Lwerewolf

The famous knuckle spherical bearing, uniball, pillow ball, etc, etc - many names. Options: -OEM (whole new knuckle, not sold separately "because it is difficult to assemble/disassemble correctly") -Febest/Jikiu/whatever they sell on eBay (made in china), if you go down this route I'd research sellers, some people over at my.is apparently had success (i.e. no failure in ~6k miles) with specific ones... can't find actual manufacturing info. -RankOne https://rankoneperformance.com/products/lexus-is200-is300-altezza-rear-knuckle-poly-bush polyurethane (yup, apparently works) -FIGS https://www.shopfigs.com/v3/bearing, knuckle, lexus, rear spherical bearings -OEM bearing for a different car. I've been using jikiu's catalogue and its [url=https://www.jikiu.com/catalogue#/productsizemenu]search-by-size feature[/url] to look up bushings similar to mine (it's a 2is/3gs knuckle on the gs450h but same overall situation - not available separately OEM - not giving me problems but it's something to consider). At any rate: https://www.jikiu.com/catalogue/507254 ...says that a bushing of the same size is used in the TLC Prado: 48830-60060 https://www.toyodiy.com/parts/xref?s=48830-60060&mE=on https://www.google.com/search?q=48830-60060&tbm=isch The link is still expensive, but is less than half the price of the whole knuckle. Whether the actual part that Toyota uses is the same in terms of properties other than pure sizing (mostly strength in this case) is another story - it is a sway bar link bearing in that application, not a lower control arm knuckle bearing... but then it's for a huge car... who knows, we can only speculate 😞 At any rate, using the "search by size" function with some slack (say, +-5mm on everything initially, then narrow down), you can check those "close fits" for available OEM counterparts and then machine adapters for them (or machine the knuckle itself, etc). Examples of such bushings sold as a separate part are the Toyota GT86 (which is a rwd Subaru Impreza, so no wonder - Subaru sells these separately), the JZA80 (MK4) Supra (and previous ones), and, well... there are others, I just haven't done much research yet. Sorry for the wall of text. EDIT: one thing that I forgot to mention - there's no way to identify whether the sizes in the jikiu catalogue are correct. It's just a place that I've found that has some actual measurements and a search-by-size function.

https://www.lexusy.pl/LS430/ncf/ncf260e/m_02_0061.pdf https://st.club-lexus(blocked word)/files/m_dr_0006_142634.pdf Most likely something like this. If it was a clutch pack or a helical, we would've known for sure 😉 At any rate, found out about these guys: https://www.facebook.com/valracing1/ I've seen several mentions of them doing custom diffs according to measurements, so that's an option for now... unless I find a leftover quaife (discontinued years ago) or decide to go for a clutch pack (probably a death wish on a daily for icy mountain roads, even if it's 1-way... not that a torsen isn't dangerous). On a sidenote, talk about derailing the topic... sorry 😕

Where are you getting this information from? These are the torsen cassettes: IS-F: https://www.toyodiy.com/parts/xref?s=41301-53050&mE=on IS-F, RC-F, GS-F, ls460 f-sport, gs200t f-sport: https://www.toyodiy.com/parts/xref?s=41301-53051&mE=on gt86 & 1st gen IS: https://www.toyodiy.com/parts/xref?s=41301-53020 &mE=on And now the gs450h cassette: https://www.toyodiy.com/parts/xref?s=41301-50030&mE=on https://www.toyodiy.com/parts/xref?s=41301-50031&mE=on Inside view (from a uzs190 gs430, same cassette as shown on toyodiy): https://www.drive2.com/l/533520976021815931/ - the thing being given a certain rude hand gesture, halfway through the article 😄 50031 seems to be a revision of the same basic part, looked up images of it just in case... same open diff. At any rate, the gs430 diff does seem to fit (not my car & not my video):

Well, here's some food for thought... The following applies for the 3rd gen GS, 4th gen hybrids use 3.266 diffs across the board. JDM & USDM gs450h's have a 3.769 final drive diff - the exact same unit that the GS350 (& Mark X 133). EUDM (& General) gs450h's have a 3.266 final drive diff, the exact same unit that the IS220D uses. This explains the shift point & shift speed discrepancies that I've noticed in acceleration & track day videos, and since the rest of the drivetrain is the same (engine, transmission, driveshaft, inverter)... it might just be a simple case of the EU version being overgeared for full throttle below certain speeds. I'm looking into diff options, it'll probably be a gs350 diff with an eventual LSD upgrade.

