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riwyle

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About riwyle

  • Birthday 01/01/2006

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  • Lexus Model
    rx400h

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  1. My 06 400h was making the same sound. I found a service bulletin addressing this noise, issued by Lexus, and since the vehicle was under warrantee they fixed it as a warrantee item. I don't recall the steps but it required connecting their analyser and cycling the brake system.
  2. These are billing hours (that which you are charged), not actual work hours which can be greater or, more often I believe, lesser. The dealer will say this system creates fairness for both parties, but I believe the estimates greatly favor the dealer. As far as I know, all dealers use this flat rate system.
  3. 2006 RX400h Check engine light came on. Read codes $7EA and $7E8. I have never seen these codes or this code format before and cannot find their meaning.. I was able to clear them with my scan tool. Have not again appeared. My scan tool instruction book mentions numbers of similar format, $01 through $09 defining a mode for diagnostic requests, with 7 being a particular data byte 7, and response data being at 7 plus 64 (thus 71 for this mode). Can anyone with OBDII knowlege tell me what these codes mean and/or what is meant by Mode? Help appreciated. RI Wyle
  4. Have you tried to pin down the source of the sound with a mechanic's stethoscope? You can get one from Harbor Freight for less than $5.
  5. Would Driving with dripping engine do any permanent damage to the car? No.
  6. No different than a non-hybrid. I assume the system now has air in it, so you will need to evacuate it with a vacuum pump before re-charge..
  7. That article is deceptive. As your intake air flow decreases due to an air filter that is getting more and more clogged, engine power decreases. To accelerate as briskly as you are accustomed to and assuming you did not somehow decrease the weight of your vehicle, a steeper throttle tip-in is required, resulting in GREATER fuel consumption. A good example is an air compressor. If you slowly restrict intake air flow, output pressure is reduced. Now, if you could increase the motor speed to compensate for the diminished output, power consumption would increase. Anyone who tells you it would not needs to retake physics. Cduluk, knowing your driving style, I'd say it's a sure thing that replacing your air filter restored power, allowing you to ease up on the gas pedal, thus reducing your gas consumption. A dirty air filter only affects performance at wide open throttle. Before that, the engine doesn't care where the air flow restriction is, be it the throttle valve or the air filter- in this case a summation of each. The mass air flow value determines fuel flow, not the position of the throttle vavle. Try this experiment: Restrict your air intake flow by 75% and then regularly drive aggressively, as does Cduluk. Continue this type of driving for one tankful and don't forget those occasional but brief full-throttle runs on hills and on the highway. Now measure your fuel consumption and report back to us. I think it's safe to say that you will experience what Cduluk had when his air filter was severely restricted. You are correct- if it is a vehicle with a carburated engine. Anything that chokes the intake air, either a manual choke being left partly closed or a very dirty air filter, will increase the fuel/air ratio causing it to run fuel rich. This is because pressure is lowered in the carburator venturi compared to the same unchoked air flow causing the jets to supply an increased fuel flow increasing F/A ratio lowering gas mileage. But modern cars, in the US since mid eighties, use computer controlled fuel injectors and no longer have the fuel flow or F/A ratio affected by any choking of inlet air due to any reason, be it dirty air filter or closing of the throttle valve. Required fuel flow is determined by mass air flow measured by the mass air flow sensor, trimmed by feedback from the O2 sensors. Therefore extremely blocked air filter can greatly affect power available at WOT but will not affect efficiency (mileage) at any condition. In fact it would force Cduluk to drive more conservatively increasing his fuel mileage. I realize this may seem counterintuitive, but if you do a complete system analysis using physics (conservation of energy), chemistry(combustion), thermodynamics and feedback control theory you cannot but come to this same conclusion. Although I don't always believe everything the goverment says, their webside fueleconomy.gov states this same fact. Also your analogy to a compressor is not valid since the compressor uses energy transferred from a gas engine or electric motor to increase air pressure and if you think it through you will see it is a completely different system than air passing through an air filter, throttle body and throttle valve.
  8. That article is deceptive. As your intake air flow decreases due to an air filter that is getting more and more clogged, engine power decreases. To accelerate as briskly as you are accustomed to and assuming you did not somehow decrease the weight of your vehicle, a steeper throttle tip-in is required, resulting in GREATER fuel consumption. A good example is an air compressor. If you slowly restrict intake air flow, output pressure is reduced. Now, if you could increase the motor speed to compensate for the diminished output, power consumption would increase. Anyone who tells you it would not needs to retake physics. Cduluk, knowing your driving style, I'd say it's a sure thing that replacing your air filter restored power, allowing you to ease up on the gas pedal, thus reducing your gas consumption. A dirty air filter only affects performance at wide open throttle. Before that, the engine doesn't care where the air flow restriction is, be it the throttle valve or the air filter- in this case a summation of each. The mass air flow value determines fuel flow, not the position of the throttle vavle.
  9. Always look at the bright side. Even if you have to spend the $200 or more, ( may be less at a Toyota dealer), you are still way ahead of those who spent $2000 or more for the extended warranty.
  10. Never believe a man when it comes to the size of the fish he caught or the gas mileage he obtains. I just laugh at some of these claims.
  11. In re-reading my answer, I see I said highest gear ratio when I should have said lowest gear ratio. The answer is still basically the same, except the faster you are going the higher the gear ratio with a fixed engine speed. I wish ther were an engine tach on the car to see engine speed at very high car speed. RiWyle
  12. Based on how the Hybrid Synergy Drive works, there is not a simple, straightforward, answer to your question. The simplist but not complete answer is that, since the HSD tries to operate the ICE in its most efficient speed range (1500-2000 rpm) then obviously the highest gear ratio would be at the lowest speed which allows this engine speed. If you are not familiar with how the Hybrid Synergy Drive controls the planetary gear set and two motor-generators to work as a power split device, and if you are interested in getting a better answer to your question, I would suggest reading the Wikipedia article on Hybrid Synergy Drive. RiWyle
  13. I don't think the brake light switch would have any control over when power is sent to the electric motors. I'm thinking it could be the stroke sensor, speed sensor, throttle position sensor, transmission range sensor etc. - likely some combination of all of that and more. In this particular case, since stepping harder on the brake pedal makes the power stop, maybe it's related to the stroke sensor in the brake pedal? It's funny you should mention that because I'm still having an issue with that "farting" noise when I depress the brake pedal all the way. It seems to happen more when the outside temperatures are low, but I'm not sure what's causing it. I wonder if these issues are related? Do you guys think this is worth showing the dealer? If it's happening to some of you too then it might be "normal", but still, it's odd. Had the same two years ago. There is a TSIB on it. Might be BR 003-07. Looking at the paper work, it appears they tried the bleeding procedure shown in BR003-07, were not successful, so they replaced the ABS actuator Assy . Have not had a problem since. Here is a link http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_id=12936
  14. Thank goodness it wasn't a child. I had gotten careless about looking at the backup camera and recently while backing out of a parking place I hit a car that was backing out of spot behind me. I found there is a slight delay between putting the car in reverse and the camera activating so got in a hurry and start backing immediately. I now force myself look at the camera image every time so it becomes a habit..
  15. That is the standard convention in stating mileage in countries using the metric system.
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