Hi All,
Great forum here with loads of helpful info.
Recently picked up a CPO 2008 RX-400h with 31,000 miles. I've noticed that while traveling in bumper to bumper traffic; once the hybrid battery drops to 2-purple bars, the ICE will turn on. This is presumably to charge the hybrid battery, however the energy monitor does not show this as happening.
It shows orange arrows from ICE to generator, orange arrows ICE to front wheels, and yellow arrows generator to wheels. Nothing goes to battery. It's strange that power would be "going to the wheels" when I'm standing on the brake. I've seen this happen multiple times. Once the vehicle begins to roll, then arrows direct toward the battery again in a stuttering back and forth dance. I've never been stationary long enough to see what would happen to the traction battery if I didn't move at all. Seems a bit weird.
Oddly, mimicking pieces of the ISC reset procedure, holding the brake and gas, WILL change the direction of arrows going into the battery while stopped and tick up a bar or two in about 15 seconds.
What seems odd is that during about a 15 minute traffic jam for a light, once the ICE came on to charge, it stayed on for about 10 minutes but didn't charge the hybrid battery at all. Average MPG dropped from 26-18 while I wasn't moving. Has anyone else experienced this have or any suggestions? Beyond this the car runs great and has no issues.
Thanks for any help!
gs.