Steven Lockey

18 hours ago, Lwerewolf said:

Shocks leak / blow with age, which CAN (and 99% of the time - does) make the ride way stiffer - lack of rebound damping, for example. They can also seize / bang up internally from lack of lubrication.

I'd swap all fours. Prepare for sticker shock.

Value of 17 clicks is how many discrete positions the stepper motor can turn.

P.S. My fronts looked pristine on the outside, but under the AVS covers... 😛

When my shocks went, it went 'bouncy' rather than stiff. 

 

On 11/12/2020 at 5:17 PM, Britprius said:

No it uses stiffer springs to take the extra weight. The shocks only dampen the movement, and in no way actually support the vehicle. 

John.

Yes but heavier car means the same movement has more momentum that needs to be dampened to have the same effect. 
Its not a matter of taking the load.

 

On 11/11/2020 at 12:47 PM, reid said:

I bought my GS450H two years ago and it has just passed its tenth birthday; I am delighted with this car.  However just after my original dealer warranty expired a new front shock absorber had to be fitted - ouch ! and at the last 'MOT' an advisory was raised that one of the rear shocks was 'misting'.  I assume therefore a replacement will be due within the next ten months, prior to the next  'MOT'.

I never select any other ' suspension/performance' mode though I have confirmed their serviceability during the original test drive with the dealer 26 months ago. I bought this car for its sublime 'magic carpet' ride and as I will not see my mid 70's again, I really have no wish to harden the suspension or change the gear ratios in the quest for more performance. Therefore  I seek advice as follows;

1/ Has anyone experience of replacing the original selectable shocks with good quality, regular non adjustable shocks and if so, with which brand / model. The cost savings must be considerable.

2/ Would it be a requirement to change all four shocks to  'regular' examples or could one spread the load to say the fronts one year and the rears the next? 

3/ Would this change cause warning  lights to to be permanently displayed?

4/ I accept that disengaging the original adjustable shocks would militant against a possible easy sale of the car in the future but quite honestly I have no intention of selling in the foreseeable future and already the car is into its eleventh year so resale values are already quite low. The standard factory shocks seem to be a constant source of high expenditure such that one wonders if they are really up to the job with such a heavy car.  I have looked also on the American version of this forum and the litany of complaints on this model's shock absorber makes for interesting reading.

Comments would be welcome.  Thank you.

If the shock is functioning fine, don't replace it cos of 'misting' Mine had misting on the last 5 MOTs before it actually failed. 
Even if it completely fails, just means the ride is a bit 'bouncy'. Won't cause the car to be undriveable in any way. 

Only problem I can see from going to adjustable to non-adjustable is the car handling. Fairly sure the computer automatically
stiffens the shocks when cornering, accelerating on rough roads e.t.c. 

I had zero warning lights with dead shocks so you shouldn't get any with replaced shocks either.

I spent the £2k replacing all the shocks with originals. Honestly, unless you get a good deal, I think enough of that was labour, the
few hundred £ difference is worth getting originals IMHO.

On 3/20/2017 at 12:17 AM, derkins said:

According to the manual the SPORT only firms the suspension, more of a 'normal'/'firm' switch. POWER gives it all the beans with a much improved throttle response and all available power. Think Low/Medium/High instead of Snow/Normal/Power.

Using both is advised if pushing along on twisty roads. NOT advised in the wet or poor road surface (potholes).

The regeneration also appears to be more active in POWER mode... Probably due to the more time spent braking after piling into corners harder!

 

Well that's my experience. 2009 Gs450h

Sport 100% adjusts the throttle response as well. Its noticeable more responsive.
 

On 3/27/2017 at 8:18 PM, Britprius said:

You must have a heavy right foot. Try taking off your boots. I get the mid 30's in my GS, 32 MPG is low for me. Where I live even dual carriage ways are rare. There is a section on the A49 going in to Hereford but it only runs for about 1/2 a mile before going back to single road.

When I was working I often came your way "well maybe once a month" as the company I worked for were based in Thetford.

John.

I get 32ish on normal motorway travel.... always obeying the speed limit of course.... not constantly 20+ mph above it 😉

I get 35ish driving conservatively.

