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As it was feeling a bit like Spring today, I decided to tackle my filthy NX which has a GTechniq ceramic coat applied. She hadn't been cleaned for a month, and was caked in mud from the rural lanes where I live. I knew I was in for a session rather than a quick maintenance wash. 1. Bilt-Hamber snow foam (using Nilfisk pressure washer) 2. Decontamination using CarPro TriX 3. Body wash using Bilt-Hamber auto wash (wheels with Bilt-Hamber Auto-Wheel) Once dry... 4. Water spots removed using FSE 5. Layer of Bilt-Hamber Double Speed wax applied 6. c2v3 applied to finish 7. Wheels finished with Bouncers Looking Sweet 8. Glass finished with Bouncers Look Sharp 9. Tyres finished with Bouncers Dress to Impress 10. All door shuts and under bonnet washed and finished with c2v3 11. Exterior plastics maintained using Chemical Guys New Look Trim Gel 12. Finally, a few small stone chips were touched in. My neighbours think I'm insane, but admit the car is looking pretty good, even though the sun has gone in...☹️

You need to buy a multimeter for testing. You can get cheap ones for under a tenner but even a very decent on can be had for under £30. Lots available for next day delivery on Amazon, eBay or even CPC Once you know which is permanent and which is switched, you can then happily use 'add-a-fuse' piggybacks, although you'll probably find that the fusebox cover will no longer fit unless you doctor it with a Dremel or suchlike.

Hold out your hand......

Hi folks, New to the site, have a 1JZ-GTE Soarer with auto trans, was a garden find that had been sitting 11 years!! She was covered in moss top and sides, which seems to have preserved the paint and stopped her from developing any rust. Underneath is also in excellent condition. I bought it as a non start and it was stuck in "P". The guy used it to tow his small 13ft sail boat, so needless to say it has a tow bar. 🤣 I eventually got it out of "P" in his driveway the morning the tow truck came (happy days), got it home and spent 4 hours washing it and it easily needs another hour or two spent on washing. I got a new battery for it, whipped off the timing belt cover to see a new Toyota T/Belt in place, however it has been there 11 years!!!. Once the battery was installed I turned ignition on to reveal a very low lit dash board. I cycled the ignition on and off a few times and with each time the dash started to brighten, a battery stabilization unit was put on and ignition was left on then for a while which seemed to help the electric start to function again. The following day I after leaving it on power for the night I rotated the engine by hand to make sure it wasn't seized then I cranked it over, although it had a very healthy turn over she would not fire (time to get out the multimeters and probes i guess😁). The fuel pump was not working at all, the alternator rectifier was shot and the FPC module was erratic at best. So with that a plan was made to remove and have the alternator reconditioned, a new AEM 380Lph fuel pump was ordered along with new Denso spark plugs, engine oil, oil filter and coolant. Parts arrived Friday just gone, so it was a fun filled weekend with one mission, to get her started!!. I flushed the rad out, which was pretty filthy it must be said, refitted the alternator and also the Denso plugs, then went about installing the new AEM 380lph fuel pump. There was a 1/4 of a tank of old fuel in her, I took some out and set it alight to see how quickly it would ignite. It ignited no problem so put everything back together, filled it up with coolant and cranked it over..... BOOM....1st turn of the key she sprung to life and idled very sweetly for 2 hours without issue. I then turned it off as it was getting late, i decided to make sure she would fire back up again, but when I went to turn it over it would not fire. So quick trip to diagnosis port to bridge "Fp & B+" terminals and then turn ignition on, pump kicked in and she fired up no problem at all. So left it at that as I knew where I was going hunting to find the issue on Sunday morning. Needles to say after some testing as suspected all along the FPC module was also passed its sell by date. So that pretty mucg brings me upto date so far. A new FPC module has been ordered as I like my cars to be right, I know I could bypass it and all that but I would rather it functioned as it should just in case. The list on this girly is going to be BIIIGGG!!!!! as expected for a car sitting outside idle for 11 years. But for now....I'm happy out with the progress 😉

