johnatg

It's for design symmetry of the rear light clusters. The nearside 'clear' section is used for the reversing light, the offside 'clear' section is used for the high intensity rear fog light (it shows red when lit). It's very common now right through the price range of all cars (in fact it's a de facto standard because you are only supposed to have one rear fog light.) At one time they used to have two rear fog lights on many cars but they left the bulb out of the nearside one.

I'd also suggest you change the fob battery and don't leave the ignition on with the engine not running - that can damage components in the ignition system. Jump starting also does the car electronics no good at all - should only be used in emergency - certainly not as a regular proceedure.

Indeed - it's what I have used for many years on many previous cars. But then I got offered a pittance for my IS250 by a Lexus dealer. But I saved a fortune doing my own servicing over 7 years. It's just that My GS300h is a bit more valuable at the moment. Maybe it won't be by the time I come to sell it, probably a considerable way down the road!

I get my MoT done at a trusted local garage down the road - £35. Now the thing is that the MoT includes all the basic safety checks that are covered in the intermediate service. As Vlad said above, the Lexus intermediate service is really just an engine oil change on top of that, plus a few trivial and probably unnecessary (after 4K miles) things as well. How much is a stamp in the book and a year's warranty worth - Lexus wouldn't be giving the warranty away for free if they thought that there was a serious chance of a claim (Yes - I know - some people have saved thousands and been really glad they had the warranty) The hybrid health check is of course worth while - I'll be geting that at least. I'm veering towards diy service, a local MoT and a Lexus HHC. My MoT is booked for Monday, 20th Sept, service due Oct 9th.

Vlad - are you sure you picked GS450h - my computer says £315. It's £285 for a GS300h (like mine). (The Essential service was £215 until they ditched it.) And don't forget the hybrid health check is included in the Lexus price. My 70K/7 years is due next month and I too am trying to decide what to do. Do it myself and just get a hybrid health check? That would come to not much over £100. Go to an Indie to get the stamp? (I do have a stamp of my own but the telephone number is old style before they stuck ones in)? Or pay the full whack. I have only done about 4000 miles since the full 60K/6 years service.

See here: https://www.lexus.co.uk/owners/servicing-and-maintenance/vehicle-service/ There is a fixed price service charge for each model. The cost of an intermediate service for a GS450h is £315. Do you get a discount if your car is still in warranty or if you have bought a warranty? If not, you'd be paying twice for the same thing. Ah - no - maybe not because the 'Relax' warranty is 'no extra cost to the customer' 🤔

This thread is turning into a mini-forum all by itself! Might be better to start a new topic for new questions! Anyway, looking at the drawing of the diff for a 2012 GS450h, the relevant part is described as 'Case sub-assembly, Rear Differential' and it has part number 41301-50031. A bit of googling reveals that to be a Torsen LSD insert. So it looks as though yes - GS450h does have a LSD. But I can't be absolutely certain about your car. Now the traditional way to find out if you have a LSD is to jack the car up so that both rear wheels are off the ground, have the gearbox in Neutral and turn one rear wheel (by hand). If the other rear wheel turns in the same direction you have a LSD. If it turns in the opposite direction, you have an open diff. That is not an absolutely watertight test, but it's a pretty good indication. Certainly works for my MX-5 which used to have an open diff but now has a LSD. Just for reference, here's a pic of my MX-5 LSD - it's a Tochigi Fugi Super LSD, but they all look similar. Why is it there in bits on my Workmate? - don't ask - long story!

Thanks - a very useful link indeed. You can home in on your particular model - eg GS300h 2014 in my case. Loads of stuff you'll hopefully never need but good drawings of every part of the car.

There are 9 or 10 on Autotrader at the mo.

Modern iridium plugs with a coil per plug run at higher voltages than plugs used to and they just last longer. Lexus plugs are good for 60K miles at least - probably 100K in fact. Dealers equate 60K miles with 6 years - quite unnecessary if the car has done less in that time. Change plugs at 60K mile intervals - I changed them on my IS250 at about 67K miles at 11 years old - no problems at all - and they would have been good for much longer. No noticeable improvement after the change either. Dealers charge extra for the change - I declined for my GS at 6 years as only done about 40K miles.

I know it's a bit late to be saying this, but I didn't want to be negative when you were half way through the job and you had the engine in front of you and I don't. But, I didn't understand why you said that oil in the cylinders confirmed that the head gaskets had failed. Water in the cylinders shows head gasket failure - oil is more likely to be piston ring failure or bore wear problems (or valve guide wear/failure). The oil galleries are further away from the cylinders than the water passages. How much of a check have you done on the rings, little ends and big ends? Can you do a compression check, especially on the cylinders that had oil in them? Did you dismantle the heads to check the whole valve mechanisms? I hope there isn't a problem as I've described - it would be pretty serious and you'd need to carefully review options.

5w30 too 'thin' so you switched to even 'thinner' 0w20 ?????

The quoted maximum power output has almost nothing to do with power consumption from the battery or generator - it refers to very short maximum peak output to the speakers - no doubt someone who understands audio system electrics better than me will be along to elaborate. Anyway, as long as you don't sit with the engine not running and the audio system at full blast too often the car's electrical system will keep the battery near full charge all the time. What kills batteries is long periods not in use, creating very deep discharge. Near-daily use over a reasonable distance (say more than 10 miles) will keep the battery well charged all the time, prolonging its life. Lexus hybrid auxiliary (12v) batteries don't do much - they have quite small electrical demands - just to power up the electronics really, except if you're sitting in the car with electrical systems in use and engine not running.

If the car is used daily Panasonic batteries can last 10 or 12 years or more. Sometimes less, but they are excellent quality.

Good luck with removing all the coolant. I haven't seen anyone on here definitively find the block drain cocks (if you have found them please raise your hand!). What I did, and I think most people do, is just drain the radiator. You can get 3-5 litres out that way, depending on the angle of the car. (Have the nose pointing down and you can get more out, but then it's harder to get to the rad drain *****!) Then refill the rad to replace what you have drained and do it again, sooner or later. I did that about 4 times, once at each annual service. That will keep the anti-corrosion properties of the coolant in reasonable shape (the anti-freeze doesn't significantly degrade - it's the anti-corrosion element which gets less effective with age). Do it several times in succession if you are concerned about it. My car was 2005 (first reg 2006) and I sold it a couple of years ago. It still seems to be going strong.

Isn't the black one pre-facelift? It hasn't got led drls. It has got a mesh grille. Definitely earlier build than the blue one. Sales in 2009-2011 weren't exactly stellar so some cars hung around with dealers for quite a while.

Not too sure they tick the 'not too big' box though 😕

And the GS300h (2013 - 2019)

It obviously only beeps when the camera is in the nav database. Have you updated your nav to 2019? If not it will be working on an older version - 2014 I think. Maybe there have been quite a lot of new cameras installed since then.

Speed camera warning?

Can you read codes stored with an OBDII code reader? Have a look round the engine bay (under the cover) and see if there is a vacuum pipe come adrift or split. I would think that this will either be something simple (like a fuse or split pipe) or something very serious (Failed ecu?) but I'd go for simple.

That looks like the ultimate stuff! But for most of the time Plus Gas works well. Also Halfords sell 'Shock and Unlock' - it's a freezer spray - works well.

Apologies and correction - senior moment there - getting confused with my GS (which has 18" wheels) Most IS250s do indeed have 17" wheels (including the one I had).

My 2006 SE had 18s which I thought were standard? I'm surprised that a SE-L would be on 17s - retrofit possibly?

But there are very few with 17" wheels - they were only fitted to poverty spec models.