On 3/28/2017 at 7:47 PM, Upex said:

Wonder if the principle of getting to speed faster, using more fuel, versus more time off the gas using less fuel.

Either that or as it a bit warmer, tires bit harder and thus less rolling resistance, or wind speed lol

Need someone with access to track or test ground to do some controlled testing.

More likely the direct control of the car, going faster will never make you more fuel efficient except in very
rare circumstances (and I'm talking like 1-2mph ranges due to aerodynamic shockwaves forming like when 
you approach Mach 1, which is unlikely in most cars 😉 )

If you've driven a car with no automatic assists for a long time previously, you are used to feathering the 
accelerator, with sports mode off the car does it as well, so you get kinda a double effect, also the car
is kinda trying to guess what you are about to do so ends up revving the engine more as you have to 
put your foot down harder to achieve the same response, but it doesn't  know if you are just going for a
blip of power or sustained acceleration. 

20 hours ago, Herbie said:

First thing I would have done would be to pull over and reboot both phone and car. It could have just been a transitory thing that a reboot would sort out.

If not, I'd be more likely to blame the phone rather than Google Maps. It's well known and publicly admitted by Apple that they intentionally cripple their devices when they reach a certain age, in order to get you to buy a new one.

A third possibility and perhaps the most likely scenario is that I'm sure I remember reading something a few months ago about a problem between iPhones and Google Maps, but I can't remember any details. If I find the article I'll post it. In the meantime, give Waze a try - it's brilliant.

Both apple and MS have been caught trying to sabotage Google products on more than one occasion.

MS made hotmail not work with Chrome at one point, they proved it was deliberate from MS by simply having Chrome send the identifier saying it was IE or Firefox and it mysteriously worked.
Several things 'not working' right on Google maps after apple Maps came out as well, until they admitted it was really poor by comparison.

6 hours ago, royoftherovers said:

Was there a solution found Steve ?

Cleaned the DVD and it worked again. 

Sometimes when something went really wrong reading it, whole centre console died. All the controls worked but nothing on the screen even when trying to access AC e.t.c.

On 3/13/2022 at 8:54 AM, NemesisUK said:

Well John, at least you still have maps displaying, in my 'little incident' everything disappeared!

Hopefully all will be resolved with little inconvenience (and no cost)  🤞

 

I've had this a few times. 

Whole system throws a wobbler if it can't read the maps DVD correctly.

10 hours ago, UKDentonGS300 said:

I suppose it affects different people in different ways.

I have tried dark mode on my sat nav and on my phone and don't like it. It takes me longer to read it. So I just leave it in day mode and I do a lot of driving.

I have twice driven my car for 25 hours without stopping except for petrol, toilet and takeaway. Last year Torrevieja to Calais and a couple of years before that Sesimbra, Portugal to Calais. The lighting helped to keep me awake and alert.

Pretty sure the laws of physics are the same for everyone 🤣
If you are driving on well lit streets won't be an issue, on dark country roads its a bit different. There is a reason internal lights for passengers in the car try and keep the driver area relatively dark. 

On 2/7/2022 at 7:04 PM, Yorkermiles said:

I am quite happy to buy aftermarket parts for minor things as Lexus parts cost a ransom.

Never get a BMW then 🤣

On 2/7/2022 at 12:30 AM, UKDentonGS300 said:

I am going to dim the lighting around the centre console, but what I realise is that if you look at it, it is bright but when driving you are not looking down and it really doesn't bother you.

 

If you look at the top of the dashboard or just below the door glass the blue is not present, so it only shines from door handle going down. I do have one on the rear shelf behind the headrest to turn on and then I am finished. I have one wired in the booth to come on when opened as I find that light quite dim.

not really true, if the ambient light level inside the cabin is greater than outside, you can create a 'one way glass' effect.
Same reason its quite often difficult to see other drivers in their cars. 

You really don't want this effect the other way round so you can't see out. 

Also more light in the cabin, the more your eyes will not full adjust to darkness outside. This kinda matters less cos of other headlights.
I've already got my console brightness at minimum in night-mode and wish I could turn it down another few notches! 🙂

14 minutes ago, serbarry said:

I live in Ireland and as far as I know there are not hybrid battery specialists here so I would have to go to Lexus if I had a problem. My question arises from the fact that I do not trust much the Lexus/Toyota dealer in Cork.  

