Steven Lockey

Not sure, I got a complete pack on ebay which included the software. I believe you need to register on the Lexus website to down techstream directly. Can see quite a few people selling the combo pack of cable + disc on ebay for around £20.

Probably cos your statement is illogical. Just because your cars didn't have an issue, doesn't mean there isn't a physical issue with their car not related to fuel. Lots of other things than fuel that could cause this issue.

Assuming you have a laptop, you can connect that to tech-stream and do it yourself. The cable cost me like £20 on ebay. Most standard OBD readers will allow you to get the codes out however, which you can lookup online even if they aren't programmed into the OBD reader.

Never seen my GS450h drop below 30mpg even after much round-town, except literally while running when stationary for a long period and that normally only cos it was using the air-con/heater.

Possible you just ran the 12V down rather than anything wrong with it. Because all the 12V has to do is start the computer and then open the relays to the main hybrid battery, if its basically flat it may actually still manage to start the car. Had this a few times on my last 12V battery when it was, well working but it had basically no capacity left after 15 years so was very easy to run it flat if you left it on without the engine running for any period of time at all.

If it was misfires, you'd 100% have error codes.

I think its 5.2 if you turn the electronics off and how how to pull off manually extremely well. You lose a bit with the electronics on as they are a bit overly paranoid and limit the power more than is needed at lower speeds.

Most have integrated batteries so its not possible to easily replace the battery. Detachable batteries would likely become unreliable if places inside a wheel and spun rapidly 😉

Mercs are great, they are very similar to Lexus. BMW and others, not so much.

Yep, its the great thing about buying older high-end cars. Cheap and high quality. Only thing I miss is all the phone gadgets newer cars have.

Yeah that's a decent price, around what you'd expect if they do decent work (check warranty length) But the amount of difference it will make is negligible. I'd not bother spending anywhere near that much unless you need to replace the exhaust anyway. I mean I can tell it sounds different if I really concentrate on it, but no where near enough difference to be worth anywhere near that much.

True, but its less of an issue if its going into the water since the coolant fluid tends to turn into a horrible sludge when combined with oil and high temperatures. And engines don't like being lubricated by sludge 😉 Might cause some issues with the cats through.

Should see signs of that in the oil if its leaking into the engine.

On my GS which is also pre-facelfit, the parking sensor button is in the drop-down control panel on the far right. If the parking sensors are active, you'll have a light on the dash. GS doesn't have soft close doors no.

For someone as inept as me, procedure was call garage, arrange time, drive in, wait 1 hour, drive home warm 😉 I looked at doing it myself but the garage only wanted £70 to do it so by the time I brought everything and messed about wasn't worth it for the £20 or so I'd save.

Coolant system bleed, feet now warm again 🙂

Nevermind, think I found the answer from 8 years ago on this very forum. Also a post I commented on 3 years ago before I had this issue 😉 Looks like it maybe a air-lock in the heating matrix and just needs running with the cap open and refilling with coolant.

Before I start digging about thought I would ask here. Basically the issue is, when I'm driving slowly (sub-50), I basically get no cabin heat bar the heated seats. Vents just blow cold, even if the temp is set to maximum (I thought it might be a sensor problem but seems not). But it works fine if I'm going 50+ and comes on if for example I'm going up a hill or constantly accelerating hard at lower speeds. Now this all leads to their not being enough engine heat to transmit.... but the thing is, its like 30+ minutes before the heat kicks in below 50 (and often goes cold again). Engine temp on dash rises normally to half-way point before stopping as you'd expect so nothing abnormal there. It's up to the normal level and sitting there regardless if the air-vents are blowing cool or hot. Only sane explanation I can think of is the heat-exchanger isn't connected to the air-vent properly so engine has to be particually hot to actually transfer heat. Any other ideas or where to look for the heat exchanger on a GS450h (pre-facelift) would be appreciated.

300wh/mile might be a touch optimistic given Tesla LR only gets 255 and has a significantly better drag coefficient. Personally I'd assume something like 400-500wh/mile and be pleasantly surprised if you get more. But if you are happy with that range, sounds like a great project. Also give it a year or two and you might be able to swap the battery pack over to a solid state one or semi-solid state, which would significantly increase the range and decrease charge times.

Ah, replacing the ECU explains it. Didn't know it had the ECU replacement built in. That would solve the previous issue and unlock the full 200hp. Confused about your other statement about the BHP of the electrics? They are only rated to 200BHP together so if he's getting more than that output, they are running above their rated maximums which would worry me slightly. Wasn't sure if you meant that on a different car however since you mentioned a BMW. I mean they will work like that for a while but at over 10% over max, will seriously hurt reliability. I'd be interested to see how much difference it makes. I'd guess very little if any. Probably a bit faster on the 0-30 then falls away quickly after that where the normal 450h is able to apply its extra HP to the road. Yeah but it's not the same. Even with under the hood fully loaded with batteries, what sort of range are you expecting? Not done the maths, but I'd be guessing 100-150 miles tops? Even that might be optimistic? Not sure how much battery power you can pack in there.

How is that going to work without completely reprogramming the ECU? Car is still going to command the engine to spin up and the 2nd electric motor to connect to it to act as a generator and you can't really get around that without reprogramming, which means you are down to 1 electric motor for power as the 2nd one tries to get power off something not their (I assume you bypass the generator and add the power directly from the ZombieVerter when it needs power) and the CVT disconnects it from the road entirely. So even if it works, gonna make it have what? 150hp max? Both electric motors together only generate 200hp max, I'm not sure the ratio between the two. Sounds like a fun project, just not sure the result will be worth the work!

Exhaust will go at some point and need replacing. (£1k) Front shocks as well. (£1k) If it's on the original traction battery, that is likely to need replacing/reconditioning at some point. (£700/£2k). So long as you are aware that any of these that haven't been done will likely need replacing at some point in the fairly near future you are good. Other than those the car should be solid. My 2007 is approaching 200k miles and basically zero signs of mechanical wear after a refurb. Still producing max power as well according to the diags 🙂

Always a bit of a gamble. I got mine for £1.7k from a dealer. Was fairly sure there was something wrong at that price but was advertised fault free. Ofc the hybrid battery was dodgy so I got £700 back off them for the repairs.

100% on the air-con. Only hurts fuel consumption for the first 5 minutes on a really hot day as its on over-drive. Depends on the speed and how much you are carrying. I've found 38 all round is good for even tyre-wear.

Don't think its on any error as when my battery was dying, it didn't display this error. Possibly that battery is even more dead which produces the extra codes. If it was the battery through, it normally also gives you a secondary error with which cell pack it is.