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That seems to be a common thread on this site. Age related no doubt but still a bit mystifying to me. Reliability, refinement, longevity, comfort would all come before - whether my Nokia 3310 would connect to the CD player.

Well, I can't disagree with any of what you post there Herbie. I managed to survive my first year of driving a hybrid without incident but then I have an inquiring mind and quickly discovered many of these 'quirks' I think it quite sad that these days many, perhaps even, most buyers are more concerned with the audio system and whether their phone will connect with it.....

So the moral of the story is. Its a lovely car, find an excuse to drive it every week. 🙃

Here's mine. 20mm wheel spacers for front&rear wheels, that really make a big difference!

Just discovered today that my ventilated seats have filters 😵 I suppose it makes sense as most cooling systems do but I never imagined there would be such a thing (and if you have the rear vented seats they have them as well) Initial investigation so far to purchase said filters (as I would imagine mine would need replaced by now) shows an average price of about $23US each so thankfully I will only need 2 I wonder what other unknowns await 😆 (if links not allowed feel free to delete - I tried using the link only option but it unceremoniously kicked me off the page!)

I know you're only trying to be helpful and I thank you for that and I also applaud your public-spiritedness, I do, but I think we all need to think of safety. As you say above, "Covid trumps cat" - but personal safety also trumps cat. One of the 'cat theft' videos I saw on YouTube the other day showed one scrote jacking up the car while his mate was standing in full view, broad daylight, with a two-foot long machete in his hand, looking quite nonchalant and as though they had every right to be doing what they were. I have to say that, faced with a two-foot machete, they would indeed have the right to take mine. In reality there is so very little we can do; nowhere is safe to park and no amount of parking against walls or whatever will deter them.

Hi. Yes, but par for the course, there will always be people who prefer\choose the easy option regarding income. It's the unscrupulous scrap yards that buy them that encourages the theft. Regards.

on a lesser note, many years ago I was quite involved with Longplayer, a company that provided insurance coy replacements for stolen etc videos, records, dvds and the like .... long gone with the advent of say, spotify etc NOW we had a big big issue with office waste bins, and yes, it was a big H&S issue at the time believe it or not The rules frequently moved between having metal bins, wicker bins, cardboard bins and I think finally back to metal bins for fire safety issues ..... and quite ridiculous costs in between all the changes Malc

Out of curiosity I rang Lexus Parts Direct to establish the build date of my 1996 model, which apparently was built in April 1995. It was helpful because these are the options on Amayama's website, and it saves dismantling to investigate. For example, my ECU, which was only used for 8 months, is 50251, substituted by 50252, but not 50351. Hopefully this helps. No PNC# (SUB) OEM part number Required per car Production period Name Applicability Please order in advance 01 89661 89661-50250 01 10.1994 - 01.1995 COMPUTER, ENGINE CONTROL UCF20..EUR 2,163.08 USD (SUBS) 89661-50251 01 2,163.08 USD 02 89661 89661-50270 01 10.1994 - 02.1995 COMPUTER, ENGINE CONTROL UCF20..RHD..EUR SOUTH AFRICA SPEC 2,174.96 USD (SUBS) 89661-50271 01 2,163.08 USD 03 89661 89661-50251 01 01.1995 - 08.1995 COMPUTER, ENGINE CONTROL UCF20..EUR 2,163.08 USD (SUBS) 89661-50252 01 04 89661 89661-50271 01 02.1995 - 08.1996 COMPUTER, ENGINE CONTROL UCF20..RHD..EUR SOUTH AFRICA SPEC 2,163.08 USD (SUBS) 89661-50410 01 05 89661 89661-50310 01 08.1995 - 08.1996 COMPUTER, ENGINE CONTROL UCF20..EUR 1,782.76 USD (SUBS) 89661-50351 01 2,139.31 USD 06 89661 89661-50350 01 08.1996 - 11.1996 COMPUTER, ENGINE CONTROL UCF20..EUR (SUBS) 89661-50351 01 2,139.31 USD 07 89661 89661-50400 01 08.1996 - 11.1996 COMPUTER, ENGINE CONTROL UCF20..RHD..EUR SOUTH AFRICA SPEC (SUBS) 89661-50401 01 08 89661 89661-50351 01 11.1996 - 07.1997 COMPUTER, ENGINE CONTROL UCF20..EUR 2,139.31 USD 09 89661 89661-50401 01 11.1996 - 07.1997 COMPUTER, ENGINE CONTROL UCF20..RHD..EUR SOUTH AFRICA SPEC

