Herbie

I have auto-locking on my late 2013 RX450h but I believe the facility was removed in 2014 because of safety fears - something to do with not being able to unlock the doors in the event of a crash.

If it's always been serviced at Lexus there'll be a record of it online through the My Lexus website or app. If not, then I think you'd better err on the side of caution as it's too big a risk to take otherwise. You should also have the water pump changed at the same time whether it needs it or not. This is because the pump lives in the same area as the belt so to do it at the same time may add about £40 or £50 to the bill. Do it at a different time and you'll be paying about £300 or more for the pump alone, because 90% of the work done to get at the belt will need to be done again to get at the pump. I think I paid about £460 if I remember correctly and that was for the belt, idler/tensioner, water pump, 10L of Toyota Super Long Life Pink coolant and labour at my local indy guy, so if it happens to be my old one (GY05 HVK) then it's all done for you

OK, I think I've found out what it is! Unbelievably, it looks like the 'Rear No.3 Speaker Housing' Talk about over-engineering - or creating expensive stuff where there's no need for it! If anyone else knows different then please post it up for all to see, but in the absence of anything else, I think it's that speaker housing:

Does anyone know what the arrowed part(s) are? It may be one thing or two, I'm not sure, but it's under the boot floor and next to the 12V battery in my 2013 RX450h Advance.

Yes and no. The Stoplock Pro Elite that I've got took more than five minutes to defeat in various reviews and tests with hammers, chisels and saws. However, its real benefit is in the deterrent. It's not pretty having this big, bright yellow thing stuck on your steering wheel but anybody seeing it should, hopefully, think "why bother with the hassle - I'll just go for another one instead". As for your tracker, I can see the attraction of it being a fun project and I like the sound of it, but if you're going to modify it to only come on with the ignition then you'll lose half of its functionality anyway.

Not being funny or anything but is it really worth having a tracker on a 12 year-old car worth about four or five grand tops? Just get a big yellow Stoplock Pro Elite steering lock as a deterrent rather than relying on a tracker that only starts to work once they've broken in.

Rightly or wrongly, I tend to think that someone who has all four tyres matching (as long as they are a well-known and respected brand of course) is more likely to have looked after the car more than someone who has mixed tyres.

+1 for Deblock oil.

As long as you stick to the recommended viscosity I don't think it matters as long as it's a good, well-known brand and not Slimy Sid's Snake Oil. However, if you're going to do the transmission fluid then definitely stick to Toyota Type-IV.

Or just forget the roof and let the climate control do its job. Every car I've had in the last 30 years, including my current RX450h, has had a sunroof and I've never opened a single one of them - it messes with my long hair too much 😁

Totally depends on how old you are and how your hearing is, I suppose. My 61 year-old ears certainly don't hear as well as my 20-odd year-old ones did and I know I've lost some of the higher frequencies.

No worries mate. The new MOT makes almost any aftermarket conversion a failure in that the headlamp unit and the bulb itself must be compatible. So, a housing designed for a halogen bulb must have a halogen bulb in it, nothing else will do. Here's a screengrab:

In a 'normal' car, yes, but not necessarily a hybrid. In a normal car the battery is used to start the engine and then once the alternator is spinning, that runs all the car electrics and, if there's enough 'spare' capacity it will also charge the battery. A normal starter motor will draw a current of at least 300A when cranking the engine, perhaps even more. A hybrid car doesn't have a starter motor or an alternator. All the 12V battery does is to power the entry/exit system and boots the computers that are needed to bring the hybrid system to the READY state - after that, the 288V (approx) traction battery runs all the car electrics and also recharges the 12V battery. As such, the 12V battery doesn't have to be so big and beefy because, as you'll see from the photo below, the system is only drawing 15.32A from the 12V battery in my RX450h to bring the car to the READY state, which is a hell of a lot less than upwards of 300A needed for a traditional starter motor. If you sit in the car with the radio on, gear selector in P and the car in the READY state, the petrol engine will fire up as and when necessary to keep both batteries from getting too low. If you have your dashboard display showing your battery level, you'll be very surprised at just how quickly it will deplete - probably about every 30 minutes my engine fires up. If, on the other hand you are listening to the radio with the orange light on the 'Power' button (the equivalent of the key turned to the ACC position rather than IGN position) then the engine will not fire up when needed and you'll probably need a jump start at best or even towing to the dealers to get them to sort it at worst.

When I had my RX300 I had Avon ZX7 all round and there was certainly no excessive noise from them - great tyres and highly recommended. On my current RX450h I've got Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 2 all round and they are excellent. Very quiet, great grip and very highly recommended.

Sorry Shane, can't answer your question but are you aware that unless the car was designed with LEDs at the factory, any aftermarket LEDs will be an MOT failure?

You're right in that the capacity is low. My RX300 had a 70Ah battery fitted when we bought it and I believe that that's the minimum spec. However, given that it's brand new I would expect it to be able to cope easily at the moment. The battery is only used to crank the engine. Once the engine fires and the alternator is spinning, that runs all the electrics on the car and if there's any 'spare' electricity generated then it charges the battery with that. If your brand new battery is already going flat, I'd suggest that you look to make sure the alternator and charging circuitry are working as they should.

Is that not the rain sensor?

Tyres play a massive part in road noise. Have a look on any tyre website to see what their sound rating is.

No, mine were completely clear and fully visible on my RX300 but, although not pretty, you only ever see the bulbs for a few seconds as you open the tailgate to load stuff in there. Again, why cut down on light output when it's more you need? Surely you can live with only seeing the bulbs for about 5 minutes a week?

No, sorry Paul, no idea, but both garages/mechanics are good guys and I would trust them implicitly with my RX450h unless it was something that only Lexus could do (such as the hybrid system).

Each to their own and all that but how often do you see them? The whole idea of the mod is to give you more light. Seems rather strange to then cut half of it back down again, especially for such a trivial reason as a bulb that you'll hardly ever see.

Yes, they do make quite a bit of difference to the camera.

I've never had to buy anything like that before in my life (now desperately clutching at some wood to avoid tempting fate!) but I do know that there are other places to buy hydraulic pipes besides main dealers too. Might it not even be possible to replace a specially-shaped metal pipe with some other sort of flexible pipe or is that 'just not done'? I'm no mechanic so just thinking out loud.

Again, not Lexus specialists but two garages I've used in the past and can highly recommend in respect of their knowledge, workmanship and reasonable pricing are: Ribble View Garage (John Barton) 2A Rough Hey Rd (opposite the crematorium) PR2 5AR and also Malcolm Alty Alty's of Preston Great George Street (off North Rd) By the way, apparently we're getting our own Lexus main dealership here in Preston next month, being opened by Vantage Group (Toyota main dealers near the docks).

Why not just post the details anyway to help others as well? Details taken from his eBay listings: Lexus Spares Direct PAUL FROST autotek lexus spares direct cottonhall street bb30dw Darwen Lancashire UK Phone:07590072646 Email:paulnfrost@hotmail.co.uk