davcom1

Yes, they seem keen to do the work. It was done under the agreement that there was no guarantee but it was a risk worth taking vs the cost of a new part.

To Mike, Steve, John and Piers plus anyone else who might have been looking at this thread, I thought I should provide an update... With Steve's original advice, I went back to my local Lexus garage who said they would happily have the car back to perform some more detailed tests which they did FOC. They said everything pointed to the compressor being faulty. I wasn't prepared to fork out £2k on a new one and so searched that well-known auction site for a secondhand solution. Was surprised that there was a few to choose from although it looks like the same compressor is used on a number of vehicles. In the end I opted for a car spares place in Lithuania (I think much of their vehicles are ex-UK anyway) and paid £90 + £25 shipping via DHL, all of which they sorted. My local Lexus garage were happy to swap the compressors over for me (for a couple of hours labour and some specialist oil) and I'm happy to say it all works brilliantly! Thanks to all for the free advice and hopefully, as I learn more, I can chip in to help others. David

To be honest, I'm not sure what they actually did in all. They did say it is not leaking refrigerant but only deduced this by measuring the pressure, and said it was ok... this was after first saying it had lost some (because they may have looked at the wrong specs for the car). Is there a way to retrieve fault codes or would these be misleading? I'll call Lexus and ask the guy for more info from the mechs.

Hi Steve - good idea. I actually took it to someone yesterday who reckoned the pump is fairly easy to swap but he didn't want to touch it due to the high voltage of the hybrid but will get someone to simply check the high and low levels. According to the dealership, they first said it was leaking (after checking pressures) and then said it wasn't - apparently they may have looked at the wrong levels. The fact is that they have not checked for leaks!? They charged £59 for the aircon service and then nothing for the 3 or 4 hours when they had the car for the second time. John - To be fair to the dealer (not Lexus), it was only a 90 day warranty and I'm a little outside of that. Thanks both for the replies and advice. When I get more info, I'll report back. Regards, David

Hi Mike, many thanks for the warm welcome. I can confirm I've read through the rules (thanks for the link) and am confident for when the questions begin! Regards, David

Hi all, I bought my Lexus GS450h a couple of months back and really enjoy owning it. Last week I had it MOT'd and serviced at my local Lexus dealership. Passed without any advisories - yay! I also got them to do an aircon service (half price) as it wasn't blowing very cold. During the drive home, I noticed it was still not cold so took it back. They've now told me that the compressor has gone and the cost of a replacement from them is £1900+VAT & fitting. I can open the window for that price!! Apparently, the compressor/pump starts and promptly stops again. I can purchase a 2nd hand pump for £100 upwards which seems worth a shout and they would fit without warranty, however, I'd feel better if there was more evidence that it is the compressor and not just a relay or wrong amount of gas! The car has only done 65k miles which seems a bit low for this kind of failure. Is there a way of seeing fault codes or checking pressures/relays etc (without electrocuting myself!) Or can anyone recommend a hybrid specialist in the Devon area? Thanks to all in advance and apologies that my first post is a request for help - I will try to return the favour when I've gained a bit more knowledge!