Whilst HSE can be a PITA, the number of lives saved/improved by the rules being enforced over the years has been massive. HSE is there to provide a minimum level of protection for those who don't know better. Before HSE workers were unwittingly exposed to all kinds of nasties and very little was done about them because companies would always put profit ahead of safety even when they knew they were killing their employees. ISO is International Standards Organisation, based in Switzerland. It has nothing to do with Health and Safety nor anything to do with the EU other than that most EU states are members of ISO, along with the UK. The EU equivalent of HSE is EU-OSHA https://osha.europa.eu/en and yes they copied many of their rules from HSE when they were setup in 1994. I work with MV Linear Accelerators used for Radio Oncology (pic below) and our safety rules are extensive and complex but then again you aren't be allowed anywhere near it until you have done extensive training and passed several exams. The machines are very heavy and powerful (crush damage), can electrocute you (very high voltages), contain hot coolant, and emit VERY high powered X-Rays. I wear a film badge all the time when working and that is used to measure my total dose over a 3 month period, but when I go into the treatment or plant rooms (behind the blue wall) I also wear a dosimeter that shows my immediate dosage and alerts me when the level exceeds an extremely low threshold. Both of these are a requirement thanks to HSE. As for Calder Hall/Windscale/Sellafield it's all the same. Calder Hall was the name of the Nuclear Reactors built at Windscale in the 1950s to manufacture weapons grade material for the UKs nuclear bombs and later on for power production. Windscale became Sellafield as part of a mostly pointless rebranding exercise in 1981 following public reactions to the Three Mile Island accident.

Nothing uses the traction battery when not in Ready mode, and everything uses it when in Ready mode. Dropping 1 bar on the display after 10 to 15 mins seems normal to me even if just using the radio as all the vehicle electronics are powered up too - if you have the AC on then the compressor is also being powered by the traction battery.

1. Economy will be worse in cold weather, due to the hybrid battery not having as much usable capacity when cold and the ICE having to run more to keep the coolant temperature high which is used for the cabin heater. 2. This is normal, especially if the cabin temperature is set higher than the actual air temperature - the system will make the ICE run to provide heat for the cabin. 3. 12v 'aux' battery is small because it isn't used to start the engine - it is therefore easy to discharge it. Always put the vehicle in Ready mode so the hybrid system is powering the vehicle and charging the aux battery. 6. Engine oil should be changed every 10k miles/12 months. Brake fluid every 20k miles/2 years. Plugs every 60k miles. Not sure about air filter on your model, probably every 40k miles/4 years but certainly check it every 20k miles/2 years. Coolant at 100k miles, and then every 50k miles. 7. Fuel filter at attached to the pump in the tank. It doesn't need to be routinely changed.

Yes, you've reminded me that the most frequent fault logged by the computer support team at a firm where I once worked was " N.P.I. ". (Not Plugged In.)

