Boosh.

It sounds like that fault has been sorted. But, if the original problem does come back, then in the 'Toyota hybrid world' these symptoms (as well as pointing at the 12v battery) would suggest a possible traction battery cooling fan problem, usually a build up of dust or dog hair in the fan blades. This problem gets more apparent on warmer days, or hilly terrain, or stop/start traffic. But this is rather a lot of conjecture on my part - I don't know much about the RX450h!

I think some of the popularity of Japanese cars as targets is because those companies' production engineering abilities have made the size and type of fasteners very uniform, and the access better than their European counterparts. An absence of Torx or multiple-spline fasteners, for instance, means that a favoured cordless drill/driver with a 14mm socket fitted, will do for a lot of the work the filth get involved with on the Japanese cars. (And a cordless angle grinder or saw of course.) The sprung-loaded bolts in the OP's pictures are exactly the same ones as fitted to all Prius, Auris, Yaris, Corolla etc.etc. So no nasty surprises for these thieves when the working how to get the cat. off - if you are under a car you don't want to start experimenting with what tools you need, I'd guess. I used to visit Johnson Matthey occasionally with work. They make 30% of the world's car catalytic converters. The cat. technology is constantly evolving they said, and they are always managing to develop 'wash coats' with less precious metals in them to treat their ceramic cores. So old catalysts will have more precious metal in them than newer ones. I did wonder, but the people I was meeting at JM couldn't answer (wrong department), if the hybrid catalyst was bigger than normal, and thus more valuable. This I suspected, might be on account of these cats working outside of their optimum performance temperatures (which is around 600 centigrade, IIRC), due to the stop/start nature of the engine. I'm still working on that one, and JM don't make cats for Toyotas.... I think on modern petrol engines, the cold start warm-up cycle (esp. the higher revs!) is partly to get heat into the catalyst to bring the emissions down ASAP, as I understand it anyway, especially four cylinder engines with tuned, four-branch manifolds (for economy or performance), which then have the cat. a distance from the engine, and more easily stolen. This is also design problem from a cat. heating point of view. I think on the Toyota hybrids (and other cars) the cold start ignition timing is deliberately retarded (during hybrid phase S1a?) so that the gas going down the exhaust is hotter, even sometimes with some unburnt fuel in it, so that can land on the cat. and get it up to temperature fast. On the hybrid Toyota Yaris, new and old, the catalyst is integral to the exhaust manifold (some call this a manicat), Thefts of these car's catalyst are almost completely unknown - you would have to work bonnet-up and underneath on this one, I think. I suspect this has gone a bit off-topic, and not much to do with Tameside...whoops! Stay safe!

As far as I can tell (input to the contrary welcome!), if the 12 volt battery is inside the car passenger compartment or boot, then it is fitted with an AGM battery from the factory (to minimize acid spill risk in the event of an accident etc.). So far, that 'rule' follows for the hybrid models of CT200h, Auris, Yaris, Prius, Corolla, C-HR and from what I've spotted, cars on this forum too. The latest Prius, hybrid Corolla and C-HR, for example, now have their batteries under the bonnet (a physically smaller inverter allows space for this), and don't have AGM batteries. I can't see why the Lexus models would need to be different here. With regards the subject of this thread and disconnecting the battery when charging, I notice that when in 'reconditioning mode' the CTEK chargers use a 15.8 volt spike to rejuvenate the battery, and I think I've seen 16.5 volts quoted on other makes of chargers in the same mode. This particular mode will only rarely used, hopefully. But what will the vehicle's electronics make of that voltage? Probably nothing at all, I think. Anyone else have any opinions on that?

Exactly, measuring the current drain is painfully involved. But, the figures I've mentioned have been taken with a DC current clamp meter, so very straightforward and no dismantling of wiring needed at all These meters used to be expensive, but a model came out a few years back at a fraction of the price (although it's gone up £10 in the last month, I wonder why?) - a UNI-T 210E. The build is only ok, and the ergonomics are only ok, too (it's a bit too slender and small, but then it has to be for its role), but the DC current clamp is great! It was £30 a few years back, but it's around £50 now, I notice. It's sensitivity means that it needs careful re-zeroing (a button press) in use, but that's inevitable given the physics of the device! You can just place this over the battery earth lead (it has to be a single conductor that is being measured), or the large battery feed into the fuse box, or anywhere else convenient. AC current meters have been cheaply available for ages - it's the DC range that sets this model apart. I have no links with the company or its sellers - I just like seeing how things work!

Yes, that's it. The top part of the page is what I was mentioning, but on some Toyotas, you can configure the car so that it defaults to that 'lower power' mode immediately, rather than having to wait for the car to do it after some (albeit quite small) battery discharge has taken place. Also, it's a small potential saving, but every time you walk closely past your car with your 'Keyless entry' keys in your pocket, the car's computers 'wake up' (in anticipation of you getting in, I'd guess) and the interior lights turn on. It can be another 20 minutes before all the computers go back to 'sleep' and into the previous 50mA drain mode. For some people this could be an easily avoidable battery drain. On the lower part of that page, as you almost certainly know, that mode is for saving the CR2032 button call (or whatever) in your key fob, and this helps prevent your car from being 'key-cloned' if you are not already storing your keys in some sort of Faraday cage when parked, of course, and it will stop the 12v battery drain that I've mentioned happening in my paragraph 2, when the key fob is in that mode. 'Teacher', 'eggs' and 'suck' is springing to mind in this answer! Hopefully, not all of it.

