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Both sides done now, scraped, sanded and treated with Bilt Hamber Hydrate 80 ready for painting tomorrow. Don’t know how good it is but the reviews say it is. My body is aching after being a contortionist under the arches but if you run your fingers inside the arches now they are as smooth as the clay barred paintwork😀 well almost! Well chuffed with what I’ve done today and it definitely needed doing. Tomorrow will be painting inside the arches etc, just wish I had some Por15 to use but a few coats of anti chip paint will be more than enough for now and will buy some Por15 and coat it again. Beer o’clock now and will sit in the sun 😎, satisfied that I’m at least one step ( possibly 10 ) closer to making the car last another 24 years.

Colin! I hate you! 😉 Ordered! 🙂 😞

Just looking at that engine bay convinces me to hold onto mine as long as possible. I can just imagine the service manual........remove upper engine cover, remove lower engine cover, remove front air intake, remove the 16 vacuum pipes, remove the 12 electrical connectors........you can now fit new wiper blades.

@Shahpor! No way it was the last one! Usually I am not that lucky! I thought it might be the case (that is way I talked myself to buy it) but usually doesn't happen in my life that often! I will get photos here when I get the model, I hope it will be worth it! I know sooner or later I would buy it but with 30% off I couldn't refuse even though now is not the best time to spend these money! @Shahpor if my wife decides to kick me out on delivery of this, I will let you know as I will be forced to sell it! lol! 🙂

I believe the engine bay should look more black rather than a brown/grey colour 😉 That box you are pointing to houses the engine and transmission ECUs. The pipe next to the washer filler in a cold air inlet, and the missing pipe is the outlet. Of the two, better to have the outlet missing. I believe the part code is 82776-50020. Not sure it goes anywhere, just diverts the hot air to the front of the vehicle. You can see the engine bay in this brief video - slightly different to yours as it is a LHD vehicle.

£186 per hour!

well, don't go to Lexus to ask, they'll charge a minimum of 30 mins / half a unit = £ 93 incl vat 😲 Malc

I would guess you're right, though I don't know for certain. I don't think it would cause excess wear on the brakes as the car wouldn't be moving but it might cause wear to the electric motors, though maybe someone can correct me on this. In a conventional automatic, the car does keep pushing when you have the footbrake on and the car is stationary. These hybrid cars simulate this because lots of people are used to it. But I'm pretty sure that when the hybrid car is stationary and you have your foot on the footbrake the car is using no energy and is not trying to move forward. It edges forward when you take your foot off the brake because this is what conventional cars do, and they've designed this one so it seems the same. There's no reason why it should begin to move when you take your foot off the brake - it's just that this is what most people expect if they're used to conventional automatics. I suspect the parking brake is not the same. For example, if you leave the parking brake on when you put the car in Drive and you press the accelerator, the car will start to move but you'll hear loud beeping and a flashing light on the dashboard to show the parking brake should be released. The parking brake might hold the car stationary but I don't know if the car is attempting to move as it would be on a conventional car. On a related topic, you may already know that you don't need to use the parking brake to do a hill start. If you stop on a hill and hold the car with the foot brake, the car won't start to roll back for about 3-4 seconds after you release the brake to give you time to start pressing the accelerator to move forward. Incidentally, my air conditioning creaks too when the car starts up. I always assumed it was just making initial adjustments after registering current temperature and so on. I never attempted to have anything done about it.

This thread shows £ 100 + VAT. It is a service invoice but the labour rate should be fixed, they adjust the quantity and overprice oil to get to the fixed service figure. https://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/123038-service/ Rates will vary across the country due to overhead costs being different (wages, rent etc.).

Does this help? As you can see, I was charged half an hour of labour to investigate my juddering brakes. So, if you extrapolate that to a full hour and add VAT, it comes to £186.

Don't put it into neutral at traffic lights - you'll be running down the hybrid battery while you're in neutral instead of charging it, especially if you have air conditioning etc turned on. At worst, if you kept doing this, it might not start up again from the lights - though I expect you'd see plenty of warning messages before it reached this low level of battery charge. If you don't like keeping your foot on the brake you could put it in Park and ignore what the person behind thinks. But there's no wear involved in staying in Drive with your foot on the brake and that's how they're designed to be used, as are all conventional automatics. Just because you're used to putting a manual gearbox into neutral at the lights doesn't mean you need to do that on this kind of car!

I just tested my wife’s Merc which has stock DRLs and they come on with ignition2 even before the engine is started. So ignition2 must be compliant, don’t need engine on as such.