Hello Mark and welcome to the LOC,hoping you find the forum educational and informative 👍

I've just tried to look what size jubilee clips I ordered, but my Ebay purchase history from 2 years ago doesn't show what size I bought. Just measure the diameter of the hoses, you don't have to measure them exactly, as jubilee clips have a wide range of adjustment. That's one of their advantages. I agree with The-Acre on this. The corrosion in the unions occurs because owners don't change their Anti-freeze every 5 years and the corrosion inhibiter looses its' effectiveness. This can be made worse if you have a leak on the system and keep topping it up with plain water instead of Anti-freeze, it dilutes the corrosion inhibiter faster. Worse still can be the back street garage that will refill the system with plain water after they have worked on it to save the cost of anti-freeze! Keep the Anti-freeze in the radiator up to strength and you shouldn't have any problems. I only use an external transmission cooler in addition to the cooling coil on the radiator because I tow a big caravan. John N

Naturally. Neither of them is getting much use at the moment though.

Some surprising results. ID3 came 2nd! Pity it does not actually work!

I do feel the hesitation, but since I just bought the car I'm not sure if that is normal or not. For sure when I quickly floor there is a small delay. Regarding callipers/disks/pads I checked them this Saturday and they were fine.

Confirmed with Lexus dealership that spark plugs were never changed. They should actually change them right now. Got a 750€ quote for the job. Includes: oil change, oil filter change, air filter (replaced 2 years ago) change, ac filter (replaced 2 years ago) change, break oil (replaced 2 years ago) change, coolant replacement (replaced 2 years ago), spark plugs change and apparently replace 2-3 of some kind of sealant rings in differential. It is 180.000 km service (110.000 miles) although my car has only 91.000 km and 13 years.

I've got the roof rails, not fitted yet as I haven't decided whether to go with Lexus' own bike racks or hit Thule or something...anyone have any recommendations? I'd like to get an e-bike at some point, but as far as I can tell no roof-mounted rack supports that much weight... Nick

......and we all know......ye cannae change the laws of physics, Jim. I'll get my coat.

I never had this effect on any of my BMW or any other cars, my first car with this "crabbing" effect is the GS, I even went to Lexus Glasgow and checked alignment but it didn't help. It was happening mostly in cold underground parkings, i think I had front tyres Bridgestone. When I changed tyres to all season this effect disappeared. On this forum I also heard that Mercedes and Jaguar suffer from this, however, I have 2 friends who own a C-class and an E-class and they never told me about this happening on their cars!. You can check also this thread:

Low mpg at big motorway speed will have nothing to do with traction battery I would have thought, as it will barely be used. I got 28mpg with a roof box on a 500 mile motorway journey at those speeds.

Had the same problem with the rear screen on my RC. Solved by buying a micro fibre cloth pad on a handle from Poundland for £1.00! Makes the job so much easier. Always do mine in the Spring so it's clean until the Autumn, and then the haze that builds up reduces headlight dazzle through the winter. Then do in the Spring again. Do the other glass monthly.

So true, having watched the rise of 'ISO this' and 'BSI that', we have ended up with lots of documents and less ownership and responsibility. I wonder if we 'obey' the rules more because we are a more litigious country than a lot of places in Europe.

It would definitely last longer but would still go flat eventually, so it's a bit of a workaround rather than a cure. I don't know where the 12V battery is located in your car but if you were thinking of doing this then the most important thing is to make sure that the bigger battery will physically fit in whatever space you have, whilst still allowing t to be clamped down securely. As for the battery itself and your slight confusion, I'll try to explain (but it is late and I've had a few beers ). For hybrids, the most important parameter is the capacity of the battery, measured in Amp Hours (Ah). As an example, a battery rated at 50Ah means that it could supply 50A for one hour or 25A for two hours and so on, before it fully discharges. Modern cars will always be pulling power from the battery in order to keep the clock at the right time; keep the radio presets in memory; keep the alarm activated and armed and so on, even when the car is locked up in the garage for the night and you're fast asleep in bed. This is called the quiescent current and official figures should be available from the manufacturers but I've never seen them if they are. As a general rule of thumb, a quiescent current of 50mA (0.05A) is considered to be about normal. So, we now have the capacity of the battery (the one on my RX450h is 51Ah, whereas the ones in my previous 'petrol only' cars have been 75Ah and above) and we know that, with nothing else on and no faults, the car should draw 50mA. If we assume that my battery is brand new and fully charged, the capacity divided by the drain will give us the time to full discharge, so 51Ah/0.05A = 1,020 hours (42.5 days or 6 weeks) from fully charged to fully discharged. However, for the purposes of starting the car, it will fail long before that full discharge at six weeks. Remember as well, that for the purpose of this discussion we assumed a brand new and fully charged battery, ie, 'perfect conditions' - if the battery isn't perfect then that will also reduce the time span. Let's say that a bigger battery will physically fit and that it has a capacity of 80Ah instead of the current one at 51Ah, the calculation now becomes 80Ah/0.05A = 1,600 hours (66.66 days or 9.52 weeks) under perfect conditions, but again, reality will be different. Right, I hope that's helped but I'm now off to bed 😊