Hi, I have no idea if any Lexus owners have experimented with this, but, on recent Toyota hybrid cars, where 'keyless entry' is featured, that option can be turned off via a dashboard menu or even Techstream. I have an idea that after approximately a week of complete inactivity, some models will actually do something similar to automatically save battery power. From measurements I've seen, the quiescent loading on the battery is reduced from about 50mA to about 30mA when this keyless entry function is disabled. But, in doing this, the keyless 'Start' button function is also disabled, so the ignition key fob has to be held against the 'stop/start' button for the key to be recognised when the button is pressed, and this is not always instant as it usually is - several attempts are often needed. The keyfob door lock 'open/close' buttons work as before with this keyless option set to off. I have no idea what this option is called on Lexus dash menus or Techstream. On a Toyota I think it might be labelled as 'Auto entry cancel SW', or similar, at least it is when viewed through the Techstream configuration menu. Perhaps this information is of some use to eke out your 12v battery charge when your car is not being used?

Hi, I can't back this up with any links etc., but on forums I have read, just a few Prius owners who have had non-OEM cats fitted have subsequently suffered slightly lower mpg, or less frequently, engine management lights intermittently coming on. Sometimes these owners have gone the non-OEM route through cost, sometimes because the Toyota parts are only available on a lead time of several months or more. There may be many happy aftermarket cat. owners, but they don't post on forums. There does seem to be a consensus on other forums (originating from where? I'm not sure) that thieves are less interested in aftermarket catalysts. As far as I can see, this problem is happening in the UK, Eire and the USA, but I never see any mention of it on a forum visited that is based in mainland Europe. except just once, on a Prius gen2, in Marseille. Believe it or not, those prices have likely been reduced in the last couple of years, and are probably offered "with no profit" going to Toyota GB/Lexus according to Toyota GB. That is certainly the case for those parts and services in the Toyota 'world'. The genuine cat. exhaust part for an Auris (and the same for a Prius) has come down over the last two years as part of Toyota's response to the problem. The current prices for those parts is around a half to three-fifths what it was before. Your price for the CT repair is broadly in line with those prices. The Catloc price for your CT from the dealer is exactly the same as the 'fixed price' (which some main agents do not adhere to, note!) for any Catloc supplied and fitted to Prius gen 2, gen 3, and Auris gen1 and gen2. So none of the usual uplift on prices for Lexus owners. You probably know, the 'Catloc' from Lexus/Toyota is a brand name of a specific product, there are plenty of much simpler products on eBay which are similarly named, but with 'Catlok' or similar as a generic description for a protective plate. HTH Sadly, I think that all these security measures can, ultimately, be defeated given enough time - you are relying on these scumbags deciding that they can get easier pickings somewhere else. Somebody with a cordless saw or angle grinder with a decent quality blade can cut through steel quite easily, eventually. And on the CT200/Prius/Auris the exhaust is quite accessible to them.

Hi, For the Prius, Auris etc., and I am quite certain the CT too, the usual access is from either side of the car (neither side is easier than the other), but, although not the preferred route, the cat. can be removed simply through jacking up the front of the car But then scumbag/filth/lowlife has to crawl further underneath the car, so as to gain access to the two 'critical' areas that have to be unbolted (the manifold joint), and cut (between the 1st and 2nd resonator/exhaust silencer box). So, preventing access to the rear of the car will not do anything to hinder them - it's all about the side area under the front doors and front of the car. Parking nose in, or sandwiched between two other parked cars is the best bet, if you can do it! Or parking on soft ground so their trolley jack sinks. Just as background, I don't own a CT200h, or any other Lexus for that matter. But we very nearly bought a couple of CT200h in the past, and many years ago I almost bought an LS430 and some others. I browse this forum from time to time just out of interest to see 'what's what'. We currently have two hybrid Aurises (and a 20 year old Corolla!) in the household, these Aurises have a great deal of commonality in the engine and exhaust system of the CT200h, as Im sure you know. I have spent a while looking at this cat. theft problem, discussing it with a local scrap metal merchant (who detests the whole theft situation, and is entirely trustworthy!), and helping a local owner try to get his cat-stolen Prius sorted out. HTH.

...As per this picture. The end if the pipe is shown with red arrows (air flow), the intake pipe itself is has a red star on it. The strange regular holes in the intake pipe are there to reduce intake noise, I would think, I don't know if these holes, and the fibrous lining underneath, would allow water to pass through. Some of the irregular shaped black boxes that are adjacent to the 'starred' pipe are 'resonators', I think these are to reduce unwanted harmonics, to improve refinement. Happy to be corrected on any of this, of course! HTH

This post is probably a little late, but anyway... The engine air intake is, basically, behind the driver's side headlamp. It's not a low set pipe, but as the above have said, I wouldn't care to try out flooded areas if there was any sort of choice!