Or e-mail 🙂
And honestly, if you are just starting to get Battery errors, the car is driveable. Mine lasted ~1000 miles from the first error to actually having issues. Plenty for a quick ferry ride and then drive to see Richard if needed. 

For the price difference, well worth the bit of extra time. There is a nice lake nearby for while you wait as well 🙂

19 hours ago, serbarry said:

Is there any way to know if the failing component is not the battery? I mean the Lexus dealer could say it is not the battery but the inverter therefore it is not covered by the warranty, but should we simply trust what the dealer say or there is a way to check that? 

The error codes are pretty easy to look up, there are specific Battery codes. 

Strongly recommend Hybrid Battery solutions. Talked to him and got my Battery replaced for £2200 (there was a slightly cheaper option)
with a 3 year warranty which isn't bad at all. Hes extremely professional and friendly. He also does reconditioning for around the £800
mark. He'll advise which he thinks is best depending on the age of the Battery.

 

On 2/4/2022 at 2:42 PM, robbyD said:

I currently have a 2003 GS Owners Pack from the US which is too large to fit in the Glove Box...which makes me think SER II's carry the Pack in the Boot.

The UK spec Pack that's coming is a different shape and most likely will fit the Glove Box.

Suppose my question should be, what is the Boot Strapping for?

Well I guess it's not uniform across all GS as my 12V Battery is there 🙂 

3 hours ago, johnatg said:

Yes - you can reach 4 of the plugs easily but the other 2 (left bank rear) need a whole lot of dismantling of most of the air intake system including the air surge tank (what people often think is the intake manifold) It is quite a time consuming job (probably more than an hour for a technician - a whole afternoon for an amateur)

Yep, I find most garages just check the easy 4 on a service, if all those 4 are fine, not a lot of point in all the extra work for something that doesn't need to be replaced. Also if you are missing firings, the Lexus computer is pretty good at registering it so can provide a pretty good check via tech-stream. If one isn't functioning 100%, it should show up.

Of course any damage/build-up on the front 4 or indications of misfires on techstream, then they need to do it 😉

However because of the way the Hybrid system works to keep the engine at more favourable RPM compared to traditional engines (so more complete combustion) I've found they tend to put a lot less strain on the plugs.

6 hours ago, Barry14UK said:

After I refueled last,  I pressed the mouse like controller and when I looked awhile later, the pictorial column was at the top and the figure given  99.9mpg which still shows as best figure achieved after maybe a 100 miles or so.  However, the running figure reduced quite quickly, and due to recent journeys being fairly short, the current active figure is about 24mpg.  Clearly, in reality my car was never achieving 99.9mpg which still shows as best result.  Could this have been because I touched the controller fairly soon after refuelling or is there a problem with what has been recorded would you think?  

On my GS450h, this number resets whenever you refuel.
So if you just refuelled, then moved off on electric power the maths says =>
000.1 mile / 0 galleons = TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!!!! 😉 Or 99.9 which is as high as the number goes ;) 

Well, had the front shocks replaced with the MOT a month or so ago, noticed a big difference and thought sod it,
lets get the rear ones done as well.

Wasn't cheap (about 2k all in for all 4)... but bloody hell does it make a difference, not just in ride comfort either.
Car sits a lot more solidly on the road and the TCS seems to be kicking in a lot later when I put my foot down hard
and still allowing more power quicker and that was in the wet. 

Actually looking forward to next time I need to make a long drive instead of just randomly going for a drive round
the new forest 🙂

Be prepared to replace the following if they haven't been already:

Exhaust (£750 for full stainless steel replacement) - They rust and fall off 🙂
Shocks (£2k for all 4 and fitting approx) - Its a heavy car, the shocks tend to go with age.
Battery (£2.2k for 3rd party replacement) - This may last a good while longer but at that age they can go.
 

On 11/6/2021 at 9:16 AM, steve2006 said:

Very true but if the battery won’t accept the charge say due to a cell failure which will reduce the terminal voltage it could drop below the minimum required voltage even on charge.

Was exactly what happened on my GS450h. 