Yesterday the new Central Locking system got fitted so today, having now got most of the parts, it was back to sorting the windscreen washer problem. I joined the 2 washer nozzle pipes together using one of the 4mm Y pieces easy enough. As previously mentioned the car has both a wash and rinse reservoir and one uses a 4mm pipe the other 6mm so I fitted an in-line plastic reducer on the 6mm so we’re all 4mm now. Another Y piece connected the 2 reservoir pipes together and an additional short piece of pipe connected the 2 Y pieces together. I wasn’t sure if I needed some non return valves, I did order some but failed to notice that they were being sent from China with May/June delivery date but it all seems OK without them with instant water flow when demanded and no apparent back flow between the reservoirs. If I do get problems I’ll fit them on arrival. Adjusted the nozzles for aim with a fine needle and working well. I managed to break the clips that fasten the sound deadening to the bonnet which needs to be partially removed to get to the plumbing but ordered 10 replacements from flea bay for a couple of pounds and fitted fine.

I can open the boot with the engine running on mine but it is an import so as usual could differ from Lexus branded models of the same year. Just got to get the boot lid to fully open now and I have an Air Brake/Speed Brake like a Boeing 😀

As the video shows, there's a fair bit of play in the parking ring - the slots are quite far apart compared with the grooves of the cog wheels. So the lever may have to slide into one of the slots, creating a bit of movement and the shifter may wobble, depending on whether the lever drops straight into a slot or not. This is normal on all automatic cars. But it seems like a good idea to release the footbrake gently so that it doesn't jolt into its slot too roughly. I hadn't thought of that - I might copy that if I remember next time. Interesting question. I've been driving normal automatics for many years and I think it's standard to hold the footbrake down while changing from D to R. I remember once riding as a passenger in my car while a mechanic tested it for a fault and he shifted from Drive to Reverse while the car was still moving, causing me to grit my teeth and hope he hadn't done any damage. On an automatic, the car is always moving if it's in Drive; it will edge forward even if you don't touch the accelerator. On standard automatics, there are mechanical bits and pieces that move when you change the gear selection, engaging and disengaging clutches in the gearbox to select the gear. But on the Lexus/Toyota hybrid transmission, nothing mechanical changes in the transmission when you move the gear selector from Drive to Reverse. All the cogs are permanently engaged. All that happens when you switch from Drive to Reverse is that the computer switches motor/generator 2 (MG2) into reverse. So I can't think of any mechanical damage that might be done by not applying the footbrake while you change gear. The engine is not affected; it may keep running or it may stay stopped, depending what it was doing at the time. There is no reverse gear as such, the car is just driven backwards by the electric motor. As for electrical damage, I don't know the answer. The other motor, MG1 is frequently changing the direction it spins, controlled by the computer, so my guess would be that MG2 would probably cope with being switched into reverse without any problem, too. I imagine the computer would be designed to protect it from any damage. If the car is nearly stationary it would be edging forward slowly, driven by MG2. If it then switches direction, I would have thought the designer would have made sure that it isn't harmed by excess current. But, as I say, this is just a guess. Having said that, I'd suggest it might be a bad habit to adopt. That's because even if it was safe to do this on this type of hybrid car, it's probably not advisable on a normal automatic and if you adopt it as a habit, you might do it on some occasion without thinking when you're driving a normal automatic, which I'd suggest is not advisable. As regards Neutral, it's important to remember that the high voltage battery is not being charged when the car is in Neutral. So it shouldn't be used when the car is parked, for example, for the passengers to enjoy the view for any length of time - always put it back into Park. The motor/generators are disconnected when Neutral is selected but if the car is moved, they will spin nonetheless. This means the car should not be towed at any speed, as the motor/generators might be damaged if they spin at high speed. I imagine Neutral is only there to allow the car to be winched onto a trailer at walking speed.

This part

Hi Shahpor, I don't know where it originated from but it was posted on clublexus. That's where google led me. Its quite official-looking, so perhaps it was press material from Lexus USA.

I'd have one! The reason I have a Volvo estate is the need for space with my work. I considered a Mercedes e class estate but the reliability concerned me. So because I want Lexus reliability and comfort I have to have two cars (well, not "nave to have" as such) Not that the Volvo isn't comfortable and reliable, it's just not the same! So why Lexus never made a big estate when all the competitors did is a mystery, and one that has been discussed here many times.

The lock/unlock function is “piggy backed” onto the door switch so you still retain the original switch function i.e. you can still lock/unlock the doors with the switch or the key in the lock. The remote boot opening is a bonus as it never had it a standard. The transmission is fine, you’ll get used to my sense of humour 😀

I've been addicted to all these Dash Cam videos on YouTube which people post on Pistonheads. There was one I saw where a bloke was playing a relaxation tape. Suddenly someone cuts him up, the red mist kicks in and he's effing and jeffing all over the place. I won't be buying that particular tape. As an aside, these videos highlight just what a lot of utter tools the contributors are. Most go looking for trouble.

