Hangie

You need to remember that we got rather small battery - 1.9KWh while usable is not even that to keep it healthy for long time. I believe we can assume that maybe 1KWh is available for us. If AC will take 6KW fully loaded battery will last 10 mins. You can do similar calculation for driving. Lets say you are driving very gently and use 10KW (13hp) it will last for 5 minutes of driving - without any power loss which are there for sure. In case of GS450h you need to think about hybrid system as something like KERS in F1 or fancy system of converting power into torque and not like something you can use to cruise around.

1. Yes sport mode sharpens throttle response. I believe hybrid mode is more the way how battery are managed. 2.I never tried cruise while doing 30mph but it tend to go up/down few mph in the 70mph area while going up/down hill. 3. Snow mode make throttle less responsive to make it easier to start from slippery surface. You can probably think that snow mode will be some more ECO if you just wont press pedal harder :) Newer Lexus engines got dual operation mode and maybe it make more sense there to force engine to run in Atkinson cycle .

If you are referring to hybrid system warranty there is no millage limit just 10 years and check every year/10k miles. I'm curious what was wrong with that car that it was too expensive to bring it to Lexus approved condition.

I can only add that I can fit bugaboo cameleon 3 frame + carry cot without any disassembling - just fold. I've also manage to bring once 4x60L bags of compost + few flowers in bedding trays all in the trunk :) In general it is not huge but will do for everyday motoring with one or even two babies.

Yes you need to turn on the lights or just while lights are on use screen washer it should also trigger headlamp wash once. From optional stuff there was: -sun roof -adaptive cruise control And that all :) There were some small extras like tow bar or boot mats but only those two major items mentioned above of which I'm aware.

http://www.japan-parts.eu/ - you can find diagrams and numbers here. For price toyodiy as mentioned before.

Whole unit is 900Eur and you can't buy bulbs for easy replacement. Better buy soldering iron or second hand part :) Here you got example auction with photo how does it look like from back - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2006-LEXUS-GS300-SALOON-FRONT-INTERIOR-ROOF-READING-COURTESY-LIGHT-1D153-008G-/161946640894?hash=item25b4c5a1fe:g:pFMAAOSwa-dWl4RC if I were you I would double check if it is not a problem with something else - like switch/cable/fuse etc.

Or maybe someone was trying to steal/rob the car and was jamming all the key fobs in the area. most people's don't check if car is locked after pressing the button on the fob.

Those are LED based so someone must use them really often to burn them. As they are LED I'm not sure if you can just replace them by yourself maybe you would need to buy whole new unit or to solder new "bulbs"

Bluetooth audio streaming was available from 2010 model. In mine I can stream youtube audio via BT for example. As for suspension for me there is quite significant difference in sport mode. Car is stiffer and shocks are harder. You will notice it mainly on some B roads or in quick bends. I'm not 100% sure but I got feeling sometimes that even steering wheel is more sharp and require more force to turn - but it may be just my feeling.

Not sure if it is the same problem but I've got something similar in my previous Honda Accord. It was due to low pressure in air con system because of insufficient amount of cooling agent (r134a) or whatever it is called in English. After regassing it everything went back to normal.

I wasn't aware about the internal build of the pump. But if bearings are dry then yes nothing you can really do. Good thing for me at least is that pump was changed few times in car life cycle: -35300-30032 - 05/2010 - onwards -35300-30031 - 01/2009 - 05/2010 -35300-30030 - 09/2007 - 01/2009 -35300-30022 - 02/2006 - 09/2007 I believe that the most failures occurs for the oldest model which was mounted until 09/2007. In mine I got 35300-30031 so hopefully I'll skip the bearing changes :) As for the oils change at a Lexus dealership - no one was against it or event suggest that it is not good think to do.

No idea where you read it but for sure it is not true. Well it may be true if you will believe all that "car lifetime oil" but don't ask what is that lifetime. Anyway if you check technical documentation for GS450H it is stating to: - In severe condition inspect every 27k miles and replace every 54k miles - In normal condition inspect every 36k miles. Taking same logic here as for severe I would say replace every 72k miles which would be consistent with what many other manufactures says - like Honda for example Saying that first think I've done to the car when I bought it (it was 90k miles) was change of gearbox oil and rear diff oil (schedule says replace every18k miles) as I bet no one done it before. It cost me £250 at Lexus Guildford. I didn't have any major delays or slow responses before but after change gearbox is more smooth with both ratio change and power (electric/petrol) distribution. I wouldn't be surprised that the most cases of broken bearing in the pump are due to oil which wasn't changed on time. It is easy to imagine it will loose it lubrication and may lead to bearing overheating and failure over time. Finally in your case if you already got problems with bearings it may be too late for just an oil change but maybe it will convince someone else to do it on time rather than to wait. Also if I'm not mistaken you will need to change it anyway when pump will be dismounted. Lexus got special procedure to change gearbox oil and I doubt 3rd party mechanic will follow it, again it may or may not any create any problems but who knows :) Just please remember to use Toyota Genuine ATF WS.

