johnatg

You need to drive each window up and down with the switch on its own door, holding the button for about 3 seconds at each end of the travel. Have you disconnected the battery recently?

It's not covered. It's attached to the body ecu which is white. It just needs a bit of contortions to see it.

Just get well under the dashbord, some way to the right of the steering column, with a torch. Look upwards. You'll see it!

So is this all due to the timing chain having jumped some teeth? When do you think that happened? Before or after the first rebuild? I'm impressed that you've stuck with it this far! Is it mobile again yet? Good luck with the rest of the project!

Yes and yes. They are very strong - just fit them.

BTW - in passing - I don't like to remove plugs for checking. The seal depends on a crush washer and once it's been crushed the seal may not be quite as good on subsequent retightening - especially multiple times. Just depend on the car's self monitoring!

Indeed - but the OP wanted a comment on the 60 K service price where the schedule says the plugs get changed. Actually, I think it's pretty unnecesary - I'm sure that the plugs will last for close on 100K miles at least. And it's even more unnecessary if the '60K miles' service is being done at 6 years but with a lower mileage. I had the 6 years service done at a Lexus dealer with 40k or so on the odometer - I just requested that the plugs not be changed. They marked that ('No plugs') in the service book. Incidentally - Lexus use Denso FK20HBR8 plugs and they do cost about £54 or so discounted (for 4) - not sure what Lexus charge for them - probably a good deal more. But you can just as well use IKBH20TT - that's what Denso recommend, they are slightly more advanced technology (TT) and they are cheaper - a set of 4 can be had for £25 or less. Applies to the 450h too.

Yes - you can reach 4 of the plugs easily but the other 2 (left bank rear) need a whole lot of dismantling of most of the air intake system including the air surge tank (what people often think is the intake manifold) It is quite a time consuming job (probably more than an hour for a technician - a whole afternoon for an amateur)

Nothing really necessary, but if you're going to leave the car standing for long periods so that you get old petrol in the tank you could add Sta-bil - see ebay - it's a fuel stabiliser/preservative. I put it in the tank of my MX-5 which is laid up over winter and in my lawnmower fuel can. And for some gold standard protection if you have money to burn - this is good! MANNOL Ester Petrol Ethanol Additive. Again - see ebay.

I'm sure it is, but it's ridiculous if it costs a lot. The plugs are easily accessible - just pull the engine cover off, then remove the coils and plugs. No other dismantling involved so way easier than on a 450h. A set of 4 plugs costs about £54 - changing them takes 20 minutes tops.

They have Shell v-power nitro+, which is rated at 93 on the PON/AKI scale. It's probably equivalent to 97/98 RON which is what v-power is in most of the world. It's 100 in Germany and Italy, 99 in UK and Denmark. But it has all the special detergent additives which are the key features of v-power and make it worth using even if the engine doesn't need the high octane rating (which most Lexus engines don't)

Corroded wheels are a cosmetic and can have no possible bearing on the 'tyre skipping' issue - if the corrosion is worse than cosmetic then 'tyre skipping' is the least of your worries. As I have mentioned here and elsewhere the skipping is because the front wheels have to traverse different arcs - the inner one has a much tighter radius than the outer. The steering arms in Ackermann geometery don't allow this to happen precisely so that the wheels follow correct arcs - making it exact might be possible with a tremendously complex linkage system, probably involving fly-by-wire steering and all sorts of elecronics and electric motors. And there's the whole question of steering feel, stability and road holding. Whilst it's not really related to RWD (vs FWD) FWD cars tend not to suffer because their steering lock is restricted by the CV joints in the drive shafts - they simply can't achieve the lock to make the problem obvious. So they have a bigger turning circle. On the whole that doesn't matter because they tend to have a shorter wheelbase. Lexus could have restricted the lock to make a bigger turning circle but that maybe was seen as an unacceptable compromise. One thing that might help if you are concerned about this is to reduce tyre pressures. Note the recommended pressure on the drivers door label for your tyres and set the pressues right at the bottom end of the range. That will enable the tyre to be more flexible and the distortion will compensate for the slightly incorrect track the wheel is trying to follow. If you are only driving in town you could drop the pressure by another pound or two if necessary. Just adjust the front wheel tyre pressures. If someone tries this, please let us know if it works! Check the tyres are at least at the minimum pressures if you're driving on 'the open road'.

It's a function of the steering geometry. You can't eliminate it - alignment won't help. Just try not to use full steering lock.

