Herbie

When you bought the car brand new it came with a three-year manufacturer's warranty. I think you're legally allowed to take it anywhere you want and you don't have to take it to the main dealers for servicing, but do you really want to take the risk of a failed claim (if you need to make a claim) during its first 3 years? Personally I'd stick with the dealer and then after 3 years, go elsewhere if I wanted to.

No, it wouldn't. You would normally use a lower gear to give more traction and control in the mud but that's not what the B setting does. As mentioned above, when going on a long descent the traction battery can reach full charge and it won't be able to accept any more electricity, so if you move the gear lever to B that excess electricity is fed to MG1 (Motor/Generator 1). The motor is used to spin the engine without any fuel, so the whole thing acts as a big load or a big resistor to a) use the excess electricity and b) to slow the car down by using the compression of the engine (engine braking).

Occam's Razor is simply a principle that states "The simplest explanation is usually the best one". In this context, you've been working on the engine, so the simplest explanation is that the problem is a result of something you've done (or not done, or something you took off or forgot to replace etc., etc) during the course of that work, rather than being something completely unrelated, like the immobiliser for instance. Are you sure the timing marks and the alignment is correct and not, say, the belt being one tooth out maybe? Did you reconnect all sensors or other wiring that you had to disconnect for the work?

Ocam's Razor may apply here. You've replaced the timing belt so that (or something you've moved/touched) during the work is the most likely culprit.

I'd say no, too close to sidewall.

Sorry Paul, I completely forgot to let you know and that's not like me because it's one of my pet hates There was only a part number on the back of the SD card but no mention of which generation, so I contacted the UK distributors of the Grom units and even they're a bit stumped. Depending where you look it seems that the LEX8 unit is for 2016-2019, but the LEX9 is for 2018-2021 So, yesterday they asked me to email a photo of the radio display on FM input rather than DAB so that they can forward it to the development guys in the States. Having told them the date of first registration (29/06/2018) and given them the VIN number I thought it a bit strange but it all became clear today. There's a Grom VL2 Users Group on Facebook and a guy from Cushie Audio in Australia pointed me to his blog about identifying which gen you have, from the radio display. If you look at that and then compare to my radio in the photo below, I reckon it's the LEX9 that I need although it may be wise to wait for confirmation from the States. Thanks for your help mate and I promise I will keep you all updated as this progresses.

Shouldn't be. It never has been with any of the stuff I've ordered from them.

Great info Phil, thanks.

It's gone the other way for us. Up to about 18 months ago my nearest one was about 25 miles away but we now have one in our own town. However, it doesn't really matter because if the right car comes along at the right price, I'd travel as far as was necessary to get it anyway. Although we live in Preston our last two have come from Lexus Teeside because that's just where they happened to be for sale.

I'm not sure why you're so upset or surprised by it. Shops of all kinds, from florists to bakers, from car dealerships to locksmiths are closing up and down the country in this strange and worrying economic climate we find ourselves in. They've obviously decided to close the dealership for economic reasons; it's not like they've done it to specifically upset you personally.

It may be a Lexus but it's a straightforward petrol-engined car like many millions of others and any decent garage should be able to sort it out. I don't believe there is anything in there that is 'Lexus-specific' that would require a main dealer or even main dealer diagnostic software to fettle it. If you have access to a Windows laptop, to put your mind at rest you could buy one of these miniVCI cables and run Techstream, which is the same diagnostic software as used in the main dealer workshops. The cable comes with a pirated copy of Techstream but it's a matter for your own conscience as to whether you use it or not. The correct way would be to download it (free and legit) from here and then buy a block of time to use it (currently €5/day, €10/week). Either way, you'll need that cable anyway to allow the computer to talk to the car and vice versa.

Is Essential Care still available now? I thought it was ended when the Relax warranty came in?

I would indeed, but we are talking Lexus main dealer prices whose labour charge is about £130+VAT per hour and their costs for parts will no doubt also be extortionate.

If the brakes need bleeding then they'll need Techstream software to do that properly but just replacement of pads and/or discs needs nothing special and any good garage will be able to do them.

Thanks for those replies Paul, I'll have a look on the SD card tomorrow, cheers.

Still researching the Grom VLine 2 and if you look at this link here you'll see that for the 2016-2019 RX (mine's 2018) there are two units listed, the LEX8 and the LEX9. Apparently that refers to the navigation system, so how do I find out if my car has a Gen 8 or a Gen 9 system?

I meant for the Lexus factory-fit systems Len.

If the part is no longer available you may be able to get one made at https://www.pirtek.co.uk/ I'm not sure if they do this sort of thing but I know they can make brake hoses, hydraulic pipes and suchlike. Might be worth a phone call.

No it wouldn't, you'd need four cameras for that.

Better lenses, better night vision, better sensors, firmware updates etc. If I remember correctly the first dashcam I got was 720p or less than 1.0 megapixel. The one I have in my car now (as shown above) is 2K, which is about 4.0 megapixel. Viofo also do a 4K camera which is about 8.0 megapixel. As the numbers go higher the video quality gets better (over-simplification) and I doubt that there would be an easy upgrade path (or any upgrade path at all) with a factory-fitted dashcam. I know this means replacing the cam with a newer one but the principle still applies. I fully agree that Lexus chose the wrong partner for their nav systems and they are indeed clumsy and horrible. Regarding keeping the system updated - you may be able to get up-to-date maps but are they still running on clunky and outdated operating systems or does the OS get updated as well?

I don't know why but I'm glad they aren't. Just like with the built-in navigation it would soon be outdated and would no doubt cost a fortune to replace and involve stripping out half the roof to get to it if it went faulty. No, in the case of dashcams, I'm happy to buy and install my own.

Very nice James, very nice

I spent a couple of hundred quid on a Carlinkit Decoder unit to get Android Auto functionality in my 2018 RX450h and I'm about ready to admit defeat with it, so I was wondering if the Grom Vline 2 actually works as it should and if it's worth the more than £500 price tag. My Carlinkit unit is basically an interface that allows you to (almost) mirror your phone screen on the car's big main screen. The apps (such as Google Maps or Waze, Amazon Music and suchlike) run on the phone but are displayed on the car screen and are controlled by using the car switches/controls. If I'm reading it correctly, the Grom unit is a self-contained device that again integrates with the car screen and controls, but doesn't actually need a phone because it runs its own Android operating system. Apps are downloaded from the Google Play Store directly into the Vline 2 and run from there. Is that correct? It seems that even the current units in stock now are only running Android 8 (Oreo) whereas my phone is running the latest OS, Android 11. Does this infer that Grom aren't very good about aftersales support or about upgrading? I know that's a silly question but I'm just bothered that I'll be throwing good money after bad. If the Vline 2 works - and works well - then I'll spend the money, but I really do not want to buy another lemon!

It's the only one Lexus sell, nothing to do with them recommending it. There is nothing 'Lexus-specific' about a dashcam, even the ones they sell. It's just a 12V accessory like any other 12V accessory such as a TomTom satnav or a car vacuum cleaner or a 12V air compressor for inflating your tyres. It needs a 12V supply and that's it, it's compatible with all cars from Arbarth to Zephyr.

This seems to happen when the rear cam cable is run close and parallel to the DAB aerial lead. You can either find a different route or maybe add a couple of ferrite beads to prevent or fix it.