Les Lex 2018

The OM manual for the RX 350 is OMOE119U and can be downloaded from drivers.lexus.com.  

Your manual covers U.S and Canadian models and points out the differences where necessary

By downloading the soft copy and doing computer searches in the soft copy pdf file you can go directly to all references concerning RSA.

It's a lot easier to do than paging thru a thick manual and you don't miss section that can help you find your answer.

You can go to the top search window of the pdf and pull down the arrow and select "Exact Phrase" and then type in "Except Canada". It will show all pages that contain that phrase.  Now you become an expert on all differences between the two versions.  On the ES 300, I see  5 pages with exceptions so it's easy to read them all and become an expert.  Thanks to Lexus for getting those downloads available so quick. 

My ES 300h HUD does not show stop signs.  But shows the speed limit and exact speed side by side.

The download was the answer to all my questions.

I'll probably go with the Michelin ENERGY SAVER A/S Green X / Low rolling resistance tire to make life a little easier on the electric motors.  Saving a few more pennies on gas is not important.

I do believe that there are better all around perfect tires out there that are not Green X, so it's a trade off, as usual.

What was surprising, Dave, was that the 10X  inside a wallet case still fits into that slot.

It's a snug fit but it fits.  In a roll-over, the phone would probably still be there at arms reach instead of in the back seat somewhere, or off in the ditch.

The width is 3.5 inches so your phone would fit.  The iPhone 10x slides in to depth of 2.5 inches, leaving 3.5 inches of screen exposed to the viewer.

To get to it, you open the trunk, roll back the carpet, open the trap door on the right side, and flip off the protective cover on the + terminal.

I have the type maintainer you mentioned but you still have the alligator clips exposed while it is clipped on the battery. You don't want to defeat the use of the protective cover so forget that setup. The clips would need to be replaced with crimp lugs and bolted to the post on the battery.

Then you still have to run the DC cord out of the trunk when you use the plug in adapter. I don't know if the trunk would close if you did run the cord out to the charger. So it's just enough of a hassle that I'm glad to see that I'll never need to use the maintainer.

The maintainer is still a good test tool. I used it on the RXs to see if the charger could go from red to green within 24 hours.  It does go green and that indicates that we have a truck battery that is near fully charged from the get go.

It's always good to know your test equipment and the capabilities of your electrical system.

The owner's manual for the ES 300 gives no specifications for their 12 volt battery. I had to get that information directly from the battery.

I'm happy with the current draw from the 2022.  Lexus, I heard, had a few problems with their DCM communication module staying on after the vehicle was turned off.  That was causing the battery to drain down quicker.  I am assured that that problem has been fixed.

I have a battery maintainer, Dave, but it's a PITA to install in the trunk and then remove - Great thing to have if that's what is needed.

Vehicle Battery: 20 hr / 60Ah / 563 Cold Cranking Amp, size measured = 9.5”L  6.25”W  7.5”H.  With power on ACC only (Hybrid drive still off) the ES draws the max 16.4 amps from the charger, even fully charged.  Actual current draw from the battery is undetermined.  The 2020 RX 350 has a similar battery, 582 CCA.

Acquired data used: 12.3v battery voltage is indicative of a battery at half charge, and 12v is considered dead.

12.6V volts or above is generally considered to be a fully charged battery, AKA Resting Voltage.

However- The car battery will still require 6 amps average for 30 minutes (3Ah) to get to the next level (AKA trickle charge level).

Result: the Lexus only charged up to 95% of its rated capacity of 60Ah (one amp for 60 hours), i.e. 57 Ah. That is typical practice.

13.3 volts when charged to a trickle charge level of 2.5 amps.

14.3 volts when actually charging and the trickle charge level is down to 2.5 amps. Discontinue charging immediately at that point.

14.7 volts is the voltage the vehicle uses to charge the battery. The battery will not stay at this voltage after power down, due to internal leakage, and the power being drawn by the vehicle while turned off and at rest.

ES300h Battery capacity / Drain test:

Step 1: Fully charge the trunk battery to 12.6 volts till it slows to a trickle charge of 2.5 amps.