Yeah..the Xedos 9 was marketed as the Mazda Millenia in USA. The proposed brand name in Japan was Amati but it never saw the light of day and the cars were marketed in Japan and Oz mainly under the Eunos brand name (Eunos was supposed to be the upmarket brand of cars which were 'fun to drive'. Only the Roadster really lived up to that!). The Eunos brand was also ditched - in 1997. The 'Xedos' models then were called Mazda everywhere. Most if not all Xedos 6 in UK had the 2L v6 - and you're right Linas - only the Xedos 9 had the Miller cycle 2.3L V6. (It was then the only car in the world to use the Miller cycle. Subsequently the Mazda Demio and Mazda2 used it at one time (not the V6 - just a stright 4 Miller)

Mazda used Miller cycle engines in some versions of the Xedos 6 and 9 (sold under Eunos brand name in Japan and Oz.) in the 90s. Ran alongside the 626 and 929. I needed a part from a 929 (speedo drive gear) for my MX-5 when I fitted a higher ratio diff last year. Amazingly still easily available. Miller cycle is very similar to Atkinson cycle - uses a supercharger - Atkinson is normally aspirated. Atkinson cycle engines are fitted to all (?) Lexus hybrids

I often check the MoT history of a car when I get the reg number - it keeps me up to date on the kind of things that cars fail on. Mostly it's trivial - things like lights (number plate lights are a favourite), wiper blades, seized brakes (often shown as brake imbalance), tyres (not trivial). As cars get older things like worn ball joints, corrosion (esp brake pipes but body too) and exhaust faults crop up. Most of these are things you can easily check before submitting your car for MoT. Nico - did you tell them about the SRS light or did you just ask for MoT and Service - 'cos that's what you got - in that order! With newer cars more or less any dash light showing will cause an MoT fail (or incorrect operation of a dash light - eg non-display of a light (eg engine management or ABS) on switch on will fail). Some specific lights showing on older cars are OK. If you watch Wheeler Dealers try checking the MoT history of the cars they do (only UK ones of course). It's very revealing - especially of stuff Edd China didn't fix! ☹️ Glad you're happily reunited with the car, Nico!

It failed the MoT first time through though, Nico. What was the supplementary restraint system warning light all about? And what are 'Offside items'? 🙂 Nothing too serious though!

How can an increase in Ethanol content from 5% to 10% make a reduction of 10% in 'carbon footprint' (ie amount of CO2 produced) ? The maths of that just don't make sense. E5 to E10 implies that 5% more of the fuel is biofuel (ethanol) rather than fossil fuel. It still burns to produce CO2 but that CO2 originally came from the air rather than dug-up oil. But the growing of crops is not fossil fuel free - eg sowing the seeds, production and spreading of fertiliser, harvesting, transport, extraction and processing of ethanol from the plants etc all use fuel, probably most of it fossil fuel. Greenwashing comes to mind.

There aren't many 55mph speed limits in most mainland US states. Limits vary but are mostly in the range 65-80mph (out of town obviously). Texas State Highway 130 has a posted limit of 85mph.

It's all to do with Ackermann steering geometry. Ideally, both front wheels should travel a true radius, but the geometry is a compromise between achieving that and having good handling, roadholding and steering feedback (not that there is much), etc. It simply isn't possible to get all that exactly right. So the wheels don't follow a correct radius, so they 'fight' against each other. At high steering angles and slow speed, this leads to one tyre 'skittering' against the road surface. That's what you feel. When it's cold the tyres are less able to compensate by distorting because they are stiffer than when they're warm. Wikipedia has an article describing it all in detail. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ackermann_steering_geometry Especially see the external links.

More to do with the gearbox - it will select the highest gear possible on the overrun. Change down manually if/when you want engine braking to be effective.

I can't imagine that the diff oil does not need changing. Normal operation of the diff grinds off tiny particles of metal from the gears (crownwheel and pinion) and also gradually degrades the oil. There will be a magnetic drain plug which catches much of the metal particles but gradually becomes less effective as the amount of what looks like sludge accumulates. It's recommended for the IS at 25K intervals. Surely the ES, being front wheel drive, has the diff integrated with the gearbox, sharing transmission oil? Or are only recent ES models FWD? Changing the diff oil can't do any harm - I use Lucas Gear oil 75W-90 in the diffs of RWD cars I look after. It's preventative maintenance! Optimally at 25K mile intervals. Lexus service recommendations are a bit lacking - eg what about the brake sliders?

I swear by this: Lucas Synthetic Gear & Transmission Oil SAE 75W-90 Find it on ebay - less than £20 a US quart - use it in all my diffs.

I did it when I had. my IS250. It is due at 25k mile intervals. As with any oil or other fluid change carried out at a recommended interval you won't notice any difference . You may notice a problem later on if you don't do it.

Further to my original post - if you just want to understand the hybrid battery, I'd suggest you search for 'weber auto, Toyota prius 2010-2015 ni-mh battery' - you'll find a long video (over an hour) which will tell you more than you ever wanted to know. Lexus batteries are very similar. Sorry - can't get to the link on my phone.