Buliztik

Hi Thackeray, I did also wonder about the drop of 4 Ah from the Panasonic and was assured but some in the know that it shouldn't be that much of an issue. As yourself and ColinBarber have pointed out the drop over the lifetime of the battery should be minimal, just need excuses to take it for a spin which shouldn't be too hard 🙂

Thanks for this info, now I know! Cheers

No problem! I think the blocked hose was just a stab in the dark from a sales exec to the issue of the old battery when I was asking him about fitting the original hose into the new one. I never mentioned the exact issue, just that it needed replacing. Not sure if a blocked hose could damage a battery so it would drop below 12 volts, I just thought it was there as a safe way for the gases to escape.

Hi Thackeray, no problem at all, will try to answer all your questions. Off the bat, apologies, you're right, there was a typo. The Toyota battery model number is S46B24L which is the same as the Panasonic and the Yuasa before it, so I suspect that Yuasa and Toyota purchased the patents for the battery and hopefully improved on any known faults. I had seen the Britprius post a while back but sourcing a similar battery was a bit troublesome and I too was worried about the fit. The vent hose connects to the battery via a fairly simple plug or nozzle. I've attached a pic of what it looked like, it didn't really click back in but the way the plug was ribbed (ooo err :) like other similar shaped plugs it seems to be forced in and creates a seal. The new Toyota S46B24L did not come with any of the vent tubing or plug which I suspected being labelled as OEM but hopefully the original tube is still intact and feeding from the battery out to the rear bumper like mine was. When fitting the new battery I would also give the original vent tube a blast with canned air or anything you have that might clear any debris out just in case. It was mentioned in one of my emails with the sale exec at Lexus Parts Direct that a fault with the vent tube could have caused the original issue with the Panasonic battery but other users may need to confirm that could be the case. I didn't see a temperature sensor or wire. My model is the 2015 IS 300H Luxury so they may not have a separate wire. I do wonder if the positive terminal's clamp from the car has a temperature gauge on it as it has bit of a circuitry attached to clamp itself (see the top left side of my first two pics of the battery comparison). Not sure what that circuitry is for and from doing a Google I couldn't get much of a clearer idea. Putting it all back together and restarting the car was simple as doing that. Nothing out of the ordinary, re-attaching the vent tube, both terminal clamps (positive, then negative of course) then the bracket holding the battery in place. I had also seen that bit in the car manual about needing to be in Accessory Mode to have the car ready but from previous jump starts I knew the starting procedure was the normal foot on brake, make sure the shifter is in park and hit the Start button. On first start you get a message on the dash display saying the car is restarting, then you're right about windows and radio pre-sets will need to be set again. Other things like the SatNav preset destinations seemed to be retained possibly by the hybrid battery's juice. The Accessory mode however has come up on the odometer display a few times before during dodgy starts with the old battery so it is interesting the manual mentions that. Lexus Parts Direct have the part number as 28800-YZZQX but its labelled on the battery as YZZQX. I think you'll be able to find it as just the Toyota S46B24L but the part number is there if you need it. I have seen it on sale on ebay listings and other sites such as: https://www.allcarpartsfast.co.uk/lexus/lexus-28800yzzqx-battery/ I had contacted allcarpartsfast.co.uk last week too but the sales exec from Lexus Parts Direct got back to me first to tell me they had one in stock at the time (which I took) so there might be a backlog to order from there. If you are desperate though for one now a ebay vendor called e-hybrid did get back to me yesterday to say they have some now in stock however they are selling the Toyota S46B24L at £149.99. No problem at all about the details! Sourcing a new battery to replace the Panasonic took a long time for me and I know how stressful it can be when something like fitting a new car battery should be simple. So many factors were involved with this to get the right one but I guess that's what you get from someone like me who hasn't had the experience before to then be stumped by something like a Japanese 12 volt battery! I'm very happy to share 🙂

Hi all, thought I'd follow up on this now, a 3 year-old original post with my own recent experiences with fitting a new battery to replace my old, failing Panasonic S42B24L. I already knew the Panasonic S42B24L was on it's last legs by doing multiple jump starts to it when the it's voltage dropped bellow 12 V. Due to the lockdown however I was driving less and less which finally killed it. After years of research and stubbornness to source and fork out for the Yuasa I was finally seeing vendors that had reasonable Toyota branded OEM S42B24L 12 volt batteries. Yesterday I received and successfully fitted the Toyota S42B24L (Lexus part number: 2880-YZZQX) currently under £100 from Lexus Parts Direct. They are not a Lexus site but looks to be an authorized parts dealer and was very impressed by a sales exec who I was constantly emailing to check on all the details: https://www.lexuspartsdirect.co.uk/parts/lexus-is/lexus-is-phase-iii-2013-present/lexus-is-3-engine-service-kits/lexus-is-phase-3-12v-starter-battery/ Size and fitting was exactly the same as the Panasonic. It's also a AGM battery with the same vent holes. Ultimately it's a Toyota branded replacement of exactly the same battery which seems to suggest Toyota were aware of an issue with the Panasonic so manufactured a battery for Lexus service teams to install. It was dead easy to install, like any modern car battery just need to take off the clamps holding the battery in, then negative and positive terminals then the the vent tube plug. The only few things that puzzled me were the vent's plug which just took some pulling out and reattaching the negative terminals clamp which were a bit tight so the Panasonic must have just been slightly smaller. Pictures showing both side by side for reference:

Which battery did you get? I'm having a tough time finding a suitable replacement that doesn't cost hundreds of pounds.