Steven Lockey

Well that explains why he isn't looking at his e-mails! ;)

Does anyone know Richard's workshop will be back open for business? Send a few e-mails and tried phoning but just got the 'closed for reconditioning the workshop' message. Not in a massive rush just wanted an idea when and ideally booking a slot for when he is back open. @hybridbatterysolutions

I thought Richard had retired? Also he's not exactly in the south ;)

Its not unheard of. I got my GS450h with high end spec for £1700, which they refunded £700 of because the hybrid battery turned out to need reconditioning. (I got it replaced instead so it'd last). Some dealers just don't want the hassle with the older cars when they get them via trade-in and just want to get rid of them, particually when they are higher milage.

When I first got mine, I had to drive it back from manchester to down south. I thought boy all the traffic is going slow on the motorway today, before I realised how fast I was going ;) For the protection of my driving license I'll say no more. Lets just say it was smoother and quieter than going under 70 in either of my previous 2 cars (Rover 25 + Citroen Saxo)

Just to note, its the traction battery not the 12V battery which starts the engine. If its not going into ready mode, it may be the traction battery having issues. Given you hadn't driven it for 3 weeks, that may be the underlying cause. Its advised to drive it for at least ten minutes once per week.

I got one off e-bay and it worked fine, but quality is undoubtably variable.

The rear wheel steering is only on the full sport versions I believe. I've got the 450h with all the luxury extras (pre-facelift) and it doesn't have it.

Well at least you won't have to put up with random idiots turning up with a migraine 😉 <---- Random idiot who turned up with a migraine My Hybatt is still going strong after what 4.5 years now, so long as I actually drive the car every week 🙂

Shouldn't cause an issue. You can always turn the AC off on the climate control screen.

GS 450H. Has hit 200k miles. Complete list of parts replaced other than normal wear/tear. Traction Battery (£2k) Shocks (x4) (£2k - You can get a cheaper version without the auto-adjust thingy) Exhaust Pipes (not CAT) (£600) Light auto-adjust thingy (£60) Still always over 30mpg even round town. Gets close to 40 driving smoothly on the motorway. 450h won a lot of reliability awards.

The TPMS on the gs450h doesn't even register until over 35 psi. Recommended pressures are higher. Check your manual/sticker on the door jam

Both of these are kinda wrong. 1> Majority of people in cities have their own parking space next to their house. Its generally only city centres which don't. Thats only like 20-30% of the population. This means is like £200-600 to fit a EV charger. (And adds several thousand to the price of your property) 2> Most people very rarely take trips beyond the standard 150 miles each way most EVs can handle without recharging in the middle. I mean thats 3-4 hours driving each way. Most people very rarely do that kind of journey. I 100% agree that for people who regularly do longer journeys or have no parking at home, EVs aren't as great. But if you are only taking 1-2 trips longer than that per year, getting an EV and renting a petrol car for those two trips will still land you ahead overall as it still costs around 1/4 per mile to drive an EV if you charge at home. At a rough guess its around 50% of the population who would be better with an EV. What I find really strange is when you hit the brakes, cos the 450h is rear wheel drive, it regenerates via the rear wheels, so the car doesn't change posture upon braking like most cars. As the braking action comes from the back wheels, the car remains where it is. In most cars, when you apply the brakes the car dips forward instead. I found that really disconcerting and had to check the speedo to make sure I was actually slowing down rapidly lol.

If you go to Lexus sure. Hybrid battery solutions is highly recommended on these forums and replaced mine for £2k, that was a few years back however so it might be more now.

Basically if you buy an older hybrid, make sure you have £2k spare for when you need to replace the traction battery. In my experience, if the lights aren't coming on and flagging it on the dash, the cells are all currently fine. They can give out at any point however. You'll normally be able to drive it for a few months before anything starts actually going wrong after the lights come on, then it'll start randomly shutting off, including while you are on the motorway which is NOT fun.

450h is my first hybrid and its amazing. I was worries when I got it about the switch over between electric and ICE mode, but its completely undetectable and the traction motor starts the ICE up so smoothly you have to be really paying attention to even notice the engine turning on.

Wires moving slight when gently tugged is normal, just means the wire isn't in a tensioned position which is good. Means less strain on the actual connection point when its under vibration. Intermittent connector issues are an absolute pain but normally a corrosion issue (which is why flooded cars are often just written off, even if it seems to work, probably not for long) Only real way to fix or even diagnose that is replace the whole cable bundle and see if it goes away or disconnect and resolder each one.

Best thing about the 450h is when a boy racer in a VW golf with the ultra loud exhausts pulls up next to you are the lights and is giving it some..... then when the lights change you put your foot down..... 🤣

When they had the 50mph limit for the roadworks there a few years back, we had 3 GS450hs all staying dead level next to each other, clearly on cruise control to not get a ticket from the average speed cameras. Wasn't long after I got mine but I still remember it cos you see so few on the road. Having 3 just happen to be alongside each other was a big surprise lol.

Around town I normally get around 30mpg. On the motorway its more like 38mpg (even if not obeying speed limits 🙂 ) Only time it really drops below 30mpg is when its running stationary for a while.

Not sure, I got a complete pack on ebay which included the software. I believe you need to register on the Lexus website to down techstream directly. Can see quite a few people selling the combo pack of cable + disc on ebay for around £20.

Probably cos your statement is illogical. Just because your cars didn't have an issue, doesn't mean there isn't a physical issue with their car not related to fuel. Lots of other things than fuel that could cause this issue.

Assuming you have a laptop, you can connect that to tech-stream and do it yourself. The cable cost me like £20 on ebay. Most standard OBD readers will allow you to get the codes out however, which you can lookup online even if they aren't programmed into the OBD reader.

Never seen my GS450h drop below 30mpg even after much round-town, except literally while running when stationary for a long period and that normally only cos it was using the air-con/heater.

Possible you just ran the 12V down rather than anything wrong with it. Because all the 12V has to do is start the computer and then open the relays to the main hybrid battery, if its basically flat it may actually still manage to start the car. Had this a few times on my last 12V battery when it was, well working but it had basically no capacity left after 15 years so was very easy to run it flat if you left it on without the engine running for any period of time at all.