billygarrett
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Posts posted by billygarrett
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When I bought my new 55 400 h Lexus charged me £200 to remove the bars and replace with those covers.
Unnfortunately I ended up with water running down the inside channels and Lexus said it caused damage to some of the electronics.
The car was taken back after approx 3 months and swapped for brand new one a year younger 56 with better satnav etc. I was pleased!
I doubt that it was damaged by the water ( the old story of check vsc ,check hybrid etc. see other old posts), but I was plagued with water in the boot under the floor which happened again on the new 56 one. They said the reason for the 55 car leaks was 'cos Lexus didn't seal the holes with silicon and couldn't blame me as they had done it ..for £200! They sealed them up second time round!
I am not certain whether the roof plates were entirely to blame on both cars as I eventually traced another leak into the boot from the rubber grommet on the top lip under the boot door.
I siliconed that and the leak stopped.
So this is just to say watch out for leaks in the boot!
BTW, I asked the Lexus garage what happened to the 55 car and he said...they scrapped it as they couldn't find the fault.!!! £45K worth of scrap !! Wow.
BUT I found out what was wrong as it happened again on my current 56 car It was a weak 12volt Battery! I went out and bought an Optima yellow to DEEP CYCLE Battery and the problems went away for good!!! But LEXUS won't be told!
I believe Tesla had the same problem with their Model S and swapped to a deep cycle 12v Battery. Problems solved!
End of rant!!!!
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If any of you guys decide to order, please tell jack Chen at Enginer that Billy Garrett in the UK told you about it.
He promised me $100 for any successful referrals!!!!!!!
But that was 4 or 5 years ago, so I bet he has forgotten!!!!
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Now these are VERY interesting, brings the 450h back into my scope......more interested in PHEV than merely Hybrid, just one point which worries me somewhat........I cannot find anywhere on the site an example of prices! Always a bad sign :eerrrmm:
Anyone know roughly the initial cost?
I think it was arond $2000 but that was 5 or 6 years ago....
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@ billygarrett,
Tesla S ? I am surprised you didn't plump for the X model as you have the RX........did you look at both or were you just mesmorised by the model S regardless.......its a beauty and so very practical, we looked at the i8 recently at launch and it is an amazing car, but a pure sports car........goes well though
My initial plan was to go for the model X, but my wife doesn't like the Falcon wing doors and the range is less altgough the accelleration is better at 4.2 0 to 60 mph
BUT it won't be out till some time next year and there are no pricces and specs yet.
I am told there would be a good trade in value if I want to change then...
I think £71 k is enough to spend!!!!
The X is a crossover SUV so it is higher like the 400h, but the S has air suspenion that can go quite high. But I wonder if it is high enough...I hope so!
But the falcon doors are only good for rear passengers, so I don't see the point for me...the driver!!!
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Yes. It works better around town to prevent the engine from starting.
My village is up a long hill and that is what kills the mpg!
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That's a new one on me Gents what's an engineer kit and the benefits.
Hope you are able to keep the 400H.
The Tesla is a very interesting car from what I hear also so best of luck with that.
Chris
Sent from my iPhone using Lexus OC
http://www.enginer.us/products/conversion_kit.php
I had to do some mods as it is designed for the Prius.
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That's a new one on me Gents what's an engineer kit and the benefits.
Hope you are able to keep the 400H.
The Tesla is a very interesting car from what I hear also so best of luck with that.
Chris
Sent from my iPhone using Lexus OC
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Billygarret's car sounds like mine - perfect bodywork but the underneath quite alarming. The mechanic at my local garage said it was nothing to worry about.
Yep nothing to worry about!
Just let it rust away and he will sell you another one!!!!
Get the Waxoyl out and giveit a good dose of it!!!!!
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Me too!
My wife says she is embarrased having the neighbours seeing us with 3 cars but I am hoping to be able to squeeze then all into the garage if shift a load of stuff to one end!!
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4 Kw
It was intially very high at around 70 or 80 mpg when I wa driving no faster that 35 to 40 mph
But the novelty has worn off now as I am very busy and need to dash around faster so I get around 35 to 40 mpg..
driving around at 50 to 60 mph
But I see the main advantage that t shoulkd improve the cars traction Battery life since it doesn't do so many charge discharge cycles and stays mosnearly fully charged alot more of heh time......
The car is nearly 8 years old and drives like new...