Step 2: After a day and a half, repeat step 1 and integrate the current drawn vs. time required to reach trickle charge.

That comes out to 1.2Ah per day or 50 milli-amps per hour. That is not bad.

Based on the 60 Ah 12 volt battery, The ES could sit in the garage for 25 days before it drained the battery down to a half-charge of 30 Ah.

Since the 12 volt does not crank the engine (The Hybrid battery does that), the % capacity expected of the battery to allow the vehicle systems to function properly is uncertain, but certainly, is considerably lower than 50% battery capacity.

The above tests were performed with a late model Stanley, 15 Amp. charger with a built in volt meter.

Caveat:  With limited previous testing, there is some indication that short trips to local stores results in less than the typical full resting charge placed on the battery.  I’ll leave that testing to a later date. A 10 mile trip thru the suburbs resulted in a full charge on the battery as expected.  MPG was 46 MPG vs. 20 MPG in the RX 350 (same route).

Please reply(anyone) if your resulting data is significantly different.

I lost those.  The RX has them. The ES does not.  The door is half as long and does not pop open on hinges for easy access.

See what I gave up when I traded an RX, for an ES, Dave?

Yes, Dave, that's an exact pic of the console in my 300. you can see the hole for the trap door in the bottom of the one closest to the driver.

That is a water bottle or can holder.  The one  between the USB port and the track pad is a coffee cup holder - only 3 inches deep.

If the design has not changed, and you have two cupholders right next to each other, The book says to push down with your finger to change the depth to fit the bottle height.  To bring the floor back up, push the button between the two cup holders.

What's interesting about the new ES300h, is that one of the cup holders has a trap door in the bottom. You reach in and flip it open and the 16 oz water bottle drops down to a depth of 6 full inches.  Then the trap door has rubber fingers on it that hold the bottle from rattling. The 2nd cupholder next to the CD player has the same problem you ran into. It's 3 inches deep and 3 inches wide. and no way to make it deeper.  Sunglasses, maybe? Or a styrofoam coffee cup maybe?

WelI, Dave, I was hoping for a set of Michelin tires on my 2022 ES, but heard I wasn't going to be real lucky.

They turned out to be Bridgestone Turanza EL440s - The absolute worst Dog-Chit tire ever put on a car.  

Tire Rank: 54th place out of 57 tires. 

Lexus - The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection

Couple of hints, Angie: If your are wondering around on the rural highways at 55, you will register 48 MPG, once the car is warmed up. For the first 5 - 6 miles, your MPG is no better than a non-hybrid. So short drives on a cold engine do not cut it.

Once you hit the interstate (we call I-565 the Kamikaze run) the MPG drops to 35 MPG or there about.

Now do this: Take your ride to a quiet street.  Make sure the H-Bat is fully charged. Put it in H-Bat-only. and start your drive slowly.  You should get about one mile away on the H-Bat before it forces the engine on due to low bat. I got one mile on the new hybrid.

Put this info in your manual.  Couple years down the road, try the same thing again and note how far you were able to drive.  Don't be upset if you don't make it to the same point.  The H-bat may be degrading, but that is normal and may not effect MPG.

The hybrid loves HOT running weather.  Colder the weather - MPG falls off.  

I will be testing the 2022 for the same benchmarks that the 2012 was put thru.  And I don't expect to see much improvement over the 2012. Surprises are alway welcome.

Nice looking car.  Are you happy with the gas milage?  My 12 Camry H (same drive train) has a NiMH battery. It met EPA of 41 all the time.

The new ones use the Lithium ion for U.S. cars, but still use the NiMH for those built for Canada.

Thanks for helping out Wayne, who did not respond to the help.  We need more people like you, willing to spend the time to help with real-time, experience-based advice, (Tex?).

Welcome back to the Lexus forum, Brenden.  I have followed your comments so far.  Sounds like you are happy to be back and driving an ES.

Most of my cars (Toyotas) have come from the Georgetown plant and I've had no problems with them. Ontario RXs have been just as good.