A very interesting thread chaps. Had not used my RX300 for ........... a while ............ battery flat. Used a smart charger overnight - now shows fully charged. If the battery will not fully charge then I would suspect it is on its way out and change it. If I leave my cars for more than a week somewhere other than home, I will buy a jump starter as has been suggested.

Sorry but I think there is no special requirements for owning/driving a hybrid. The car is designed and configured/programmed to be as efficient as possible when driven 'normally'. As with any make model or type of car, it's design efficiencies can be altered for better or worse by driving styles. Regarding long intervals of non-use, I think Lexus are no different from many other marques. My AMG had to be on a trickle charger if left more than a week. Many models now come with factory fitted charge points. Lexus/Toyota have been selling hybrids for many a year now and clearly there has been no significant feedback complaining of poor 12v battery life

We’re not really discussing whether Lexus/Toyota think it’s acceptable. We’re talking about whether it is acceptable to owners who are suffering flat 12v batteries or who are taking steps to prevent it or who are concerned this may happen. The two things are different. I’m just surprised. It clearly is an achilles heel.

I have a feeling that this issue will not do Lexus many favours. Many owners buy a Lexus because they hardly go wrong. Not knowing if your Lexus hybrid will start up and having to carry a battery booster around or regularly have the battery on a trickle charge just in case will impact the ownership experience. I used to trickle charge cars in the late 70’s and early 80’s before I started driving much newer cars, haven’t done it much since then. It’s possibly something that would stop me from buying another Lexus hybrid to be honest.

Warrants the Hybrid Battery not Batteries.

Unfortunately yes, it is. It took me a couple of hours fiddling about and when I finally did get it working I'd done so many things that I couldn't remember which one finally got it going - but it is doable. Alternatively, you could install VMWare or Oracle's Virtual Box and run either Win XP or Win 7 and put Techstream in that.

Which fuse in the end was it? I am having similar Hybrid check/VSC/AWD warnings

I agree.. I don't know either. Just saying - I see what they were trying to do there? Unlikely to succeed, not that sort of car, not that sort of clientele etc.

Here you go Alan, made this earlier, hope it helps: https://youtu.be/7K4HELfg3hw

My favourite was telling people it was an I.D. 10 T problem. I'd usually disappeared by the time they wrote down ID10T 🙂

You have bought a very reliable luxury performance car that will give you many years of trouble free motoring. It only needs scheduled maintenance which you will find in the repair manual. The repair manual advertised now on ebay uk from usa is the same with the original manual from Lexus for GS European specifications and it is about £50. For the traction battery you can replace any cell or you can buy a replacement original reconditioned battery or a new one from uk. Already other learned members have mentioned a member source. You seem to have had enough repair experience already and we all help each other in any way we can. Some members, you will find, are gurus in mechanical, electrical and electronic engineering. Chris.