Spend a few hours underneath yesterday and will share observations and progress: When the height level sensor is unplugged, the afs light flashes. Though I forgot to plug in my laptop at the same time to see if it reported any DTCs. Was really surprised that the dash display did not show the levelling fault. Initial observations of the rusty linkage bolts made me think that it would be impossible to remove thrm without shearing them off. In the end I managed to successfully remove the two which held the sensor bracket. However, unfortunately the bolt on the bottom ball joint sheared when the nut was half way off. Luckily, there was just enough remaining to get 3/4 of a nut on it! Phew. Having got the sensor off, I discovered that one of the coil spring connectors was badly rusted. And one of the fragile sliding contacts turned to dust when I looked at it. I tried to clean the rusty spring and rebend the other copper contact to make a connection, but the resistance values were all over the place when l had finished. New sensor is required. Having put it all back together, the headlights are still too low (predictably), the afs light does not flash and the lights don't dance on start-up. I'm hopeful that replacing the sensor will fix the height of the beams, but we'll have to see what that does to the startup dance. There seems to be plenty of choice on eBay around £25 for replacement sensors in the UK ( Chinese and Hong Kong stock is half the price, but takes a while to arrive). Does anybody have any experience of these after market sensors - are any worse quality than any of the others?

ISF makes it......https://drivetribe.com/p/mike-brewer-picks-the-top-five-OSp1xLxMRLa6arJsrUDiiQ?iid=FxyiH9y-RUOq6KGzCBDkeg

Wanted to get the V6 plugs changed but everything I've read says it's a nightmare job, fiddly, 4 hours, difficult and v expensive😶 So bought the oem plugs from Lexus Birmingham on ebay, £70 instead of £100 plus from Dealer, and took the car off to two guys who've looked after my Lexus cars for more than fifteen years off and on. 1 hour later Pete and Lates have changed all six plugs using the 'remove wipers, arms and entire cowl but leave plenum/manifold in place' method 🙂 tbh I was stunned and impressed. Lexus book time for the job is iirc 4 hours. So quality work at a great price. What more do you want....? A few pics:

Watching all this with interest.

Date and time will be - Sat 9th March, 10am

The expansion tank on the RX is not pressurised. When the coolant heats up and expands, it pushes past a spring-loaded valve in the radiator cap and fills the expansion tank. When the coolant cools and contracts, a vacuum is creates and the coolant in the expansion tank is sucked past a second valve in the radiator cap to maintain the coolant level. If the return valve is stuck, or the small bore pipe from the expansion tank to the radiator neck is blogged, the coolant can't return to the radiator. The vacuum caused by the contracting coolant causes the hoses to collapse. The good news is you have no leaks in the coolant system, but it does need seeing to as it will affect coolant flow at colder engine temperatures. An aftermarket radiator cap shouldn't break the bank and neither should checking the expansion tank hose for a blockage.

My 2015 Honda CR-V had unpainted plastic half way up the front bumper, and large plastic mouldings on the bottoms of the doors. That worked pretty well, much better than lots of brittle paint in vulnerable areas as the NX has.

My previous Toyotas have chipped terribly. Hopefully, the RAVs shape may keep some chips away from painted areas.

Just a follow up on this, I didn't go to see it as when I rang the dealer he said they didn't know anything about it's history they had just bought it from an auction, I know it is cheap but I'd rather spend a bit more and avoid a pup. So I'm still looking for a nice example, the only colour I wouldn't want is black or white. If anyone is thinking of selling let me know.

Also - great number plate!

Mine has around 115k so not any where near 'high mileage'. However, I appreciate things like suspension components need refreshing after certain time/mileage. It's the fact that Lexus don't sell JUST the small part on its own. It's very wrong. The rest of the hub isn't exactly a consumable item!

So, from those compression readings, do you think that the valves are not closed 100% for some reason? You say it ran (idle) for a long while previously but not now. So could it be that the timing is now out due to that 10+ year old belt? paul m.

I don't know, it's probably a personal thing - I don't dispute that technically a 450 does do those things better, but I have several older cars on my fleet and I enjoy them all for how they do things. I still regularly drive my 1993 Camry and much preferred it to the 2015 Avensis when I had that. I think it's really good to see Michael commit to a job which I imagine a lot of owners would ignore.

@varunsharma.... this is the box of magnetic fastners i bought

Though you have a second battery on yours, which is a tad larger🙂

I am on my 2nd NX, both being luxury models and i find them very quiet.