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Yeah..but my RX is only worth £10K and I bought it for £45K new and put a load of extras on it, incuding the Enginer plug in kit!
I hope I will be allowed to keep it...
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Yes, I have recently crawled under my 400h and to my horror there was a lot of rust on the rear subframe and suspension arms etc, so I dug out my tin of Waxoyl and now it looks much better!
Unfortunatley I have been persuaded to buy a Tesla Model S which is due late November so I may have to part with my beloved 400h unless I can persuade my wife to let me have 2 cars along with her Citroen in the drive or garage.
So it looks as if I won't need the set of 3 new winter tyres (the 4th got a puncture) and 5 alloys that I bought for it when the forecast snow last year.
Another eBay job I guess!
BTW, can I suggest you guys drop down the spare wheel and check it for corrosion.
Mine was in a very bad state with the chrome peeling off...
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See my previous post which said:
You can make a replacement rod with 2 ends for approx.£10.from Rapid Electronics (competitors to Farnells and RS etc)
OR pay over £100 for a new complete unit.
This has been posted in one the forums last year , but I forget which one...
My garage did a repair for coppers anyway!
It looks like a miniature double ended track rod end.
It is prbably snapped because the top end has sezed.
I did a temporary repair by joining the broken rod using some heat shrink sleeving and it lasted nearly 3 years until the MOT man spotted it!!! He missed it twice before!!!
It worked well 'cos the rubber sleeving allowed the flexing!
You will find it attached to the rear offsid axle and is attached to a potentiometer. You would have to buy the entire unit otherwise and that is expensive, around £200 . The fitting charge is a rip off. My garage did the repair for almost free!!!
It worked well but he didn't like it!!!
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I've looked at various cree LED's and as they are VERY bright, if the shields are removed they would surely blind the driver behind?
If your reversing then surely there will not be a driver behind you..........
:D
I have no doubt you could fit a different camera with better night illumination, a CMOS chip version with 1 lux rating will be fine, looks good on my ML.
That's true. And what if the driver is in front of you when you have your headlights on while reversing. Won't he be just as blinded then.....
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This might sound a bit silly and I haven't tried it myself yet but has anyone tried switching on the rear fog lights to get some low level illumination for the camera?
Yes
I have used rear fog lights and hazard flashers, but it is still difficult especially in heavy rain on a dark country narrow road. Nightmare !!! ( even with deflectors removed which do help !)
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I have now ordered those items...as well as a couple of waterproof enclosures I need fora broadband customer.
I wasn't aware of that company. It is like Aladin's cave in there!!
Manny thanks
Billy
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Thanks for that Boxbrownie!
I should be able to get the brass rod in B& Q and I might be able to salvage the joints. I don't know the part code for rapid online!
It is not urgent as my local garage did a "repair" a while ago for the MOT, but I don't know how long it wil last.
I had previously joined the 2 parts of the broken rod with a piece of electrial type shrink wrap rubber.
That went through 2 MOT's without being spotted, but on the 3rd year he spotted it and passed it provided I had it fixed properly :)
Amazingly the headlamps had stayed in alignment all that time while the rubber did the flexing and the top ball joint was seized up!
This is not to be recommended :)
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If any one needs one of the linkages PM me as I have some made up.
This is just the linkage not the whole sensor assembly which does cost ££££s
Link below shows the part.
http://evansweb.info/2009/11/23/ls400-ride-height-sensor-repair
Hi
I would like to obtain a linkage for my RX400h. Is the one you have the same?
I can't see how to PM you, so perhaps you would please tell me how or send me a PM?
Many thanls
Billy
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I have exactly the same issue. Also if I leave the ignition key in for say 30 minutes with the engine off and say the radio on, but no lights or anything else on, then the battery will again be flat. Doesn't look good for Lexus having to jump start a hybrid
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Thank you Billy for your wisdom/ recommendation for the OPTIMA Yellow Top battery on the 400H.
For newcomers to the group who, like me, have the persistent flat Toyota battery problem, may I recap the situation, as I understand it.
It is a real and awful problem for many 400H owners. Not for all owners, but for some.
Some owners never have had the problem and therefore do not understand its weirdness. Nor its awfullness.
But others are repeatedly plagued by it, as I have been. Some owners have even sold their cars to get rid of the problem.
