Leaderboard

I think this is probably gone a little too far off-topic.

OK Ben, being as you asked with the sugar on top, I promise I'll never compare domestic systems with vehicle systems again I understand what you're saying, and Linas too, but my only point is this - yes, if, or when, you notice that it isn't getting as cold as it used to, go and get it fixed, but there is absolutely no point in wasting money on a "service" every two years if it's still working and getting as cold as you want it to. Just my opinion and personal experience of five different cars with AC over the last 40 years or more

I would go with 2 years service, there is no such thing as "leak free A/C system". Over time it still looses some coolant, but coolant is not what really matters for longevity of the system. Together with coolant you get lubricants and if you do not follow 2 years service intervals for A/C then you might loose lubricants in the coolant (or together with coolant) and it might prematurely wear out your system. It is good you keep your A/C always on, the biggest mistake people do are not using A/C for prolonged periods of time, which as you said dries the seals etc. I guess that and low mileage explains longevity of your A/C.

I agree. Better to do at night - it's much prettier! 😉

I’ve owned my 2014 300h for about a month now, celestial black SE with 16” wheels, premium nav and black interior. Whilst it’s almost poverty spec it was exactly what I wanted. Bought it with 58,000 on it, ex fleet car so it comes with its own host of ex fleet war wounds, many of which I’ve already taken car of. The car First thing when I got it home was a good wash and polish, that’s when I discovered it was metallic rather than normal black, that was a pleasant bonus. The Prius was the 300h’s predecessor, and from a reliability pilot of view a very difficult car to replace, 130,000 miles in 26 months and not one mechanical failure. Now I wanted 16” wheels because of ride comfort, free road tax and cheaper tyres, this will be used as a taxi so like the Prius will be doing serious mileage, as it stands I’ve done just shy of 4000 miles in 5 weeks so far and have been very impressed. First job, mats, something just to set the interior off a little Then I have to take car of some marks on the interior, these panels were badly scratched so out came the piano black vinyl. Next it was the two way radio and data head. I hate having things on the windscreen, and I wanted this to be as discreet as possible The data head is my meter but also all my job info comes through this. After that, wind deflectors, I’ve had to grind down one of the faces of the deflector on the drivers side as it was causing the window to drag too much. The only other thing fitted was a nextbase cctv camera, I decided to use the hardware kit that was supplied, it was dead easy to fit, took about 30 mins to fit. That was all within a few days of getting the car, the plan was to run the car, find out what needs doing mechanically and set about adding my own touches along the way. First job this week was mudflaps. The Lexus has soft paint and I knew that in a short space of time the mudflaps would rub the paint away in those areas where contact takes place, so I made up some paintwork protectors out of clear vinyl I had in the garage You can’t see the protector very well but it runs parallel with the profile of the mudflaps. Still have the rears to do, that will be the weekend. So jobs to do very soon 60k service Transmission oil Rear axle oil Discs and pads all round Egr cooler cleaned tinted rear windows And then there’s the modification I would like to do....but those I’m still investigating Updates to follow Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So my book arrived today. Been looking at usa ebay for a while for the right one/price. Can only say im impressed, leather bound with the black chrome embossed emblem. Will finish the book im reading and crack on with this one, can only be interesting.

so.... I hang my head in shame. I found a small quiet exhaust leak at the front y section which was the cause of the throttle hesitation. Problem solved can't believe that such a small leak could cause such a thing Thanks again for everyones help and sorry for wasting your time

From my experience it is better to spend £49 (or as low as £25) for routine maintenance every 2 years rather then replace A/C compressors for £700+ one day. That is called preventative maintenance - you don't wait until your engine blows before replacing oil are you?! As well I would agree that for first ~5 years ... probably don't bother - car is new, seals, compressor, piping etc. are new and relative leak rate is going to be low, but after that I would do it with increase frequency until eventually getting to industry recommended 2 years e.g. 5 years, then 3 years and then 2 years thereafter. If A/C needs to be re-gassed more often then once in 2 years I would start looking for problems in system. As well fridge doesn't get showered with 70MPH rocks, subjected to several Gs of shock, nor sits next to vibrating and extremely hot engine.

Thanks Martin, I have been bothered by this same rattle for the last few months but was unable to get to the bottom of it. Similar to you, it mysteriously appeared when the car was about two years old. I thought it might be the front passenger seat, but couldn't pin it down. Your fix has worked a treat on my car, so thanks for the detective work. Now I only have the rattle from the drivers-side rear luggage area left to figure out...