Missed this topic and only caught up after I had reinsured my RX450h. My current insurers quoted a price of £519 ( increase of £200) Cheapest online price was £367 which was still a big increase in my mind. I then rang Adrian Flux who had always been nearly the most competitive previously but not quite there. After a lot of negotiating I managed to get a price of £275. Now I didn't expect that. To not only renew it but at a cheaper price than last years premium. Full marks to Adrian Flux. Now we will see if they can match it next year or I have to look around yet again ( although I always check a number of quotes anyway)

I've posted this review on another thread, but if you haven't seen it it's well worth a read. Very balanced, reflecting most of the thoughts on this thread. https://www.driving.co.uk/car-reviews/extended-tests/extended-test-2018-lexus-nx-300h-review/

Worth reading this series of reviews which seem very balanced and accurate based on my experience. https://www.driving.co.uk/car-reviews/extended-tests/extended-test-2018-lexus-nx-300h-review/ Reviewer notes on a couple of occasions how quiet the NX is, especially compared with a Skoda SUV diesel. More economical too...

I had dust under the lacquer on the nearside C pillar. Didn’t notice it at first and after 2 weeks saw what I thought was a small stone chip. Lexus body shop knew straight away what it was - even before seeing the car. The Takumi paint shop staff must have had the day off when mine went through the factory. Naturally, Lexus GB warrantied the work which meant removing the small pane of glass just forward of the C pillar in order to do it properly rather than just taping the glass edge. New glass was on backorder for almost 4 weeks. Car now perfect and you’d never know. Body shop even sanded the new paint back to a mirror finish to match.

Hi - we bought a 2011 Rx450h in 2014 when it had 72k on the clock - ex co car fully maintained etc. 5 years on we have added 50k miles, car has been serviced each year at Lexus - total cost £3870 which included the big 100k service, all tyres and discs/pads too. The only spend outside of service and tyres/ brakes has been two new shock absorbers which is included in the total figures I have mentioned. I never worry about the hybrid battery - all healthchecks have been fine on it. It's a great car, my wife loves it and she wants to keep it forever, I have a 20 year old LS400 with almost 300k on the clock and I believe the RX will still be in our household at the same age/mileage. I don't think you will regret purchasing one.

I kept being told that be a friend who had a 520 bmw of the same age as my 300h. So for a bit of fun, and to shut him up! We reset both computers and ran up the M5 for 50 miles, both keeping to the same speed and where possible both using cruise. I was 57.8mpg, he was 59.2mpg, the difference was so insignificant that he now accepts that the 300h may be suitable for motorways and urban Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's an argument that keeps circulating - the premise is that if you can maintain a high constant speed for a lot of miles on an empty motorway then a) a diesel engine will be more economical (maybe 10mpg or so more?) and b) a petrol engine will not be too different since the hybrid is essentially running as a petrol engine at that point (although the Atkinson cycle on the hybrid is more efficient still than the Otto cycle of a normal ICE). But, when you factor in real life for most people which is that driving for very long at a high and regular speed in the UK, especially during normal working hours, is nigh on impossible and usually punctuated with i) weight of traffic causing slow or variable speed running or ii) roadworks and slow lane running usually at 50mph or iii) smart camera controlled motorways often with speed restrictions, then in all of those situations the hybrid unit is doing what it does best by harvesting energy when braking and deploying it when accelerating whilst maintaining the ICE running at peak efficiency where possible. So yes, in normal every day use the hybrid will deliver good fuel economy on long motorway runs because the journey is more usually varying conditions at lots of different speeds. I have a colleagues with diesel and petrol engined cars and myself with the hybrid IS 300h. We all do some long distance runs (a few hundred miles) whilst traveling together in each others cars (similar types of cars and performance) and the above is clearly seen when comparing the consumption on the trip computers - on balance across a mixed journey on the motorway (so not all high speed running) the diesel and the hybrid are much the same with the petrol in 3rd place and falling off the more stop start the journey becomes. In particularly busy periods the hybrid will often come out slightly ahead. So, the statement "hybrids are no good for motorways" is clearly a simplistic stirring of the pot and should carry a footnote " *when the motorway has little traffic, no speed cameras or road works"...

Regarding the SatNav issues, there is an update to the software which helps with this. I had the same issue with the (identical) system in my LC. Now, instead of tracking the car in the wrong place, it seems to adjust the car position over a few seconds until it is correct. Better but not perfect. I have to say that I think Lexus will be in a bit of difficulty with sales of the NX and UX as the new Toyota Rav 4 has just been released. All new hybrid technology, AWD as standard and loaded with kit. It also has a 5 year warranty and 2 years zero % finance at present.

A few IPhone snaps from last weekend

Thanks for posting this! I have done it on my ct200h 12 plate and it worked a treat. Cost me £20 off eBay!

Oh no! Unfortunately I won't be able to make it. Only day in March I'm busy!