Maxz

Dealership offered me a "fuel cleaning" additive at my last service. I turned it down without enquiring any further as I am more than capable of buying and pouring in a bottle of Redex myself. Out of pure curiosity has anyone else paid for this, how much did Lexus charge and any idea of what they actually put in your tank? Many Thanks!

A very mundane post, but anyone servicing independently, maybe worth keeping an eye on these, just got picked up in my last dealership service. Seems they eventually break up and are worth replacing, so whichever mechanic is bleeding the breaks in future does not have to deal with corroded or ceased up bleed nipples. I can imagine worst case it gets sheared off, would be a right job to machine the thread back out.

Guide to switch off smart entry:

You are all right, it's me not looking properly 🤓 Futher down the list right near the bottom it is there. Strange that the website lets you tick it anyway, you'd think if you picked a service option it would block/grey out the hybrid health check option!?

As below, it is now separate and charged on top of the service price...

Just checking my eyes are not deceiving me... Anyone else noticed that the Hybird Health Check is no longer included as part of the standard service, have to add it on? Considering the hybrid system is an integral part of a hybrid powered vehicle, why would it's servicing now be optional? 🤔 Don't forget to tick if booking online, if you forget and then you do have an issue with the system, you'll be missing the warranty cover.

If it helps, to get a good look, open the bonnet, push the centre of the 9 little clips in to disengage the claws and then pull them out. Lift off the large plastic trim and with a torch/phone look and take photos. To refit the trim, pull the centre of the clips out a bit, push the claws back in but only far enough that the centre of the clip is flush with the outer edge.

You can buy an OBD2 cable from Amazon or Ebay for about £40 to scan error codes (as long as you end up with a decent/working one). There is already a thread on the forum on how to get Techstream working. You should check the condensor for dark patches (refrigerant leak) first as that is quick and costs nothing. How mine looked before replacement.

Hi, was your last service with Lexus and less than a year ago? If so get it checked out under your Relax warranty. Look through the front grilles (or lift the bonnet and pop the clips off the large piece of plastic trim between the radiator and the front grille to remove). Check for any dark patches on the condensor. After 8 years mine had been battered by stones and insects to the extent it was leaking in several places. It is covered under Relax, if not for Lexus to replace was just under £800. Trick is to keep plenty of distance from traffic in front of you at speed and if you want to go one step further add extra mesh to the grille to reduce the impact of fast flying road debris.

Same issue with mine, going to remove the undertray below, tapped it and there are loads of stones rattling around in it.

Whilst checking the undertrays, worked out why when driving over rough road surfaces or speed humps, I can sometimes hear faint rattling from the rear of the car. Give the centre undertray just behind the bumper a tap. More than likely you will hear stones moving about and smaller ones will fall out of or poke out of the small holes. Seems somehow stones larger than these holes manage to get into this space also. When I have time, will drop this undertray to remove the larger stones and maybe work out how they are getting in.

I'd recommend only using the official Toyota stuff...

Finally had enough of my boot sounding like Count Dracula's coffin lid opening and closing. If anyone else has the same niggle, some silicon spray (or grease will also likely work) in the arrow marked spots seemed to fix mine pretty quickly. Was spraying all the car door rubbers as recommended in another recent thread at the time anyway 👍

Examples of Hammerite small/quick fix and a Simmonz spray job (the one with the tyre showing overspray - whoops!). If you zoom in you will see the slight difference in shade. Apologies didn't take before shots at the time to show the difference between damage and repair.

Not sure if all Is300h (silver) alloys are the same shade, but for Advance style alloys (example below) I have actually found Silver Hammerite is a pretty good match. Note this is just for tiny kerb rash or small stone chips/grazes. The good thing about Hammerite is it is thick, so if you have an indent, it levels it out to some extent. For larger kerb rash where I have had to sand flat raised damage and use a bit of filler, I use primer then Simmonz Wheel Silver and then Laquer. But... this is not as good a colour match (the silver is a slightly brighter shade) and you have to do multiple very thin coats as it runs very easily. Neither solution is anywhere near as good as a professional refurb but enough to keep wheels looking respectable (from a distance at least 😉). My main reason to patch bare alloy near the very edge of the rims, is once oxidisation sets in and the alloy "bubbles" you are forever slowly losing tyre pressure, a lesson learned from my previous car.

If anyone has map files and wants to mess around with the content, tools can be downloaded here. https://profimaxblog(blocked word)/navigation/ If I get hold of some map files (.kwi) will have a play with these.

Beats pressing that button everytime I get in or out the car 👍

Thanks John. Funny enough I found and downloaded those already a while back but the compressed files are password protected, that's two levels of passwords to get past then! 🤣 Basically I have a Kiwi (.kwi) explorer program, wanted to do a bit of investigation into how the file is encrypted and structured where possible. What is interesting if you read the legal disclaimers in the car menu, are all the maps used are open source. So the map data Toyota/Lexus use is not copyrighted. What you are paying for is for those maps to be formatted to be compatible with Lexus Nav software, and encrypted so you pay to unencrypt (via activation code) to install. Given they probably just run the updated maps through a batch program to repackage, nice little earner! I'll keep digging around on this. If I find or work anything out will share but probably too hard a nut to crack. This one makes the thread I got involved with on the aftermarket mirror folding cable seem like childsplay 🫣

Thanks John, makes sense now. The software is generic. The non-Lexus suppliers have worked out or cracked the algorithm, take your vehicle unique ID, run it through a key-generator to supply an activation code for your specific vehicle. I'd still be interested in getting hold of a copy of the generic data file(s), see what I can dig out of it or source/buy an activation code to install it.

Probably being overly cheeky here but is anyone able to share the latest 13CY update (e.g. on a Google Drive link)? Appreciate that sharing an activation code could be a bit of a copyright grey area (hence not asking for) but any non-Lexus resellers will basically be buying one code and reselling to multiple individuals to recoup their costs + a profit. As below, if the whole business can go on holiday, suggests just one individual is potentially running things. 🤔

I have an advance and it does not have the mudflaps. Speculating here, but I think they might have been an optional extra when buying the car from new (bought mine 2nd hand so don't know for sure!). In terms of looks, I prefer without, and also if you have them on the front wheel arch, that is metal bodywork, so you wouldn't want all the road grime and salt getting built up down the back of it. Rear one doesn't matter as the bumper is plastic of course. Then the positive is, probably less stone chips, road tar etc. at at rear bases of your wheel arches, although I've not noticed too much build up/damage to my paintwork in this area thus far.

Seems it is by (bad) design supposed to move. I added some thin washers that just by slight friction stop the rattle, but should still allow enough flex for expansion. The heat shield is so thin and flexible anyway, I think they just over-engineered it. 20230312_115359.mp4

https://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/117521-techstream-on-is300h/#comment-1068828

I bought this from Amazon but read my review comments first as it was a fiddle to get working. You can change most settings with it, for example I bought it specifically to increase the volume of the turn signal clicks, as factory setting was a bit low for my liking. Keep in mind the seller might not be the same, so the cable might not be the same. My original seller was called "Boutique-Mister-Express" and shipped from France. Generatic OBD2 Diagnostic Scan Tool, Mini VCI J2534 Code Reader Cable for Techstream https://amzn.eu/d/d4ZWWjG

Must be one of these tubes but there are about 4 of them listed on the parts diagram so could be anyone of them. If you want to be on the side of caution, probably best don't fill your tank more than half way until you have the remediation work done. I typically only fill mine half way normally anyway as the car rarely does long trips and because overfilling and damaging the EVAP system is an expensive mistake to make.