If you are changing the fluid, it is worth the effort to drop the pan and change the filter also. If that is clogged too much, it could be restricting the pressure in the system, affecting the operation. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Well I'm sorry Linas, we'll just have to agree to disagree. There's only one measure of if an aircon system is working and that's temperature. I've never had any of my car aircon systems serviced or regassed and I've always been able to get cabin temperatures so low (single figure Celcius) that it could become uncomfortable if left on low settings for too long. As long as it's doing that then it's working perfectly and needs no work doing to it. If it loses the ability to provide cold air then that's the time to get it sorted but there's no need for 'routine servicing'. EDIT: Just thought - most people don't have routine servicing done on their fridges and/or freezers but again, our freezer is more than 10 years old and still as cold as the day we bought it.

There are always deals on Groupon, etc for aircon recharges for £35 at ATS. Just had it done on my toy car (Honda S2000), previous air vent temp was 31.2C, now it’s around 6C! What a difference!

But positions the hands perfectly to use the shift paddles? I find a 9-3 hand position far more comfortable anyway. Many OE steering wheels encourage a 9-3 position these days. I think this is due to the dangers should the air bag deploy and one is holding at 10-2?

The more the merrier! F cars are not compulsory 😛

How can you lose coolant and lubricant from a sealed system? Like I said above, if there's a leak or if seals dry out and cause a loss of refrigerant/lubrication then fair enough, but it's impossible to lose anything from a sealed system unless there is a problem and so a "service" is a complete waste of time and money. At worst, doing unnecessary work on a good, sealed system may introduce problems that weren't there in the first place.

For some reason it got installed on the wrong side of the vehicle.

If you can afford to pay cash you can probably afford the depreciation!

Makes no sense for me either... We have exactly 2 days of winter every year (at least where I live in UK)... are you saying I should get set of winter tyres for £2000? I would rather not to drive at all for those two days. Furthermore, if roads are "not salted" (which they are often the case in UK, because we don't have sufficient number gritters etc. to cover all roads every time it starts snowing) even winter tires going to be useless... most of winter tires will be ok on wet snow and slush, but on ice you will need studs which would be even more mental on British roads. Simple answer in UK winter tyres are not economical and equally just gives false sense of safety - if temperature is ~ +7C you will actually get less grip, extra wear, extra fuel consumtion and longer stopping distances on winter tyres. On other point were I agree with you - modern safety systems gives false sense of security aka anyone can be racing driver, but in 0 grip conditions stability control give-up very unexpectedly. Sort of - you have grip up-to last second and the suddenly no grip at all.

Final job recently, one that I didn't have time for at the 60K service was the diff oil change. The hardest part here was getting the car high enough that I can get underneath and also level so I get the right amount of oil in the diff. You will need a 10mm Allen key for both the fill and drain plugs. 2 litres of diff oil and two metal o ring washers for the plugs I also have a hand pump to put the oil in the diff, its a lot easier than messing with bottles and filling spouts. I always undo the filling plug first, no point in draining the diff if I can't get the filler open. both the filler and the drain and on the right hand side of the diff (viewing from the back of the car) the one circled in black is the drain, in yellow is the filler don't forget to clean the magnetic trap at the end of the drain plug put the drain plug back in, fill the diff up until the oil is flowing out of the fill hole and then reinsert the fill plug. its not a hard job to do, just awkward because you are working upside down and dealing with slightly smelly oils. the next big job will be the transmission oil change or the EGR cooler......be back soon