Once you have the problem, the problem tries hard to avoid totally going away. The problem is not solved by home engineering. In desperation and disbelief, some members in this group have gained some respite by resorting to solar chargers, fitting Bosch S4/158 battery, taking additional Break down membership, re-wiring sockets, permanently fitting jump batteries etc, going for drives just to keep the battery alive, putting on overnight charge etc. Unbelievable that we have to do this on such an expensive car!
And it is still so embarassing not knowing if the 400H will still let you down just before school runs, giving lifts etc.
In desperation, I had my 400H re-wired to accomodate Solar panels, jump batteries, hard wired sockets etc, isolation switches.
Creative Car Sounds in London, (0208 364 1002), did a great job for me doing all this. Highly recommended.
Lexus will not do anything about it - They don't want to know about it. There is no room under the bonnet for a larger battery (but there could be under the boot floor!).
HOWEVER , The OPTIMA Yellow Top Deep Cycle battery, ref "4.2", has been most highly recommended, by a fellow sufferer, as the ULTIMATE battery to help resolve the problem. (So, belatedly, I finally ordered mine from Sue at Optima UK, tel: 01953 881 330). Foolishly, I had originally ignored this earlier advice, thinking that other methods would cure it. They did not!
Of course, it is not cheap, at double a normal battery price, but a bargain!, having spent miserable and embarassing times with this very dead, top of the range car, I'll try (and have tried) anything that experienced members who have had this exact same problem, recommend.
This specific Optima Yellow Top battery is currently certainly the best solution and is definitely worth going for.
Good luck all fellow sufferers. And thanks to invaluable guidance re Batteries, especially Billy, my saviour, for "The Optima Yellow Top" advice. Have a reliable winter all. Keep in touch, keep motoring. David.
That was fast work David
I am sure you will be as delighted with it as I am
Thank you for your kind comments
Billy
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Thank you Billy for your wisdom/ recommendation for the OPTIMA Yellow Top battery on the 400H.
For newcomers to the group who, like me, have the persistent flat Toyota battery problem, may I recap the situation, as I understand it.
It is a real and awful problem for many 400H owners. Not for all owners, but for some.
Some owners never have had the problem and therefore do not understand its weirdness. Nor its awfullness.
But others are repeatedly plagued by it, as I have been. Some owners have even sold their cars to get rid of the problem.
Once you have the problem, the problem tries hard to avoid totally going away. The problem is not solved by home engineering. In desperation and disbelief, some members in this group have gained some respite by resorting to solar chargers, fitting Bosch S4/158 battery, taking additional Break down membership, re-wiring sockets, permanently fitting jump batteries etc, going for drives just to keep the battery alive, putting on overnight charge etc. Unbelievable that we have to do this on such an expensive car!
And it is still so embarassing not knowing if the 400H will still let you down just before school runs, giving lifts etc.
In desperation, I had my 400H re-wired to accomodate Solar panels, jump batteries, hard wired sockets etc, isolation switches.
Creative Car Sounds in London, (0208 364 1002), did a great job for me doing all this. Highly recommended.
Lexus will not do anything about it - They don't want to know about it. There is no room under the bonnet for a larger battery (but there could be under the boot floor!).
HOWEVER , The OPTIMA Yellow Top Deep Cycle battery, ref "4.2", has been most highly recommended, by a fellow sufferer, as the ULTIMATE battery to help resolve the problem. (So, belatedly, I finally ordered mine from Sue at Optima UK, tel: 01953 881 330). Foolishly, I had originally ignored this earlier advice, thinking that other methods would cure it. They did not!
Of course, it is not cheap, at double a normal battery price, but a bargain!, having spent miserable and embarassing times with this very dead, top of the range car, I'll try (and have tried) anything that experienced members who have had this exact same problem, recommend.
This specific Optima Yellow Top battery is currently certainly the best solution and is definitely worth going for.
Good luck all fellow sufferers. And thanks to invaluable guidance re Batteries, especially Billy, my saviour, for "The Optima Yellow Top" advice. Have a reliable winter all. Keep in touch, keep motoring. David.
That was fast work David
I am sure you will be as delighted with it as I am
Thank you for your kind comments
Billy
Rx400H Reversing Lights (Or Lack Of !) Lexus Email.
in RX 300 / RX 350 / RX 400h / RX 200t / RX 450h Club
Posted
When reversing in the dark, try putting on your 4 way flashers and your rear foglights!
My son has my rx400h now and I have moved on to a Tesla MS85. The reversing camera has brilliant night vision, so if you get hold of an aftermarket one and install the monitor on the dash that should solve your problem.
Good luck!