2007 Rx400h Jump Starting

[Gryphon]

I left the dome light on all night a last week and found a dead battery the next afternoon. I tried the usual jump-starging procedure I've used on may cars and had no success. The facts:

A. The "good" battery was fully charged.

B. The "good" vehicle was running at about 2000 RPMs.

C. My jumper cables are high quality and clean.

I first used the normal positive-to positive and negative-to-Lexus ground and got nothing--no sound, no clicking, no start. (I did later notice that the recommended ground point appears to be painted which may have given me a poor ground.)

I then tried a positive-to-positive and negative-to-negative (battery to battery), again with no result. Is it remotely possible that the Lexus is "smart enough" to know that this is not a recommended connection and disables the starter somehow?

Eventually I charged the vehicle with a conventional charger and it now runs fine. The problem is, I'd like to know that I can successfully jump start the vehicle away from home should I need to. What can I be missing on an extremely basic procedure?

FYI, the Lexus service writer and the "experienced senior tech" he consulted had no advice.

Tom

[w@ntonsoup]

Have you checked the manual? - jump starting is mentioned there.

[Gryphon]

Bump......

No one has had to jump start a RX400h? Ever?

Tom

[daloosh]

Bump......

No one has had to jump start a RX400h? Ever?

Tom

Just did last weekend. Shrink wrapping something to the roof rack, I turned the car on to open the windows to pass the shrink wrap thru. Headlights came on, and I forgot about them for awhile. My friend eventually turned off the car when we were mostly done. Fast forward an hour, when we're leaving, won't start.

But did exactly what you mentioned above, positive to positive, and negative to ground on the engine block, and the car went to "READY" immediately, and then the engine came on, and I left, without any further ado. Drove home on the highway, and it's been normal since.

daloosh

[stroked4.6]

Did you let the car with the good battery run for a few minutes to give the dead battery some charge or did you try right away?

With new cars its really not good to jump start cars this way. You should buy a battery booster and use this. Jump starting cars with cables running from one car to another was created when cars had little electronics, now you could fry and computer or damage other components by jump starting the conventional way. Your best bet is to buy the battery booster and use that. You wont even need another car if you use this.

[Wing]

Did you let the car with the good battery run for a few minutes to give the dead battery some charge or did you try right away?

With new cars its really not good to jump start cars this way. You should buy a battery booster and use this. Jump starting cars with cables running from one car to another was created when cars had little electronics, now you could fry and computer or damage other components by jump starting the conventional way. Your best bet is to buy the battery booster and use that. You wont even need another car if you use this.

Actually, the jump start process is normal. No special process required for hybrid vehicle. Both engine block and battery nagative terminal are good ground point for jump start.

You must see the "Ready" indication, it is a possible that no sound come from engine when you jump start. The engine do not rev due to the hybrid system feature.