The 4th gen GS does have an EV switch. The EV vs engine power switch is mostly related to power demands. Above a certain speed (about 40-45mph or so), the engine will be spinning regardless (in fuel-cut mode or otherwise), so at that point just about any throttle will use fuel... I think. I did an experiment (didn't have hybridassistant at the time) - using veeery light throttle, the dash would show the car using EV power only at 60mph downhill, but the fuel consumption gauge would show fuel consumption. Also, after every startup, once the engine has fully warmed up (~80deg. coolant temperature achieved), the engine will run until the car sits still (or glides on EV at pretty much walking speed, assuming it's not force-charging the battery at the same time) for a few seconds (5-10-20...) - it is calibrating its MAF probe to account for contamination/etc. Stage3+ in Prius jargon. You can test this by shutting down the car after the engine has warmed up, starting it up again and blipping the throttle in park (or turning the engine on in any other way). The engine will keep running for a few seconds. Once it then stops, any further stops should be almost instantaneous - blip the throttle in park again and it will run for a second or two tops. Other cases of the engine running - initial warmup (40deg. coolant temp), heat required for cabin heating, battery level too low, transmission in "sport"(manual gear ratio select, engine won't start automatically, but will not stop while in S-mode), maintenance mode, HV failsafe mode (even a pending code will trigger it). In case of failsafe, you WILL know - the car will be a snail in terms of throttle response

Only the IS-F (2010+) has an LSD in this platform. All other 2IS and 3GS models use an open diff, despite some brochures claiming otherwise. Torsen in a 450h has been done, but... it's a bit of a rabbit hole. Aftermarket torsens/clutch packs are available, of course - drexler (likely OEM torsens for toyota), sard, cusco, os giken, ats, so on.

Some can, but there are usually already oils that have them... and as you said - on time OCIs, plenty of "exotic" MoS2/WS2/somethingsomething oils around if that's your thing. About the lifetime fill - my point was that many high mileage cars do run it, and that the company doesn't appear to be worried about metallic particles accumulation having a significant effect on the EV components, and again I haven't read about a confirmed transaxle failure on anything other a gen2 prius (plenty of sudden inverter failures on just about everything though), not counting things like the bearings on the auxiliary oil pump-equipped models. Not saying that I'm not touching the oil 😄

I've gone through all the threads (that I could find) over there on the topic of ATF-WS (and a few on other sides - the participants were quite easy to spot), and I've also read a lot of other threads to which you've contributed. The acidity buildup of the fluid was the main point that stuck, if I recall correctly. With regards to the "dieseling" - isn't that partially solved by the system being "closed" - i.e. cut off from breathing in additional oxygen? In addition, ATF acidity control is a concern for just about every modern automatic transmission, for a multitude of reasons. Again, not implying that I'm advocating the use of additives in general, and especially in this transmission, but the "If the oil is in any way conductive to electricity" part looks a bit off to me - Toyota/Lexus states a "lifetime fill", which would surely make it conductive, especially after the initial break-in period 🙂

Ehh… The "nonconductive ATF" has been discussed over at Priuschat. I agree that engine oil additives shouldn't be poured into a transmission/diff/anything else, and that you shouldn't really be using them in the first place (very few good ones, and then they'll have to work well with the oil in the car... read up and decide) but the oil itself will become conductive over time - it is lubricating interfacing metal parts, after all. Haven't read of any such failures on Toyota hybrids, with the exception of the mk2 prius transaxle, but that doesn't appear to be tied to the oil used.

Look underneath the car, remove the cover that's usually removed for oil changes. It has a finned radiator on it, two water hoses and an electrical connector. Fairly obvious to spot. Let's hope it's just blocked and not shorted...

