + and - crocs coming into contact. Naturally, I wish to avoid such damage, hence advice sought here as car systems can vary. Incidentally, I think Lexus went out of their way to place the OBD2 port in a very difficult to see and reach position, meaning I had to kneel on my arthritic knees and use a mirror to locate it. No way would I want to attach a solar panel using this port! Also, the lit display came up on the reverse side of my battery saver when connected to the OBD2, so I again had to use the mirror to read what was happening, so that's just the way the battery saver is designed I guess. I am aware that there are other methods of preserving memory but I want to use the battery saver which seems to work for most people and is widely used in garages. I need to remove the Pan battery in order to tailor under battery packing and fit alternative earth clamp terminal arrangement I have bought to facilitate fitting a higher Ah battery, about which more hopefully soon.

Glad it's now sorted and well done for your persistence. Looks like we got it right with regard to wheel balance at higher speeds but what was causing low speed vibration was more involved.

Agree, on older car or if the likes of Chips Away local guy has a good reputation fair enough but with more valuable car like yours Herbs probably safer to get better match with more comeback if needed, although they may want to do whole bonnet and this wouldn't be cheap. I have a few stone chips and to stop creeping rust will be touching them in before these are so noticeable that the complete bonnet needs doing. Unfortunately such marks show up more on some cars than others - great shame!

In my case it was like the front was sort of fluttering up and down - not quite so pronounced but imagine a stone wrapped in some material inside a can and being shaken up and down with a little vibration transmitted to the car. Incidentally, one of the boots had slipped down somewhat and somebody, most probably Lexus, as the car had a full service with them, had been temporarily hitched up with some sort of tie. which had again slipped. So probably this had enabled water to enter which would accord with what had previously been said here about why the top mounts could wear.

+1 Are these for asthetic reasons or to asist brake cooling? Just glad mine is a 3 series!

I also assumed it was the central Insignia logo insert but should it not be 4 for each wheel if you have locking wheel nuts?

That's bad luck. Another possibility is that somebody stole it to replace a lost/damaged one or for a collection. My father had the bonnet badge prised out of his BMW. It needs some effort to do this as I replaced mine due to wear. I also replaced the wheel centers for the same reason. I bought all these replacements that were easily available on ebay. The quality was very good and they are still in place years later. I doubt these are so readily available for Lexus though so probably means a replacement from Lexus.

How about this Ford Mustang made to look coupelike? Not this version but GT version said to do 0-60 in 3 seconds.

Good news, so you are OK. Now academic in your case but for any body else who is interested, either your battery compartment is different to mine or we are using different measuring tools. I have just taken the opportunity of a break in the rain to make up a packing piece which gives 24.6mm thickness measured on my calliper. I notched this so it would go round the battery vent so it lay flat against the vertical face of the battery, in effect extending it from the agreed 220 to 244.6mm and it just made it to the bottom of the compartment. This was after omitting the black plastic tray and sliding the battery tight to a clip that holds a cable. Also, you need to jack up the battery with a packer under it. Due to the shape of the battery compartment, every mm the battery is raised it will provide more clearance at the end of the battery. So I am confident that the 027 battery will fit without modification, although you lose the thin pretty feeble battery tray. I was not able to check clearance between where the battery would extend and the spare wheel, due to rain interrupting play, but it does seem the spare will need to be moved slightly forward and sideways so that would mean moving over the strip and nut by which the wheel is secured with a hand tightened bolt. So almost there!!

I was unaware of that. I have just checked a spare AC Delco battery from another car and found the protrusions are part of the casing albeit in egg crate type construction so could easily be cut if it made the difference between being able to fit or not. I will check this out on the 027 AGM when next in Halfords. They give a 5 year warranty on their version and this is discounted if you have Gold Membership here. This is the one I have in mind and a good reason for using them is that if you do have a problem there are many branches where you could return it and get a replacement. I understand that this Halfords battery is made by Yuasa and is their YBX 9027. The two batteries are shown in these links, the only difference I can see being that the Halfords one is shown as 243mm long, whereas the Yuasa one is shown as 242mm long so a paper error spec. Also it should be 640 A on the Battery shop description, so one error each! https://www.halfords.com/motoring/batteries/car-batteries/halfords-agm027-start-stop-car-battery-5-year-guarantee-255870.html https://www.thebatteryshop.co.uk/yuasa-12v-60ah-680a-agm-stop-start-plus-battery-ybx9027-027agm-8897-p.asp Incidentally, Varta and some other manufacturers also do this size so if it can work it would be a ubiquitous option. However, before recommending it, I must check the compartment is definitely long enough and whether the spare wheel has to be moved over slightly to get adequate clearance. It's definitely worth investigating though due to the extra capacity, lower price, and wider availability it would provide.