the basic idea behind the front and rear pad change is exactly the same, as is the disc change, the only thing to remember on the rear discs is that you have handbrake shoes, ill come on to that later. i'll start with the pad change as its the more common of the two. Jack the car up and support with axle stands first job is to push back the piston and ensure the sliders move smoothly, I have a set of water pump pliers and a large flat bladed screwdriver. The caliper carrier is held onto the hub with 2x17mm bolts and then there are 2x14mm bolts that connect the caliper carrier to the main caliper body once you have undone the two 14mm bolts you only need to remove the top one, leave the bottom one loose and it will act as a pivot Prise the old pads out, clean up the stainless steel pad springs make sure they are clean to the point of being shiny again, I smear a small amount of copper grease on the flat surface, other people use more specific things like 'padgoo' On the end of each of the old pads is a little curved piece of metal that slides onto the end of the brake pad backing, remember to remove them from the old pads and swap them to the new ones, if you don't you will certainly get pad rattle. Slide the pad into the caliper and put a small amount on copper grease on the backs of the brake pads to stop brake squeal. If you have aftermarket pads you may find them very tight to fit, sometimes the shoulders that sit in the caliper carrier need a little filing down, do it a little at a time until they fit with a small mouth of resistance, don't overdo it. refit the caliper body and do up the 14mm bolts to the required torque, I also use thread lock, again thats a personal preference. Repeat for the other side. Rear pad changes are the same as the fronts except the pads are slight smaller. Disc changes. If you are doing discs then you are also changing pads at the same time, I remove the pads in the same way as doing a pad change, and also push back the caliper, but in order to remove the disc the caliper carrier needs to be removed, this is held on the hub with 2x17mm bolts. once the carrier is removed the disc will not just pop off, it needs to be remove using two 13mm bolts that are screwed into the holes on the disc face it will let go.....eventually and sometimes with a Big Bang!, just be aware of that. I used a couple of old manifold studs to remove mine Clean up the hub assembly where the disc sits, it will allow the new disc to sit squarely on the hub. The rear discs are the same principle except for the rubber grommet needs to be removed in order to gain access to the adjuster mechanism. pop the grommet out and then place the hole at about the 10 to position, shine a light in the hole and there will be the adjuster, in order to back the adjuster off you will need a flat ended screwdriver and you will need to spin the adjuster anticlockwise until the handbrake shoes back off enough to allow the disc to slide over them. readjusting the shoes is the reverse of this, its a bit of trial and error, I try to set them up so theres a bit of drag but not too much, it took me a few attempts to get the right. whilst I had all my brakes apart I decided to repaint them all, first job was cleaning them all, I use trolls breath to get rid of the worse of the brake dust etc leave it to soak in for 5-10 mins and then agitate it with a small brush, then wash off with warm water, it works very well. I stripped the caliper carriers off the car and painted them on the bench the caliper was don't on the car, I didn't want to get into the joys of having to rebleed the brakes, I also took the time to really clean the pad springs a couple were damage so had to be bent back into place. then reassembly, caliper carrier all fitted up and ready to go at the same time I had cleaned the inside of the wheels, getting rid of 60K miles worth of crud and brake dust, sadly I didn't get any pictures of that I am really pleased with how they came out, the callipers now stand out a little and don't look all rusty and crappy

Next big job was the discs and pads all round. I had noticed how crappy looking the callipers were so I planned to paint the callipers whilst I was at it, before that though I also wanted to paint the non contact parts of the brake discs, again I can't stand rusty looking parts. Father in law came up trumps again, just shy of £250 for discs and pads all round. Ive used Blue print (ADT) brake parts in the past and had no issues with them at all, good value and last as long as OE First job, degrease and mask the discs once the inner and outer face of the disc is done then time for some paint, I use silver smoothrite And the same with the rears, but I have masked the contact area where the wheel mounts against the hub as I don't paint that surface once all of this was done it was time for the swap over

wow I can believe that the last time I posted was 6 weeks ago, and about 9,000 miles!! I do nearly all the work on the car myself, father in law works in a motor factors and as a rule I buy parts from him, im fussy what companies I use, they have to be OE spec or better, and 9/10 times I get it cheaper than I can at Lexus, but that's also because the box doesn't have a Lexus badge on it. I know that the lack of Lexus stamp will have an impact on the resale value, but again I don't expect top dollar when I come to resell. Service at 60K, so filters all round, 0/20 oil, plugs and rear diff oil. My only query was the plugs. Lexus will sell me the plugs, with my discount as a Taxi driver I could get hem for about £57 for the set. Now I know they are Denso FR20HBR8, my father in law who works at a local motor factor couldn't find a listing for the IS300h so we concluded that the plugs were a Lexus only part. A quick call direct to Denso though and they provided me with a superseded part number IKBH20TT, now these are available over the counter at a factor, and the cost, £24. When I got them I went over them thoroughly and they look identical. I appreciate that they could be different heat range and I wouldn't be able to tell just by looking. Getting to the plugs was pretty straightforward, remove the plastic engine cover, the plastic wiring rail I held on with 3x10mm nuts undo those and you can then get at the wiring for each coil pack the coil packs are held on with 1x10mm bolt per pack I swap out each plug one at a time, that way the coil pack goes back in the cylinder it came out of, I always make sure the coil pack is clean and dry at the plug end as well. Once the plugs are swapped out then its all back together. The service took me about 1.5 hours to do, im still finding my way around the car and whilst I was underneath I was looking at things that may present issues long term, one that caught my eye was the front grille and how large the holes are in it. My chief concern here is how easily stones could get through and puncture the A/C condensor, so I will be trying to find a solution that will sit behind this, not stand out and also protect the A/C system. Once the service was done there was a noticeable change in the MPG, I have gained about 4-5 mpg so its fair to say the car needed the service, sadly I ran out of time so didn't get time to do the diff oil change, postponed for a later day.

The ducting from the hybrid battery to the fan at the top of the picture is shown below to give you an idea of what you are looking for.