They don't share the same cooling system - the expansion tank is the same on the 3GS, but the pressurized part (i.e. the actual cooling loop) isn't... Getting combustion gasses from the engine in the inverter coolant loop is highly unlikely. Engine-wise - no oil consumption, no antifreeze consumption, can't hit 100deg. on the engine (OBD2 monitor) to save my life - 95c at 60kph on a 7km long uphill requiring 50kw to maintain speed, that was from yesterday, highway accelerations to stupid speeds can't get more than that either... it doesn't really see coolant temps higher than 87 in daily driving scenarios.

Hi Chris, Coolant temps >65c. for the inverter don't appear to be considered normal, at least according to everything that I've read. The inverter temperatures spike, but they are measured at the IGBTs, and electronics can put out ridiculous amounts of heat in a short time frame 🙂 No leaks found while presure testing. The cap appears to hold pressure, having attached a vacuum/pressure pump to the inverter-side bleed port I can force the cap to hold ~0.3 bar and it also draws fluid from the expansion tank without holding vacuum... on the other hand, I'm wondering if it might be drawing air from the expansion tank line - it's quite a long line, and given that the inverter coolant doesn't get hot at all... maybe it doesn't expand enough to "bleed" that line. I've been attaching it with the expansion tank high above in the air, I should've pushed fluid to the expansion tank by attaching the pressure pump to the inverter bleed port and forcing coolant through it. I'm waiting for a replacement cap to arrive regardless - preventative maintenance can't hurt, and it's probably the original one 🙂 Coolant is pretty much fresh - I did blow an inverter about a year ago when I got the car... let's say that some maintenance hadn't been done properly and I wasn't quite aware of it at the time. At any rate, tested today again and... 27deg. ambient, high gear, 65KPH acceleration - inv temp 2 goes to 125 almost immediately and then stays there until about 110kph or so. Uphill or level doesn't matter. Low gear acceleration in the same speed range doesn't see inverter temperatures higher than 100, and only for a split second - usually it peaks to 90 for one reading (1/4sec refresh intervals or so) and then holds 75 to 80. I'm not surprised that the temperatures are higher in the "high gear" scenario, but I'm wondering if they are supposed to go that high (hitting thermal throttling) on a properly functioning cooling system (and other components, of course).

Hello, I was driving with hybridassistant on as of late to keep an eye on the engine temperature (had a suspect tiny headgasket leak, so far according to pressure testing & watching the cleaned "dip" area with a boroscope + a few days of generally stupidly hard accelerations & harsh driving... nothing to worry about - spilled coolant dip in the valley during inverter bleeding in the past), and I noticed that the "inv. 2" temperature sensor (which I'm guessing is the IGBTs for MG2) was hitting 140c+ on sustained "hard" (100kw+) accelerations. First thought - air lock in the inverter cooling loop, so I bled it according to the service instructions (and tinkered a bit with a vacuum pump). The radiator appears to be fine, the inverter pump works (turbulence + it pumps through hoses attached to the bleed ports), the electric fans both turn on. The current daytime outside temperatures are ~32 celsius, so that might be something. At any rate, went testing today, and the inverter generally stays below 90 except when accelerating hard at low speeds in second gear, until MG2 comes to revs. 0-140kph doesn't see temps higher than 90 or so (if they ever peak that high, usually they float around 78 during acceleration), 65-140kph can see up to 134 (probably momentarily higher due to OBD2 readout periods), generally only on an uphill and generally only in the range of, say... 65-100kph. Night time testing with 15deg. ambient leads to a max of 110 or so, same highway, same conditions. Steady 150kph (GPS speed) cruise = inv. 1 temperatures ~90, inv. 2 sub-60, even on uphills, so I'm not really worried about normal day-to-day driving conditions. Now the bleeding did improve things, but I still find a 134+ celsius worst-case (full throtttle, high gear & low revs mg2, uphill slope) to be worrying. One last note - it's a LHD car, so the inverter cooling loop is slightly different due to the relocated inverter - there's an additional bleed port right next to it. I'm starting to wonder if that's why I mostly read about LHD cars blowing inverters >_< At any rate, does anybody have an idea if the temperatures that I'm looking at are ok? Cheers!

