Flashing Lexus On The Nav Screen

[skyfish400h]

A new behavior has cropped up at ~30k on my 400h.

While sitting in the car with the ignition in ACC postion (or so I thought, more on this later) the radio would cut out the dash would ficker, the NAV screen would flash the "Lexus" logo with sounds of relays switching somewhere behind the front seats.

When I turn the ignition to OFF and try to start the car it will not go to READY and displays the error that I"m not in Park "Shift to Park (P) to start the car", but the shifter is in Park. I even tried wiggling it. It seems if I hold key over inthe START position for long enough the system will boot to READY, but I fear the day when this trick doesn't work.

The other thing I've noticed is that the detent in the ignition switch to indicate the ACC position is notched and there are actually (2) detents right next to each other that both seem to function as the ACC postion. But I suspect that the right most detent, which is the first one it drops into when switching from ON to ACC (CCW rotation), is a false ACC postion and that some king of short is occuring that drains the 12V battey to the point where the system cannot remain booted.

Does any of this make sense to anyone?

Do I just need a new ignition swich of does everyone have the "false ACC" detent and is something else wrong?

[Jim Clark]

We've only had our 400h for about two weeks. Have not seen anything like that. Definitely sounds like there's something wrong with yours and it needs to go to the dealer.

[RX400h]

Does this have anything to do with the 3-ft high stream of water you drove through, last week? :chairshot:

Seriously, we've had our RX since April of 2005 and I've never seen anything like that. Please let us know what the dealership comes up with, and good luck!

[SOMEONE ELSE'S GOT MY NAME]

Do I just need a new ignition swich of does everyone have the "false ACC" detent and is something else wrong?

Are you asking BEFORE ? . . . or AFTER you took it in for a diagnostic. I'd have to (or SOMEONE's going to have to) hook it up to a scangauge to know what's going on. You're still under warranty, right? The hybrids keep a running log of what's going on, so let us know what the dealer sez. BTW there are currently NO TSB's similar to that issue, so fortunately what ever it is, it aint common. The log though, will only go back so far in time ... so if you just keep driving and driving, it may be possible for the original event to become so far back in history, that a diagnostic becomes tougher for the service tech. The dealer gives you a rental ... so ... Why are you waiting?

[BobC635]

We have the flashing screen as well.. It seems slow to establish the systems, making start delay much longer..We have a 2006 RX400H and it has been really problem free until now. Any responses to the flashing screen?

[RX400h]

Most likely it is a failing 12V battery. How old is your battery? If it's nearing or surpassing 5 years, it's time to replace it.

[VBdenny]

Sounds like a likely problem. Kind of forget that even hybrids need 12v batteries.