Over the last few thousand miles my NX has developed an annoying chattering-type rattle from somewhere low on the passenger side. At first I thought it was coming from underneath the car, and I noticed that the plastic moulding intended to smooth the airflow under the body is not very securely located, and suspected that. But it turned out to be the plastic cover for the lower front passenger seatbelt mounting, which had enough freedom of movement to knock against the B-pillar trim. Some felt applied to the B-pillar trim has eliminated it. No idea why (i) it should wait until 25K miles to appear, or (ii) why the driver's side doesn't do it. PS sorry to start a thread - I thought there'd been a general NX rattles thread but couldn't find it. Perhaps there haven't been enough rattles.

Agree with that. The orange and whitish seats just doesn't work, in fact I'll go further to say that looks awful.

And by the way, @Linas, it looks gorgeous in white and red interior 😍

https://www.gumtree.com/p/lexus/lexus-ls400/1308547649

Sorry... I looks like a mess... Yellow exterior is questionable - let's say thing of personal taste, but interior ... I kind of like yellow inlays on the door cards on it's own, but with white seats it just has nothing in common, nor it contrasts well. I guess if you want to stand out of the crowd then goal will be achieved, but it is not visually pleasing and it would be simply cheaper to take of your trousers if attention is all you need 😄

@Warrington guy Dave don't worry it about matey this lot can't even count to.......... 4 it's an M4......... 🐀

Not going down that far but going to Beer in Devon next week for a rare outing in the 460. The Mem Sahib will probably sit in the back with the front seat passenger seat folded and pushed forward, the Sun shades up, and reclined in the seat. The good news is She won't ask "are we there yet" as I can lower the rear screen and have the satnav on for her. looking forward to another outing in this most sumptuous limousine.

Wow! Glad you're OK Syed. It'll be interesting to find out exactly what happened.

Syed, Glad to hear you were able to pull over safely. It must have been very scary. How fast were you going? Could you explain what you meant by "engine collapsed" please? There are a lot of us on this forum with GS450hs both older and more miles so this is more than idle curiosity. John

last MOTs look a bit " iffy " tbh but worth a punt if you're good with a welding torch maybe Malc

Could you clarify what you mean my ‘Just Sold my ISF’ 😜

You can get the same functionality as this £370 Lexus accessory by using a TP-LINK M7350 V4 4G LTE MiF currently £60 on Amazon and this is a 4G device. Mine works a treat and isn't fixed to car so can come with me. John

Got the 6 months pregnant Mrs plus my best mate and his 7 month pregnant Mrs with me so expect my ability to be on time anywhere to be absolutely zero! I’ll PM you my number now and we should try and coordinate when we’re both there. Think we are aiming for about 1-2 in the afternoon. PM in its way.

@NothernDan, I am going on Saturday. Can’t on Sunday. Wanna’ meet up?

Absolutely chief! As long as you stay in 3rd gear and tell us all how ace our cars are!

Forget the Ferrari and the NSX, property is a much better investment, particularly in South Buckinghamshire 👍. Call me, all proceeds will offset the depreciation on my ISF 👍

Don't forget to add £2000 for winter tyre set every other season... because otherwise - "what sort of person you are"?!

I thought the red lamp meant I had a willing lady in the passenger seat!

Are you saying - basically only an idiot can buy RC-F or any newish expensive car? The sad truth is that any new car will rapidly depreciate regardless of how you pay for it, so if you want one you have to live with that! It doesn't make any difference whenever you going to finance it or pay cash. Even more so you have to pay interest on your lease, so buying outright if you can afford it makes more sense... according to Warren Buffet!

Hopefully said in jest. I’m sure you really wouldn’t want to see anyone come to harm!

Thanks it's pulling to the left so I will do this.

Yeah... maybe a I was tired or maybe because it doesn't really makes sense - reading again it is as clear as it gets 😄 IS250 OEM 18" wheels are staggered as well, IS-F wheel wheels are staggered. IS250 18 inch wheels fit IS-F, so as long as you wheels are to the spec. they should fit as well.

Any car with a Lexus service history will come with an annual Hybrid Health Check certificate. If it's not got one and the seller won't get one (it's only about £40) walk away, If it has a service history and you're happy with the general condition and price, buy it with confidence.

The principles of hybrid driving are the same but the cars are so very different. The 300h is a smaller car in the cabin but a far more comfortable place to be, a lot quieter and the feeling of better quality materials being used in the car. From a spec point of view both the 300h and my Prius which was top of the range were the same spec, the only one difference was the Prius had auto wipers but no auto lights. Fuel economy isn’t much different, less than 5-8 mpg but the way the 300h delivers the power is so much nicer, the e-cvt box is easier to live with. The Prius was aimed at a different market, and that’s apparent when you jump from one to the other, the Prius was well put together and even with 170,000 miles on it there were no squeaks or rattles from the interior. I’m hoping the 300h is the same. If it is I may run this one to about 250,000 miles Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes. Keep us up to date. It'll be interesting to see how the IS handles serious mileage.

Nice upgrade and write up there Jason. How does the 300h compare to the Prius?