The part is G9040-30010. You can access it from underneath, just take all the covers off. It's the thing with the small finned radiators on it.. also, two pipes (one vertical, one horizontal) & a connector. https://www.google.com/search?q=G9040-30010&tbm=isch Even if you keep the hoses shut, a small amount of coolant will leak, and you'll have to add coolant & bleed the system as well as you can. You might get away with just adding coolant with the cap off & the pump running. The proper way involves running the pump and bleeding the system with the bleed ports. I remember there being two inverter bleed plugs, but that's on LHD cars (mine). The inverter loop radiator (in front of the main radiator, at the top, G9010-30010 ) appears to be the same, so there should be an attachment for a hose & a hex screw to loosen there (top-left, should be easy to spot). The pump runs at all times when the car is in "ready" mode (a.k.a. turned on, might take 20-30sec). You can also force it to run via techstream diagnostics while on 12v power (double press the power button without having your foot on the brake pedal). Techstream should be the better way - engine won't start, so you don't have to worry about heat, vibration and etc. from anything other than the pump. Check for turbulence, check the INV W/P fuse, squeeze the hoses around the pump (there might be blockage). You can check the wiring harness & try running the pump directly from the ECU, but I wouldn't do that without having access to the wiring diagrams, service manual and the particular page about the p0a93 DTC... better safe than sorry when the wiring harness alone costs >1k gbp, nevermind the ECUs and anything else that you might fry if you start assuming things (ok I might be over-exaggerating but safety first).

It's not only that - if you don't slam it to kickdown, it takes a VERY long time to reach those 150kw, even with "power mode" (a.k.a. changed pedal position mapping) engaged. If you kick it, it builds the RPM for 1/4sec or so and then it's takeoff time... or it just barks once and stays still, as it's very easy to lose traction, and then it's a couple of seconds without any substantial amount of "go" whatsoever due to VSC. Even with power mode engaged and holding it "in gear" (a.k.a. in adequate RPMs), there's still some throttle lag if you ask for full power.

The only other option that I'm aware of are the FIGS bearings (yup, this part is a heim joint, spherical bearing, however you wanna call it). I'm not sure if Jikiu (and other brands) are anything different. There's plenty of possible knock sources on the back of these cars, though - two ball joints (upper control arm, toe link, ignoring end links as you've changed those) and all the bushings, including the subframe ones. Of course, could be that the Febest ones are bad, too.

https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/947393/ Mostly the same, definitely the same principle. In short - Prius power split device, with the connection between MG2 and the driveshaft happening with a 2-stage ravigneaux gearset.

You also mentioned O2 failure - if it's the front ones (doubt it as that'll switch off all emissions-related checks until you've fixed it), you'd better replace it. You don't want your engine running far from stoich. As for the cats and if it's the rear O2s - swap O2s and see if it's still the same bank or the other. Then, check for leaks - y-pipe in particular. Exhaust parts including catalytic converters directly from Lexus are bound to be very expensive, but killing a cat nowadays... unless your car is burning oil and you're running a high phosphorus one... or you've somehow gotten leaded fuel in your car... and even then, pretty rare. At any rate, second hand low mileage ones or aftermarket should be way cheaper. Finally, that light being always on means if something else develops, you might not get any warning. Side note about the manifolds - a lot of aftermarket ones are listed to work with all of the rwd-application GR motors - that means all 2nd gen IS and 3rd gen GS cars, at least. Not sure if the cats on the OEM versions are the same, but if they are... way more scrapyard pulls are possible. Low mileage is250s should be plenty 😄

One more thing about the 450h transaxle - it does have a front-mounted oil cooler. https://lexus-europe.epc-data.com/gs450h/gws191r/5066/chassis/3914/ https://lexus-europe.epc-data.com/gs450h/gws191r/5066/engine/1603/16491/ And, as John said - no torque converter, or anything slippery really... apart from the bands for the 2-stage automatic for MG2, but those shift very rarely.

