For many with these vehicles the 12V battery has been a week link. I love my 400h, however many have reported early problems with the OEM battery. Once it goes completely dead it may never be reliable. I would have it checked for the ablility to hold a charge and its general health. Have the dealer replace it if its questionable. Also more importantly any time your 12V battery goes dead make sure the dealer reprograms your 400h. You may notice lower than average gas mileage until this is done. Believe it or not non functioning items like the sunroof and the windows are a symptom of a bad battery in this lexus.
I have not noticed any changes in Mileage, but all the radio presets and Avg MPG in the energy menu have been resetted. Do you really think it needs to be reprogrammed? And if so what do they reprogram?
Interestingly enough, my 06 cruise works great on the hills on I44 in SW Missouri. MPG is poor to say the least, but the cruise is good. Strange Lexus is saying that is functioning as designed (FAD). I don't think there is an engineer anywhere that would do that on purpose.
A major national newspaper would like to interview those who recently purchased a new Mercedes ML or a Lexus RX/400H. Please respond to jfallon@edmunds.com before Wednesday, March 1, 2006 with your daytime contact info and a few words about the model you chose.
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I just had the Auxiliary battery replaced at the dealer, they put 84 month 500 Cold Cranking Amp battery, i wanted to find out what CCA came from the factory if any one has a RX 400h that has not had the Auxiliary battery replaced by the dealer.
Well, Lexus installed the battery, and 8 yr warranty plus Lexus extended warranty to 100k, hope fully downconverter is covered item.
One other note.
They did reprogram something which made the rear power windows work from the driver's door switch as well as the roof which started to function properly
just got a new 400H. one of the scary things the salesman said is that if you run out of gas, you cannot just add gas, restart and carry on...the car has to be towed to the dealer. did not find any such statement in the manual.
anyone has any experience or info?
btw, love the car, rides great, a couple unusual feelings and noises but we were prepared as had read about them in this forum
I have a 2 month old 400h with 2K miles on it and today the rear door would not open electrically, rather it stuttered and made a grinding noise and then stopped after a few seconds. It did this 3 times but later in the day it worked OK. it could always be opened manually. Any one with a similar problem/solution?
it is true that you do not want to run out of gas with this vehicle. what will happen is you have three chances to start the car after running out of gas. if it does not start after the third time, it will electronically shut down to protect the main battery. it then will have to be towed to the dealer to be reset and started. the reason for this is to prevent people from operating the car on electric only when there is no gas in the tank and the engine cannot run to support the battery. toyota is preventing you from possibly ruining the main battery and needing expensive replacement. also for most cars the fuel pump is in the gas tank and fuel surrounding the pump keeps it cool. when you run very low consistently in can cause you to need to replace that pump sooner. when the low fuel light on the dash lights up, you have about three gallons left. i used to be one of those who ran low on fuel before filling up. i dont do that with this vehicle.
Only 500 miles on my 400 so I have not gone back to the dealer yet. Before I do, I wanted to check if anyone else has experienced this.
At speeds over 30 MPH there is s noise coming from the back that sounds a little like a metallic fluttering. I thought it might be a tag or something loose underneath, but nothing found. With someone in the back seat to help listen, it seems to be narrowed down to coming from under the seat, which would mean possibly something in the battery area. Could it be something with the battery ventilation operation? Anyone else have a similar experience? At speeds above 60 the road noise takes over and most of the time I cannot hear it. So I know, the solution is to drive fast!
On our Highlander the license plate was fluttering. On the RX400 the latches for the self retracting cover were rattling. Took a while to find both. For the latches, just push them down into the latched position when the cover is not installed.
It took my more flexible son contorted in the luggage area of my 400h to find this same rattle. It's exactly what you found and repositioning the latches stopped a noise that drove me nuts for an entire 4 mo vacation trip!! Told my dealer, but they seemed amazed like no one else had ever complained about it.
Just got my RX back from the dealer yesterday. I brought it in for (among other things) the same issue. Mine turned out to be an exhaust system heat shield under the vehicle, which I suspected originally. That's why you hear it from the battery vents: the soundproofing probably isn't as thick there. They "made an adjustment" and now the sound is gone!
Is there any chance you can provide contact information for the dealer that fixed this? My RX400 does exactly the same thing and beyond adding some insulation on the battery vent sheet metal they have not been able to identify the problem. Maybe I can get them to call your dealer. The battery did ratle, but the main noise changes with the wind so I knew it wasn't the only problem.