When the cells start going in the traction Battery, the 'ready' light would just go out and I'd have to stop and restart.
Might have just been a blip in one of the cells.

On 11/16/2021 at 11:55 AM, sheri1 said:

I filled my car up last week at my local Shell station and half way through, I realised that I was filling with Shell V Power instead of the normal (E10) petrol by mistake. £1.65 per litre!

Never mind I thought, at least I will see a boost in fuel economy I thought.

Nothing of the sort.  I am averaging exactly the same economy at around 39mpg with this fuel as I do normally on my commute.

So, in my opinion at least, ignore the hype that surrounds the so called premium fuels, as they seem no different to the standard fuels, other than in price!

You will get slightly better mpg from it, but not much. Like 2-3%. Maybe 5% max.

You aren't likely to notice much of a difference under normal driving conditions tbh, too many other factors that will make a far bigger difference to your MPG, like wind-strength/direction, how stop/start you have to be e.t.c.

4 hours ago, mikebiasi said:

Thanks for responses, its outside the car, much appreciated.

Might be worth throwing a pot of that injector cleaner fluid in the tank next time you fuel up.
Must remember to do that myself actually 🙂

May be the injector nozzle is slightly dirty meaning the fuel isn't fully vaporised inside the chamber,
so isn't fully burnt when the engine is cold. 

That's just a vague guess through. I'm assuming the smell of petrol goes away once the car has been running a bit
which would make sense as once the far wall of the chamber is hot, it will help keep the petrol vaporised.

1 hour ago, markinho1975 said:

Thanks I'll make sure to check that properly.

Yep, had to replace my entire exhaust from the cats back on my GS450h.

Also shocks tend to need replacing at some point. Battery is the other one that tends to go.
All are replaceable with non-OEM versions 🙂

They aren't easy to get to. I tried lol 🙂 

13 minutes ago, Mossypossy said:

I start mine in the garage and get a faint whiff of fuel. I would imagine this is because it is a 3.5 litre V6 engine. Starting from cold needs a lot of fuel I would have thought.

The coolant part. Maybe your radiator has a weep.

If you can smell petrol inside the cabin this is an issue!!!!

If you mean outside the car, yeah assume thats just where its cold starting some of the fuel isn't getting burnt till the
engine has started properly. Seems a bit off through as unless your hybrid Battery is low, I thought the traction engine
basically brought the engine up to running speed before it started actually adding fuel. 

Just now, GSmk3 said:

 

Glad to hear that. Was yours blown on the front or the rear pipe? Did you need to rebuild it or repair? 

 

Was just next to the resonator, just after the Cats. They just replaced the resonator as well as they aren't
expensive and some piping. 

Of course, 9 months later the bit they hadn't replaced further back also died so I had to have that replaced
as well 🙂

Once the exhaust system starts going to generally going to die soon, its just a few pipes and boxes so not too
expensive to replace. Might be worth getting it done from the cats backwards in one go.

Depends how good a job you want to do.

A quick fix weld would sort it for a while, but an exhaust specialist can replace the dodgy connection.

I wouldn't go to lexus as they tend to sell the exhaust section as one piece so you end up buying a lot more than you need to.

I had similar on my 450h and was fixed for under £200

On 11/2/2021 at 5:54 AM, Riccccccardo said:

Yeah me I think I felt that less energy output on the pedal it made for a not enjoyable drive 😪

Nope, you shouldn't notice any difference, the onboard computer should deal with it for you, basically putting in 2% more fuel, so you shouldn't suffer any power loss at all.

Filled up with '95 E10 a few days ago and took it for a run out. No noticable different in performance or MPG. You ain't going to notice 2% 😉

On 11/2/2021 at 5:57 AM, Riccccccardo said:

Just to confirm what I think I already know it has only one electric motor? Yes the torque pull is nice this car was built for motorway drive very nice. 
 

ive been driving mainly in normal mode on motorway and the pull still feels nice with a gradual build up of power when needing to overtake. 

Nope, it has two, one will normally be reversed and acting as a generator however or locked stationary if solely running on electrics. The car has a few operating modes, switching from pure electric, to generating power from the petrol but just driving on the electrics, to using both to provide power, to using just the petrol and the electric just been used to draw needed power/balance the petrol for economy.