No concrete evidence, just lots of reading on toyota hybrids in general, prius chat/endless sphere/green hybrid/evworld/blogs of rebuilders/toyota rehydration patents/whatnot... I think I made it sound like they will go at 10 years - it's just that most of the failure cases that I've seen have happened around that age. On the other hand, I've seen all sorts of mileage, which is counter-intuitive to me - from what I understand, the cells loose capacity due to electrolyte evaporation (which I assume happens due to heat - hence why the modules in the middle of the pack tend to go first) and memory effect (which does exist in NiMh chemistry, even though it's better than NiCd). Both occur primarily during use. The latter can be reversed with deep cycling, the former can be reversed by rehydrating the modules. Rehydration, to my knowledge, has been done by very few people (at least documented) and only on prius form factor modules, but should be possible on other non-cylindrical cells (any toyota ni-mh pack). @Britprius should be able to clear this up, he has waaaay more knowledge and hands-on experience than me on this subject. Quite surprised that he hasn't posted in this thread yet 🙂 30-35mpg is for the 3rd gen GS hybrid, right? At least 30's what I average, mixed city/highway/mountainous village driving. The 4th gen's atkinson cycle engine is way better in this regard.

Drivetrain wear should be greatly reduced (engine, brakes, transmission), but the hybrid batteries tend to go at 10 years whatever the case is. Extended warranty should cover this though, and even if not... that's about the only major service it'll likely require. Not sure if anybody's reconditioning batteries on the 4th gen, given the different modules... just take the extended warranty :) I guess we're talking about 4th-gen GS's here, so there's also the atkinson cycle engines in the hybrids (both 300 and 450h) which contribute significantly to the fuel economy - ~30% better than the previous gen should be attainable? One thing about the GS250 - it's a direct injection only engine (3GR-FSE and 4GR-FSE) versus dual (direct & port) for the 2GR (3.5l) variants (FSE/FXE/FXS/FKS), and the 5l GSF. Nice to not have to worry about carbon build-up on the intake plenum/valves, plus the fail-safe... although I haven't read/heard of a lexus high pressure fuel pump failing yet. As for the winter - heated seats & steering wheel + dual pane windows :)

Is the coolant level normal? Any evidence of leaks around the water pump? Decent amount of complaints over at the US clublexus forums for water pump failures on that generation of models. Hopefully that isn't the problem as it usually means a new short block at least, which pretty much translates to new engine, but to be honest an engine quitting like that doesn't sound good in the first place. At any rate, off the top of my head: -Check water pumps, both for the engine and inverter. Coolant level, leaks, pulley play (the 3rd gen GS has a belt-driven engine water pump), etc. -Do a techstream readout of any codes present. You'll have to double-press the start button without having your foot on the brake, that way the car won't try to "ready" at all. Check the codes and work from there... this assumes that codes are present, but I'd be very surprised if they weren't. -If it's engine-related... I'd pull the spark plugs and inspect the combustion chamber with a camera. Quick way to spot catastrophic damage. Can't offer much advice on this... My guess is that if you see white spots (melted anything), you're in for a new engine. -If it's inverter-related, you'll most likely have to replace it. Used right hand drive inverters are cheaper and very easy to find for some reason (ask me how I know ^_^). Don't even think about getting a brand new one - the engine will look cheap in comparison. Things to check in case that it is the inverter: ->Clogged (internally and/or externally) or leaking inverter radiator/tubing (yeah it's separate) ->MG1 and MG2 windings insulation - read up on how to do this for a Prius transaxle, same principles apply. You'll need a megaohmmeter for this. ->Transmission fluid level. If it's the inverter and the transmission took awhile to shift gears (at 70MPH or so when being floored), then it's usually either this or seized bearings in the (external) oil pressure pump. Refilling a completely drained transmission (i.e. oil pump has been disconnected) takes more than just a top-up - there is a bleeding function that you can activate via techstream, a forced transmission learn that you can again activate via techstream… and some other things. Make sure that it is done right - get access to the repair manual. Lexustech, techinfo (US so for LHD cars, not sure how much of a difference), not sure what else is available. As for how this can cause issues with the inverter - it cools MG1 & MG2. If it's none of those, then I'm out of ideas. Inverters used to fail on RX400h's/highlander hybrids, but those were recalled for fitment of improved units. I'm pretty sure that I'm missing something, so dig up as much info as you can and don't put blind trust/faith in any single source of information 🙂 Good luck and don't give up! EDIT: Just noticed your other thread, shouldn't this be merged? EDIT 2: I should've watched the video you attached with the audio on >_<