No problem. It's Hoffman Lexus in East Hartford CT. Their web site is http://nitra.lexusdealer.com/hoffman/en_US/. While I was there I asked them to do the ISC learing procedure, since my mileage was only averaging about 21.5 mpg with mixed city/highway driving. They did the procedure and my mileage increased by approx. 2 mpg. I noticed that the electric motors run a lot more now, especially once the engine heats up. Good luck with your issue!
that if the need for the catalyst being kept up to temperature is the reason the ICE needs to be run more often/longer than otherwise why not provide a good insulation jacket for the catalyst such that it does not cool so rapidly.
The only shortcoming I can see would be the possiblity of overheating the catalyst when the ICE is REQUIRED to run continuously. Seemingly that problem could be easily overcome via the activation of a blower system to reduce the overheating probability.
More weight and complexity but that would be more than overcome by the improvement in FE.
Thanks for the great info Andy! I went to the dealer to pick up my registration paperwork (things are a little different in Florida) and I was going to have them look at the noise. On the way there, I could not hear the noise, so I didn't take it to service dept. Of course on the way back on the turnpike, there was the noise. So I followed your information and sure enough, the heat shield. It is just thin metal and is secure on the outboard side. On the inboard side it flexes and is close enough to the underside of the car that certain wind conditions cause it to flutter and make the noise. I bent it down slightly and no more noise. When I take it in for first service I will see if they have something to make it more secure. If they don't have it, sounds like (OK, pun intended) they need a service bulletin on the problem.
From what we can tell after a few days of driving the car in high wind conditions the dealer fixed this noise. It ws the heat shield. Thanks for your help convincing them I wasn't nuts since they did not hear it in their noisy wind free city location.
Please do call Lexus. I have been dealing with a gal at Lexus and they are the ones that wanted a return test drive with the service manager and then the district manager. When this started, they told me on several occasions that I was the only one with this issue. They need to hear and have it docummented that other people are having this same issue. To date, they are unable to provide solutions. If I had felt this on a test drive-of which they did not have a 400h to test drive, I would not have ordered. When I did return with 500 miles, they told me there was a solution in the works--hope it just wasn't to get me past the 30 days when I could have returned the car.
Keep us all posted! I don't want to sell the car as a used car within 6 months of purchase.
I have also had this problem. Acquired my vehicle in 7/05 and thought it was just the heat of the summer and the A/C. However, since the winter months and not using the A/C but using the heater, the smell is still there. It smells like hot water musty and moldy. I have had it in the Lexus dealership at least 4 times since I purchased and they still cannot find the source. We tried the A/C recirculation button on and off...it did not make a difference. We have asked our dealer for a replacement vehicle since this is definately a defective car.
During this last visit to the dealer they provided me with a loaner 400H with 25,000 miles and it did not have the smell. I would prefer to stay with the hybrid engine if it is just my car that is the lemon. But, it sounds like they do not have all the bugs out of the hybrid engine yet.
We had this happened twice. The first time the vehicle would not start after it occurred and had to be towed in, when they examined it they could not find any problem. It re occurred a few days after we got it back, but it went out after the car turned on that time. We have also had two defective stereo systems, a faulty rear hatch door and are getting frustrated
I feel (just a feeling) that my 400H's engine runs too frequently and the gas mileage is only about 23 but don't have any gear chattering. The car was at dealer's lot for a couple months before deliver, won't be surprised if they jumped it but did not do an ISC. Do you know what the correct idle speed should be or any way to find it out?
I have a 400h with 21000 Miles on it and have never had a single problem with the "stuttering" mentioned. Very smooth ride. And, as far as the dealer cost for an oil change, the Annapolis Lexus dealer will even pick up your car from your home or office and bring it back to you. My husband and I just call and make an appointment for service and reserve a loaner (free) and go about our business. They call us on our cell phone when they are finished. We have free car washes for life, and they always wash it when serviced. They are always friendly and punctual. We have no problems with them...
I know about Lexus Personalized settings, but having recently bought an RX 400h I noticed on Page 44 of the manual that the Automatic Door Locking/Unlocking functions are user settable.
But after trying the procedure (ignition ON, move gear lever to "N", within 10 seconds hold down door lock for 5 seconds) I wasn't able to change it to "lock on vehicle speed".