As some of you folks may recall, I did quite a bit of research on an alternative 12v Pan battery on the 3series RX. Unfortunately other factors including an impending operation have meant that I have not yet come up with anything I would definitely suggest without proving it. However, there is one thing I can say is that the tray that sits on the underside can be moved along when the battery is out. It's very thin and as far as I can see serves no purpose other than to contain any spill which is unlikely anyway with modern batteries. Furthermore, the lip is very small to afford much protection. The floorpan takes the transmitted weight. In fact some people dispense with this drip tray which looks like thin plastic with bent up edges. I would not use any type of chipboard to jack up the battery, particularly with these stories of water swishing around which would cause it to swell. I have found that you can buy kitchen cutting boards made of appropriate acid resistant plastic which I would cut down to size and use in preference. These come in different thickness so one or two would also serve to make more space for the greater length of the battery which is limited by the angle at one end. The 60amp battery I alluded to has holding down protrusions at the bottom which are not necessary and could also be ground back at each end to save another 5mm in total in need but would almost certainly invalidate your guarantee. I believe I have found a battery terminal clamp onto which you can screw another terminal post on top of it. So in effect you have a negative terminal post that has been raised to clear the battery pocket and the existing negative strap can come back over the battery just like on the pan original. This avoids coming out sideways which impinges on the spare tyre. This is the type of clamp where you can either fit an alternative ended negative strap to it or screw on a terminal post and fit the original. https://www.12voltplanet.co.uk/negative-vertical-m8-stud-and-nut.html. Screw on type posts https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174317770485?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&itemid=174317770485&targetid=1140163974649&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=1007170&poi=&campaignid=12125451326&mkgroupid=117045675099&rlsatarget=aud-381667280803:pla-1140163974649&abcId=9300480&merchantid=263025930&gclid=EAIaIQobChMItfLTj9nR8AIVvBAGAB2NywodEAQYByABEgIHm_D_BwE I will revert to the possibility of fitting an even bigger battery which would involve cutting and welding but I need to remove underside covers to consider whether this is viable, so will come back on this one when circumstances permit.

The Panasonic battery has a flat top enabling the earth lead to be brought back over the top using the Lexus strap to the earthing point at the rear of the car. The Hankook battery you purchased has it's negative terminal below the top of the battery in a pocket. I would be interested to know whether you used an alternative earthing point in front of the battery, as re-routing out of the pocket sideways looks like you might obstruct the tyre on the spare wheel. I did work out another way to do this but but maybe it's not necessary. Avoiding the spare tyre with the earth lead is even more critical if you fit the next larger size in this battery range, 027 size, which I would like to do. It's 242mm long and should just fit in my tray-must check precisely as will be a tight fit. At 60Ah it's about 20% up on the Panasonic one or the Hankook you fitted.

As manufacturers stop making ICE powered cars, it will be interesting to see how this affects the used price of the diminishing number of good used ones which may also be impacted by existing and proposed ultra low emission zones.

Certainly at the price not much lost if you don't get on with it. I still have one which I used to use on my motor cycles but I found for cars in particular, it has disadvantages, viz, air can pass back into the system when the bleed is open and being rubber and getting fluid as you fit it on all successive bleeds, it is inclined to slip off, so it's best if one person holds it in place and watches for bubbles while another pumps the footbrake, so becomes a 2 man operation. I like my Eeezibleed for the occasional use it gets these days although it requires air pressure from a tyre with pressure reduced to a recommended figure. This and the build quality would make it unsuitable for frequent use and you really need a threaded reservoir and cap to match it so I think Chris will find it difficult to hold an airtight cap in place with a pressure through reservoir type. So perhaps the vacuum type I linked to and Colin used in the circumstances. I think the design of the bleed valves should be improved so as to enable a tube to be more effectively clamped on but we have to work with current design.