When was the last time you changed gearbox oil ? To be honest I would start with that normally. Please also remember that it is not just so straight forward change as in ordinary gearbox, If your oil is in poor condition it can be harder to pump and may slow down gearbox reaction. There is even a chance that pump can go bad because of poor oil condition.

From official Lexus materials: Two-stage motor speed reduction gear Unique to the GS 450h, the new hybrid transmission incorporates a two-stage motor speed reduction gear, coupled directly to the electric motor. A hydraulic control unit, similar to a very compact automatic gearbox, automatically switches the gearing between low (3.900) and high (1.900) motor reduction ratio settings. In normal conditions, during acceleration, the reduction system will perform an imperceptible gear change at around 90 km/h (56 mph). Hence, the twin stage gearing generates maximum low-gear wheel torque for significantly enhanced acceleration. In short it is a small auto gearbox in a CVT gearbox :) Short lack of power during hard acceleration is due to the fact that to change the "gears" you can have so much torque in the system. When you are driving moderately torque doesn't needs to be limited for the change period and you wont feel it then. In general Lexus/Toyota got a problem with standard E-CVT gearbox like in Prius as GS got way more torque and this is theirs solution for that. As a curiosity is it still present in current GS generation ?

Hello, Just as curiosity - I've noticed today that there is no cable loom entering trunk lid anywhere but there is still reverse camera and some lights there. From where power is taken for the lights and how camera signal is delivered to dashboard ? Only explanation that comes to my mind is maybe there are some extra pins in lock mechanism as I doubt it is "wireless". I need to check if lamp are working when boot is open :) I've got another idea. Maybe cables are hidden in that "tape" on left which I though is used for closing assistant. I've just answered myself :) That tape on the left is cable loom "flat packed".

Movie is for older key fob. In mine (2010) you need to remove key and then you just slide part with "L" from back. Then underneath there are 4 tiny screws which hold battery. Maybe in yours (2005) you need to take it apart "by force" as shown above.

it sounds easy but I finally gave up. Screws are so small that any of my screwdrivers were good for the job. I even took fob to local homebase and checked smallest on the shelf - still too big. Eventually it was changed for free at Lexus Guildford during service job.

You shouldn't mix tyres on same axel but it is all right to have different on front and rear. Of course buying this cheap Chinese tyres for GS in another thing. In my opinion if you want to save money it is better to buy second hand but some descent brand and just change them more often.

Same in mine just unlock. There is some extra feature in opposite direction though. When you are closing it is enough to just slightly push it down (to around 1-2cm from fully closed) and it will close/lock by itself. I believe this is the situation which requires that lock and this is the situation when this funny strap on left side is used :) In my previous accord estate I got fully electric rear tail gate. Useful think but GS solution is also fine.

I was able to achieve 43mpg once on 120miles from London to Ipswich - M25,A12. Almost all time on cruise control at 76 mph. Normally it is in 38-40 area on long runs. If its make any difference I'm using premium fuels. Good to know newer model is even better as it probably will be my next car :)

For 100% you don't need "R" bulb as they are designed to reflector-type headlamp and we got projector-type. For projector-type you need to have "S" version which got clear glass cover. As for 2v4 I'm not sure but according to Philips online catalogue which is normally very good you need 4. Summary: you need D4S PS. Please remember that changing HID lamps is not so safe and you can be shocked with over 20 000V vs 12V on standard bulb. Be sure you know what are you doing.

Problem with battery is you need to move temp sensor. If you will just connect battery without it you will finish with check hybrid system warning. I've seen thread somewhere that you can just remove sensor from old battery and stick it to new one. Anyway once a few year you can spend £200 so another question is - is it worth all that time and effort. As for 12V is 12V it is not 100% true as batteries are made in many different technologies. Most popular are AGM/Flooded ones but one in Lexus I believe is GEL which is more expensive. Finally as for maps in 2010 Lexus upgraded system to HDD based. No more cheap upgrades from ebay but at least I cant complain for accuracy. It got full postcode database. It is as accurate as sat nav in my previous Honda Accord from 2009. Only problem is as map is from 2010 I'm missing newer streets/roundabounds/post codes

I've recently bough just rubber blades from Lexus. Paid in £20 area + 10min to mount then by myself. As for battery I've heard it is just standard one with temperature sensor which can be moved from old one which will save you £100 easily. Your boot mounting is correct. Finally how is map update ? Is it worth it ? Did you lost any data stored on HDD ?

Hi, Map update is dealer option only. They got some special equipment and needs to buy activation code from Lexus. Last time I've asked it was £200 area. I still haven't done it but to be honest I think one day I will as I also got 2010 maps and some roads/post codes are missing. If it makes any difrence map update contains also grace note update.