Herbie

I think we're both half right Dan because it'll obviously depend on the age and condition of the 12V battery. A new one will obviously hold charge longer than an old one will.

There are steps you can take to keep the 12V battery in shape, such as keeping a trickle charger connected if it's parked in a garage with mains power, or even connecting one of these solar chargers if your car is kept on the driveway overnight instead of being garaged. If the battery did go flat then you could keep one of these in the glovebox like I do. I've not had to use it yet but I know they work well so I'm confident that it'll get me out of the mire if ever it's needed.

Do you mean the condenser is leaking as well as the pipe or just the pipe? If it's both, that price may well be right because they'll just replace the condenser. I'd enquire at an aircon specialist before making a decision.

Incorrect, I'm afraid. The manual also says that you should have the donor car's engine running but that's incorrect too. That jump start terminal under the bonnet is only for convenience, just in case the boot is full of stuff, but there's absolutely no difference between the two and certainly no harm in connecting directly to the battery if it's easier to do so or you just want to. All you're doing is supplementing a dodgy 12V supply by piggy-backing a good 12V supply on to it and it doesn't matter if you do it at the front or the back, 12V is 12V.

That's very good of you Alan but can you also just post details of the Lancashire breakers please, as it may well help others. I think it may be Paul Frost but happy to learn of another one if there is one. Thanks.

Glad you got it sorted but don't chuck the old one out, try to fettle it first so you have a spare and also gain the knowledge as to what, exactly, is wrong so that you can pass that knowledge to others

LEDs are fine as indicator bulbs as long as you wire in a loading resistor (6Ω 10W if I remember correctly but may be wrong).

Well folks, I'm happy to report that the armrest was indeed replaced under warranty! Andy Pedersen at Lexus Teeside wasn't very hopeful but I asked him to just put the claim in under the premise of "Nothing ventured, nothing gained" so, with nothing to lose he submitted the paperwork and it was authorised, so a great result and much kudos and respect to Andy. We took the car up there today for its 60k/6-year major service (spark plugs etc) and, even though he was only notified about the success of the claim this morning, he managed to get one in and it was fitted this afternoon while the service was being done. Very impressed, to say the least.

Welcome back Syd, that does indeed look to be a superb motor. I don't know what you paid for it but it certainly looks the business. I just really cannot understand the reasoning behind buying such a car and only doing a few hundred miles a year in it. I don't know who the previous owner was but I feel like giving them a good shake and saying, "Life is not a rehersal. Get out there and drive it, enjoy the spoils of your hard-earned cash!" I sincerely hope you're going to enjoy it to the fullest extent Syd - get out there and enjoy every single minute of driving your new beast around!

There will inevitably come a time when the traction battery begins to fail but so far it's rare, which would suggest that their 'end of life' hasn't been reached yet. Even when they do fail it's rare for the whole unit to go at once and individual cells or blocks of cells can be bought from eBay to swap out the faulty ones, or you could have someone like Richard at http://www.hybridbatterysolutions.co.uk/prices-and-services/ to rebuild/replace the whole pack. As for the inverter, they seem to be fairly robust and I wouldn't worry about it failing but again, if it did, a secondhand one will be available from the Bay of Fleas.

Therein lies your answer Ja. It's when they've not moved for a while that the problem arises, such as being left in the airport car park for two weeks while away on holiday and the owner comes back to a flat battery.

Use the search function and you'll see at least four different threads with one going into five pages, all about this Bim.

I've spoken to two different MOT testers (both personal friends) and they say it's a very grey area and they would have to ask for guidance as to whether it would fail or not. Technically it's an immediate fail if it should have a cat and it's been removed, but given that hybrids don't go through emissions testing anyway there could be an argument for it passing. I think the government are going to have to make an official decision one way or the other.

At only 4000 miles a year you may have problems with the 12V battery going flat in the 400h as they don't take kindly to being stood around for any length of time. Probably best to go for a 300 instead.

Aren't they prone to the tranny fluid cooler in the radiator failing and so mixing water in with the ATF, leading to a knackered transmission? That seems to ring a bell so if it's correct then maybe it was just preventative?

Get it back to the dealer then and get it sorted under warranty.

If it's really bothering you so much, why not pay for an hour or two access to the workshop manual at https://www.lexus-tech.eu/ to see the whole exhaust system run.

I'd be very surprised if it had to be Lexus only - any DAB aerial should do.

Hi Mike and welcome to the club. I had a 2005 RX300 and I had it converted to run on LPG. It was a great car, very comfortable, great ride etc. I purposely avoided the SEL variant because that has air suspension and I really did not want that as it's so expensive to fix when it goes wrong, so mine was an SE-Nav. Is there anything specific you want to know?

Sorry Paul, only just seen this last post from you. That looks like a pre-formed olive but I'd imagine that you could buy the correct olive for the pipe rather than needing preformed.

I have no idea but mine is a November 2013 RX450h Advance and I've never had a card key. Not only that, there's nowhere to slot it in so I'm very intrigued by this - what model variant is yours?

Could be a loose/corroded/dirty connection at a common point so you'll need a wiring diagram and a multimeter to progress any further.

It doesn't matter what they say, it's illegal and will fail an MOT. The screenshot below is taken from the MOT Inspection Manual here

As far as I know, at least in this context, a pipe is a pipe, is a pipe. I don't think there's anything special about Lexus pipe. Is it just literally the pipe you need or do you need the fittings as well? Just Google air pressure pipe and fittings and I'm sure you'll come up with something suitable. You could even ask any Openreach engineer if he does gas pressure and if so he'll probably give you something with fittings. All the 'E- Side' cables that run from telephone exchanges to the green jointing cabinets you see on the street are pressurised with air to 9.0psi. This is so that if a cable is damaged, air coming out stops water getting in, and also the flow of air gives us an indication of where the damage may be.

Don't know if this will help you or not but.....