Problem with this is one of timing and synchronising as hydraulic pressure needs to be maintained while bleeder is open. If bleeder is not under pressure when open, air can pass back into the system along the bleeder threads. The modern answer is power bleeding which I believe is what Chris has. This requires the reservoir cap (which is normally a screw fit), to be connected to the device providing the pressure in an air tight manner. I don't know the reservoir and cap on the 250SE but would it be possible to get a suitably sized cap that could be clamped air tight and connector fitted. I had a somewhat similar situation some years ago when none of the various screw caps that came with my Eezibleed would fit on my daughter's car. I obtained a spare cap from a breakers of the same model and modified it to take the fluid/air connection, although this one was threaded, so appreciate your problem is more difficult. It should be noted that the reservoirs on some cars must have a lower pressure exerted on them so I would go with a lower pressure that does the job even though more slowly. If you decided to use a manual one man way foot method, you could use a more modern version of the old ABV automatic valves like 'Speed Bleeds'. These are designed or coated to prevent air getting back into the system while foot pedal is raised. However, this means ordering the correct thread, size and length for the callipers and using these to replace originals. An example of the type https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/p/goodridge-speed-bleeder-bleed-nipple-g-bn There is another way to do this job and that is by using a vacuum pump, so no need to modify cap. This shows how in video if you scroll down. https://www.google.com/search?q=bleeding+brakes+by+vacuum&biw=1280&bih=551&ei=WCGfYMCIKJXQUrS-u4AG&oq=bleeding+brakes+by+cacuum&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAEYADIHCCEQChCgATIHCCEQChCgATIHCCEQChCgAToHCAAQRxCwAzoCCCk6BggAEBYQHjoCCAA6BAgAEEM6CAguEMcBEK8BOggILhDHARCjAjoICCkQFhAdEB46BwgpEEcQsAM6BQgpEKABOgYIKRAWEB46BAgpEEM6BQgAEJECOgQILhBDOgIILjoFCCEQoAE6CAghEBYQHRAeUI5HWNmgBGC2yARoCHACeACAAZMBiAGAJpIBBDYxLjOYAQCgAQGqAQdnd3Mtd2l6sAEKyAEIwAEB&sclient=gws-wiz#kpvalbx=_lyKfYJTDDdPlgwf1mKWgCQ19

Carburettor? Only on old cars surely but get your drift. As regards BMW's, some of the diesel versions at least have a low air intake and owners should know better than attempt to go through anything like that. I would not take any car of mine through that much water!

For their kids to play with?

You really need to check this out for yourself by driving models with an without because it can be subjective. Also, it is generally accepted that having air suspension makes a good difference on some models, the Q5 Audi for instance according to journalists and some years ago a friend of mine had a conventionally sprung Mercedes while mine was the same model but with air. I thought mine rode flatter and better and he agreed but incidentally developed a problem and I contemplated changing to coils or selling and did the latter. The balance of opinion on this forum from people that have converted to coils seems to be that the small difference between the two systems on the RX is not worth the risk of far greater expense.

Not sure how relevant this might be to your situation but is a possibility of something similar. Some years ago I experienced water ingress on my BMW which accumulated in the rear footwell. I took the car to a large independent BMW specialist who did the usual test on the roof drains and resealed/replaced one of the membranes in the rear door card, as these are well known areas for the problem. However, water was still finding it's way in even though the drains were clear as I also proved. So I did a test using some non permanent dye and established the water was coming out of the tray. So back to the independent who removed the tray and found it was cracked, the first one ever in their experience. They fitted a replacement from a car broken for spares, dried our all the interior refitting carpet and seats - a lot of work! What could have caused the tray to crack? Then I remembered not long previously I had been carrying a very heavy load between two cross rails on the roof and at one point the air pressure was so great it overcame the ties and tore away the load hitting the rear of the roof in the process. It made hardly a dent in the roof and I thought nothing further of it at the time. I believe it was this impact that had caused the roof to transmit shock to the tray before springing back in place.

I assume this means the MOT's will have to be done by Lexus. Does this mean it can be at any Lexus dealer or only from where you take out the extended warranty?

As a get out of jail card in the event of the battery dropping to a level that it will not power up computers worth having. However, every time this happens the life of the 12v battery is reduced, so not something to use on a regular basis.

Hi Herbs (or do you prefer Herbie?), I don't know whether Lexus do this but when I wanted information of the precise build of two BMW's, the dealer where I got my spares printed off a detailed individual spec for each car at no cost. I would have thought it could be worth asking your dealer if they would be able and willing to do this. Incidentally, I have noticed when advertising used cars, many dealers list just about every option available and say in small print something like 'this might not apply to this car'. I think the actual make up and specification of the specific car being advertised should be listed.

Maybe the fact that Lexus dropped it for the 4th generation sort of confirms what Herbs has said. Some people do not have a problem with it despite covering quite large mileages over a long period, whereas I needed two new front units in just under 40K miles from new at a not inconsiderable total cost of some £2,200 and this after a reduction of about 10% contribution by Lexus. I had not offroaded the car and I don't think the original lady owner had either. If you do opt for the air suspension, I would take out Lexus 2 year for the price of 1 warranty, which I subsequently did in case the two rears also failed prematurely. It also covers against some other expensive items which can involve a lot of stripping down to replace.