This video sold me on the ES 300h and ES 350 line-up.  An eminent pearl white hybrid w/cream interior, for the Mrs., should be in by Saturday.

I study all of his videos.  I do apologies if you have already seen this one.

He also talks about the past history of the "Transmission hunting problem" in the 350, and claims it's or was more of a distraction than a real problem.

I meant that the cost of the battery replacement is 5 to 6 thousand to replace.

The e-CVT drive train has been around for over 10 years, and I did not hesitate to throw down for a 2nd hybrid.  The hybrid's drive battery performance starts degrading immediately and over time, but you would not notice that because the built in capacity of the battery to do what it's required to do is great enough that you would not notice that until the degradation is so bad that MPG falls off and eventually, the battery goes dead.  It has a good warrantee.

 Cost of a new one?  About 5 to 6 grand, unless you can find one used. All kind of videos on You-Tube to help you make your decision.  Suggestion: Get a quote from you insurance before jumping to a hybrid. You may need to know the difference in insurance rates between an RX 350 and an RX 450h.

Dave can tell you a heck of a lot more about the 450h.  I never owned one.

Sound like they hold their value a little better now.

My agent called me this afternoon.  He did a comparison.

ES-350 Luxury is 46k vs. 52k for an ES300h. An additional 6k to add Hybrid drive to the same vehicle style.  The hybrid adds 13% to the cost.

ES300h ins was a $150 increase vs. $34 increase for the ES350.

Agent claims that the Hybrid costs more to insure than the ES 350.

With gas near 5 a gallon, it’s still possible that the hybrid will pay its own way.  But no more turning off the RX at long lights and gridlock traffic. We can even go thru the drive-thru again, without looking like gas hogs.

I swear I have never gone thru a drive-thru in an RX.  And I’m not even a Global Warming junkie.

They still owe me a breakdown to justify the increase. I'm expecting that next week.  I suspect they will say repair costs are higher due to three motor generators, an Inverter, and big Hybrid battery.  All else being the same.  Thanks, Dave.

If my RX or the ES are totaled out, the cost of replacing either one is exactly the same.

But

If it is heavy damage, the Hybrid will be more expensive to repair, I suspect.

I'll also request a bid for an RX450h+ and a Rav4 Prime.  That should tell us the full story.

Another pre-sold ES300h came in today in HSV and I got to sit in one finally. Yes, now I can reach the center display without leaning forward.

My 300h is only 3 serial #s from the one that just arrived here.  So I expect I'll be taking delivery next week in Birmingham.

Just jumping from an RX 350 to a ES300h, (same sticker price) my car insurance went up 25%.  The agent then closed by saying "Have a nice day", LOL!.

That alone killed a bunch of MPG gains going from 22 MPG city to 43.

I found an LC 500 for you in Montgomery for 104,000, Dave. Sorry, no hybrid!  

The 2012 Camry h had a similar gear selector  config.  Coming down from the 12,000 foot level at the Rocky Mountain National Park, CO visitor's center, down to about the 6000 foot base of the mountain, and bumper-to-bumper tourist traffic, being able to lock in a selector gear was priceless. Without it, the brakes would have been smoking, baby...  Will I take the LS300h up to the 12,000 foot level for a shake-down?  Probably not - Once was enough...

Good points Dave!

I took my notes and did a report explaining all the modes of operation and how they work.

When I got my first Hybrid 10 years ago, I knew nothing about it and found no resources.

When the car started to move there was always a jolt coming from the car and I actually thought it was an old style starter motor doing that.

Dummy Me!  NO clue...

IF you have ever seen the ugly Inside of an automatic transmission (Torque converter / bands / clutches / gears), you could easily come the the conclusion that the Direct Drive Hybrid transmission is simple, easier to repair and has fewer parts.

I had to watch it about 5 times over several months and take a lot of notes before I could figure out how and why it works.

No telling how much the unit costs to the manufacturer.  Not a clutch in the darn thing.  John also does one on the rear motor which is a lot simpler.

PHD - John Kelley builds up the Toyota P710 transmission piece by piece to show you why it is the best transaxle on the market. It drives the Lexus ES300h.