Hi we have used the inchcape group for our Ct200h and they are very good. We had an insurance job as well and asked Churchill if I can use inchcape. They said an estimator had to come and view the car but due to the covid19 outbreak it was a video call to show them the damage. What we had done was the following: 1. Informed Churchill that our car got vandalised and provided a crime reference number. 2. Asked if we can inchcape and they said yes. 3. Went to inchcape and ask them for a quote etc, whilst there talked to Churchill with inchcape estimator and they said yes that’s fine. 4. Waited for Churchill estimator for a video and estimator and inchcape spoke and approved of body work. i hope this helps Furthermore I would go to Inchcape rather than a third party as they know how to repair a Lexus as lexus have a special paint job as I wanted to go to Toyota Bodyshop and they said no, as Lexus have a special coat of paint and warranty will be valid. as sometimes 3rd parties don’t do a good job and we have had experiences of this.

Dear Lexus, here's how I think it should look.

I purchased the Hawk one suggested by Howard which arrived within a couple of days and seems to be of a reasonable quality. They do supply an installation guide booklet and a model specific sheet but this only gives the wire colour and rough location so a bit of metering is required. Fitting involves removing the driver’s side lower dash, the heating ducting and the sill trim. Took me around 4 hours due to having to confirm the wiring and routing the wiring, the indicator flasher wires were too short to reach to the Hazard Warning switch so had to be extended but the rest were fine. This particular unit has the facility to remote open the boot (although the symbol on the fob is for sound mute on a TV) .The early LS400s with a single button key fob did not have this feature so this is a nice addition. The instructions say a relay is required but this is already fitted OEM so it was just a case of wiring to the boot release switch. Simply hold the fob button for 3 seconds to pop the boot. Another thing I have found is that all the doors unlock automatically when the ignition is turned off, this will save the other half from opening the window every time we stop and get out. The fourth button when pressed makes the indicator flash 3 times to assist vehicle location. Considering Lexus want around £500.00 for the chip and 3 keys I am pretty pleased with my £20.00 system which does more. I have noticed that since fitting when you select D the car goes backwards and when selecting R it goes forwards, I am however now getting used to this and I’ve put a label on the wood shifter panel like with the alien spaceship in Independence Day. Oooops. 😀

That sounds normal. Here's a video about the transmission and this section shows what's called the parking pawl, which locks the transmission when you engage Park. So you can see that it's normal that there would be a bit of movement when Park is engaged. This is the same on all automatic cars, not just hybrid cars. (The video is actually about the P410 transmission which is for front-wheel drive cars. The equivalent is the L210 on the IS300h, which is a version used for rear-wheel drive cars but they work in much the same way.). But when you use the foot-operated parking brake, there really shouldn't be much movement of the car - certainly not "a few inches". There might be a bit of movement but it should feel more secure than when you just engage Park on the transmission.

I bought an IS300h at the end of December 2019, a 63 plate with 22,800 on the clock. Having owned both Honda and Mazda previously, the Lexus feels far better built than the others, and they are pretty well screwed together! The mileage I do is fairly similar to yours and I'm having no issues at all, with no battery problems and on the coldest days I was getting 38 mpg around town and suburban. The Honda Civic gave me 28 to 32. On a long motorway run to St Albans on a very cold January day I got 58 mpg at almost warp speeds, the Civic gave me 48 mpg at best. Currently in lock down conditions I'm only doing the across town run and I'm on 44.5 mpg. Bear in mind that I'm running the F Sport which has wider tyres, hence a little less mpg than the standard saloon. I have no issues with thoroughly recommending any Lexus to anybody. My colleagues who run German stuff, and that's all it is, are somewhat kicking themselves right now and every single one of them who've ridden in the Lexus has been totally gob smacked. Buy the IS, it's the only car I've ever owned where I'm impressed every time I do so much as click the seatbelt on.

My car (2014 IS 300h with 85,000 miles) makes that noise too - usually on start up first thing but I don't notice it at any other time - but I generally leave my climate control on auto and so don't make any large temperature changes once on the move. The car has always done this since I purchased it (at 2 years old with 40,000 miles on it) and so I just assumed it was one of the air con flaps going through a full opening when I first start the car so didn't give it any more thought. The noise hasn't got worse in the 3+ years and 45,000 miles I have had the car.

i have had the same issue on my last IS300h the ventillation unit was replaced under warranty luckily for me here is my video of the noise apparently the dealer had never heard it before. i believe it is a worn pivot point that created the noise starting_up_with_creek.mp4

Couldn't watch the full video.. She's terrible(her delivery). My favourite car reviewer on youtube is Savagegeese. His review of the RCF is the best I've seen.

My LED ones are a grand a piece.

lexus chester made a mess of my car they scratched the paint on the A pillar when taking the dashboard out, had mucky paw prints over the light grey interior panels, gave me a rattle by the dash airbag and forgot to replace half the screws from the centre console and they wondered why i was ****** off with them, PHIL the service manager needs to grow a pair as he wouldn't confront the guy who left the screws out the guy should of been bollocked as he knew he hadn't replaced everything he had taken out.