Ridgeback

Winter is a good months away, but I thought I'd try and find an answer before the cold weather is upon us. Towards the end of the cold weather this year, driving from cold, you could feel the heat from the vents getting warmer and warmer. Then after about 5 mins, it would turn cold. Despite turning the heater temp up to max, it just stayed cold. It was only when I got on the dual carriageway and increased the speed to 60mph, it started working again. After a couple of miles of getting toasty again, I turned off into a 30mph road, and it went back to cold again. Any clues appreciated

I'll ask him to price one in Thanks

Finally managed to find someone who could look at the problem, recommended from a friend who works for a local main dealer, they use him as they can't do the work themselves. I gave him a call, and he came round within a couple of days. He ran a few pressure and diagnostic checks, and it's a leaking condenser unit. He gave me a quote of either £325 or £350 (can't put my hand on it now) Cost of the diagnostic test was a very reasonable £35 considering he'd driven from Altrincham to Warrington and was here for 30 mins which included a chat about cars. Highly recommended for anyone in the Northwest. Damien Kerr Car Air-Con Services 07786028602

I can't really complain, I've had it for 7 years now, hardly spent anything on it in repairs. I'm in Warrington, so Preston is equally as far as Manchester/Liverpool Rather than trawling the net, and ringing garage after garage, I was hoping a member could recommend a garage local to me. Unfortunately most links appear to be everything south of Birmingham. I'll give your links a try on Monday, and update with any positive results. Many thanks

I wasn't planning to just regas it, as I know there is a leak. I was looking for an independent specialist who can identify and fix the problem.

Can anyone recommend a specialist in the Northwest (ideally Manchester/Liverpool) I've tried 4 local aircon garages, as soon as you mention hybrid, the answer is no. I appreciate they use different oil, but are they that much different from conventional A/C units? Best regards

Mine's a SE-L with a Levinson system but never suffered from a flat battery even when parked at Manchester airport for 3 weeks. I was expecting it to be flat and had a changed up jump pack in the boot ready and waiting, but not needed.

Can anyone recommend an independent Lexus specialist garage within a 20 mile radius of Warrington. Thanks in advance

Hi Steve, My wife bought a couple of songs from itunes, but they also appear as just a track numbers on disc one. Regards

Well spotted. We picked ours up last week after searching for a decent one for over 2 months. A bit disheartening to now discover the 400h "Achilles Heel" for what is otherwise a great car. Can't see ours being left for long periods, but if we do, I'll just keep my heavy duty jump pack that I use for my business in the boot.

Hi, After months of searching, finally got a nice 1 owner 50K RX400h MM. Decided to have a Lexus IPOD adaptor fitted whilst it was being prepared. I was tempted to get one separately and install myself, but weighed up whether it was worth any potential warranty issues. iPOD is detected OK and plays, but the screen display is nothing like the iPOD display. On the screen it shows pos 1 & 2 as being occupied. When you play pos 1 it has 47 tracks all showing un-named. When you play pos 2 it has 1 track showing un-named. The iPOD has around 40 albums on it, all named as are the tracks. I'm sure there is no issue with the adaptor, it must be something to do with how they have been copied over. All albums are our original CD's, nothing pirated. Tried google for info but couldn't find anything. Any help appreciated with what will most likely be a simple problem Best regards

Had a similar problem on the wifes 2003 Vauxhall Omega. It is fitted with a separate rechargable battery specifically for the alarm system, incase someone manages to cut the main cables. When the battery gets to the end of its life, it starts to create power fluctuations and that triggers the alarm, and like yours only seemed to go off in the early hours of the morning. Rather than spend £80 on a new one, I simply disconnected it. No-one pays any attention to a car alarm these days.

Hi All Ever since the wife took a shine to a RX300 SE-L that we test drove a Lexus dealership 2 months ago, I'm struggling to find a decent one. Its like trying to find the Holy Grail. There are a number out there, but most turn out to be "not as advertised" when you really grill the saleman. Full Lexus service history has varied from the 1st stamp genuine Lexus then unknown garages there-after, to fully Lexus stamped but all from Marbella. Another with 46K was riddled with parking dents on all 4 doors, bonnet and grill peppered with chips, and the engine sounded like a bag of nails. Missed servicing also very common, especially the 60K one. One garage offered to carry out the 60K service themselves, when I asked about changing the plugs he looked a bit blank, so needless to say, I passed on that one. Looked at the RX350 SE-L but tax is a bit of a killer, and no guarantee it won't take another disproportional hammering when it comes to raising the Road tax. Now looking at an early RX400h but not sure about battery life. In saying that the next door neigbour has only recently traded in his 54 reg Prius with 100k for another one. He had it from new and never had a problem So now I'm undecided to stick with looking for a good low mileage RX300 and get it converted to LPG or pay more for a early 56 reg RX400h Any experienced advise most welcome.