Anyone else tried this and is there a special trick to getting it to work?
No doubt you've noticed new discussions popping up all over the forums. What's happening is that we are closing large, generic discussions like this one and creating smaller dicussions that focus on different aspects or issues concerning the vehicle.
When you are ready to post, please check the dicussion list here at the main Lexus RX 400h Group page to find the appropriate discussion to post in. Should you have an issue or question that doesn't seem to fit an existing discussion, please feel free to start up a new one.
Thanks for your understanding and help in making this group a great source of info!
Comments
I have not noticed any changes in Mileage, but all the radio presets and Avg MPG in the energy menu have been resetted. Do you really think it needs to be reprogrammed? And if so what do they reprogram?
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Find me at kirstie_h@edmunds.com - or send a private message by clicking on my name.
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Review your vehicle
The 12 volt battery in your RX400 is kept charged via a voltage downconverter/inverter from the hybrid battery.
Too much battery loading, battery too big, might destroy the downconverter.
One other note.
They did reprogram something which made the rear power windows work from the driver's door switch as well as the roof which started to function properly
anyone has any experience or info?
btw, love the car, rides great, a couple unusual feelings and noises but we were prepared as had read about them in this forum
At speeds over 30 MPH there is s noise coming from the back that sounds a little like a metallic fluttering. I thought it might be a tag or something loose underneath, but nothing found. With someone in the back seat to help listen, it seems to be narrowed down to coming from under the seat, which would mean possibly something in the battery area. Could it be something with the battery ventilation operation?
Anyone else have a similar experience?
At speeds above 60 the road noise takes over and most of the time I cannot hear it. So I know, the solution is to drive fast!
jc
The only shortcoming I can see would be the possiblity of overheating the catalyst when the ICE is REQUIRED to run continuously. Seemingly that problem could be easily overcome via the activation of a blower system to reduce the overheating probability.
More weight and complexity but that would be more than overcome by the improvement in FE.
I went to the dealer to pick up my registration paperwork (things are a little different in Florida) and I was going to have them look at the noise. On the way there, I could not hear the noise, so I didn't take it to service dept. Of course on the way back on the turnpike, there was the noise.
So I followed your information and sure enough, the heat shield. It is just thin metal and is secure on the outboard side. On the inboard side it flexes and is close enough to the underside of the car that certain wind conditions cause it to flutter and make the noise. I bent it down slightly and no more noise. When I take it in for first service I will see if they have something to make it more secure.
If they don't have it, sounds like (OK, pun intended) they need a service bulletin on the problem.
jc
However, this still would not help the short trips, since the converter still has to warm up for the first time...
Keep us all posted! I don't want to sell the car as a used car within 6 months of purchase.
Thanks
During this last visit to the dealer they provided me with a loaner 400H with 25,000 miles and it did not have the smell. I would prefer to stay with the hybrid engine if it is just my car that is the lemon. But, it sounds like they do not have all the bugs out of the hybrid engine yet.
And by the way unless you're really diligent about turning the A/C off it normally operates all the time.
Thanks,
ke2fe
http://www.alldata.com/tsb/Lexus/1118214000000_1129878000000_EG010-05/index.html-
But after trying the procedure (ignition ON, move gear lever to "N", within 10 seconds hold down door lock for 5 seconds) I wasn't able to change it to "lock on vehicle speed".
Anyone else tried this and is there a special trick to getting it to work?
thanks.
For example, here in the Lexus RX 400h Group youwill now find:
Lexus RX 400h Test Drive - What Did You Think?
New Lexus RX 400h Owners - Give Us Your Report
New Lexus RX 400h Engine Problems
RX 400h Navigation/Bluetooth Issues
Changes You'd Like To See in the Lexus RX 400h
Lexus RX 400h Brake Issues
Lexus RX 400h: Driving Tips & Tricks
Lexus RX 400h Transmission Questions
Lexus RX 400h Tire/Wheel Questions
Lexus RX 400h Suspension/Steering Issues
Lexus RX 400h: MPG-Real World Numbers
to mention a few of the new discussions.
When you are ready to post, please check the dicussion list here at the main Lexus RX 400h Group page to find the appropriate discussion to post in. Should you have an issue or question that doesn't seem to fit an existing discussion, please feel free to start up a new one.
Thanks for your understanding and help in making this group a great source of info!