There have been a few discussions/enquiries in various threads about the 12v battery in the boot of the IS300h. I made a short video this afternoon showing how to charge the battery with a smart charger, not teaching granny how to suck eggs and I'm sure many of you know how to do this but it may help someone somewhere. Link below: https://youtu.be/7K4HELfg3hw I was going to do a jump starting video too but I'll leave that to someone else 🙂 Also for those who don't have an electronic version of the owners manual or it's in the glovebox when you don't want to go out to the car, see attachment. is300h.pdf

I know I'm weird but whenever anyone joins the club announcing that they've just bought a 2005 RX300, I always wonder if it's my old one? Reg No. GY05 HVK.

Barry, it looks like you may not have a copy of the owners manual, take a look at pages 631-635 of the attached which will give you additional info to Colin's excellent reply above. is300h.pdf

Not sure - I know mine don't - wished they did! I would suggest, no ...?

And it is done, rear alloys are done too! To be honest the car needs washing but it is too bloody windy and occasional rain doesn't help either! Will be waiting for a better times! 🙂

I think it’s a poor design. Ok I’ve never suffered from it and I’m on my 4th Lexus hybrid and the longest I’ve left one is I think the best part of 3 weeks and it started ok. Being able to leave a car unattended for a good number of weeks and have it start ok is I think a reasonable expectation for a modern vehicle. The battery should have been bigger in my opinion. I can now see from comments in the forum that this is a genuine problem. I’m making sure mine gets used at least one hour each week atm. When we finally get back to holidays I may well purchase something to give a dead battery a boost. I’d hate to get back to my car in an airport or cruise terminal carpark after a holiday and find a dead 12v battery. It would actually make me think about whether a Lexus hybrid was the right car for me to be honest. Some good tips on here though. Thanks everyone! 😀

I agree, it would be far better to have a solution from the factory. But again, a simple reading of the owners manual - as we all should do when we get a new car - would prepare you for it. It's our responsibility to find out how our new machines work when we get them. I'm not singling you out in any way but to be honest, I'm shocked at just how many people in this owners club and our 'sister' club on Facebook just get a hybrid and have no idea how they work or what they should do differently to owning a conventional car. I sometimes feel like giving them a good shake and shouting "RTFM"

Whichever way it's dressed up, it's a shortcoming. The cost difference between a full size battery which holds a usable charge for a month (a reasonable ask for any car owner) and one which after 2 weeks has the absent owner sweating like Fred West watching Groundforce is worth paying. The list price of my car was over £42k, if I was asked to fork out another £100 for additional reliability it would be a no brainer. If Hyundai have an effective solution then it has to be assumed that Lexus missed a trick. As a marine engineer I agree with your figures regarding cranking and draining but it's a problem that's been handed from the designer to the consumer.

Had this on every car I've had with big wheels and low profile tyres pretty much. I think its less noticable when the tyres are brand new but becomes more noticable way before the tyres come close to needing replacing. Non issue I would say.

Yes, it’s a combination on low temperatures, slippery road surface, low profile summer tyres with hard sidewall at full lock.

Hi Don and welcome to the best Lexus forum there is. You've got yourself a superb car. I've had mine since 1st July and its a corker. Look after it and it'll look after you for many many years. Silky smooth ride. Fast and quick enough. Surprisingly good on fuel. Because its new to you I suggest book it in at your nearest Lexus dealer for an inspection and service. I did with mine and glad I did as one of the rear shockers in their words was leaking and they wouldn't MOT it because they'd fail it. None the less I had the rear pair replaced with original lexus shockers at my local Halfords. Enjoy your beaut of a car. 👍

No way it will be gone in a few weeks. If thesituation around july/august is more or less under control we will be lucky. and yes, i also think the long term effects will be huge, there will be a world before and after corona and it will not be thesame. The car industry for instance is entering the biggest crisis since the war. This is big, nasty and agressive

The GS doesn't have AC seats. It will just draw in air from the cabin. If you have the cabin ventilation directed to feet then cool air will get under the seat and be drawn up and out of the perforations in the leather. Some LS models have actual thermoelectric elements (and filters) to produce cooled air.