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rgibson

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Everything posted by rgibson

  1. In the over 27,000 miles I put on my car - I have yet to get all of the charge bars in green... Maybe someday I'll see it if someone ever come out with a plug-in conversion kit for this car. When towing at highway speed, at least for me, I have more power draw going up hill then reclaimed going downhill to maintain a safe speed, plus with the power draw from AC, air drag from the trailer, etc. So I haven't gotten to that point. Also with the braking downhill (or anytime for that matter) - if you lightly hold pressure on the brake petal - you get (perceived) about 2-3x the drag over just coasting without the brake lights coming on and you will notice the energy meter drop to the bottom of the white bar without entering the blue bar. This is usually enough to make up for the additional momentum going downhill from the towing weight.
  2. I've done some interstate towing with my '06 rx400h. Two times where near the 3500# limit pulling a 6x12' U-haul van trailer. In both cases, the ride was good. The gas mileage on the level was around 20-22. In mountains - if suffered and ran as bad as 16. Keep in mind that this vehicle (even the AWD version) engine brakes with only the front wheels. So care must be taken going down hill if you where to use the engine brake setting on the tranny in wet conditions. Personally, I didn't use the engine brake, but instead lightly rode the brakes and used the regenerative breaking to provide constant slowing drag downhill.
  3. Thanks for document! These are very helpful for those of us who may need a little "help" convincing our dealer's service dept that we have an issue. Yes, mine is a '06. I had to use the same wording as the bulletin to describe the issue to the dealer, and they then had to replicate the issue (wasn't too hard) - the service dept can't apply a code update with just a printed copy of the bulletin in hand. In the bulletin, it lists the VINs that where affected. It sounds like Lexus incorporated the newer code in the models manufactured after the listed VINs so this code would be in the '07's.
  4. I had the same problem with mine - showed up after 10k miles. It was fixed via a code update on the transmission (was at 20k) http://www.lexushelp.com/Ownership/Bulletins/EG/EG020-06.htm The drawback on the code update is that the ICE kicks in a 40 and the car will almost always run the ICE above 40. I thought this would hurt the mph, but I haven't experienced any impact in the last 7500 miles.
  5. I have the Yakima KingPin 2 on mine. When I leave the bike support forks up, I can still open the back hatch without having to drop the verticle post down. The door will clear by about 1/4". You can also leave you bike on when you open the door, which is nice when preparing for a ride, but you will probably need to rotate the handle bar to keep from getting a dimple in the door. (I have a dime sized dimple in my door now...)
  6. Reading through the replies, I have a fairly good idea of what's happening with my car and how to explain what's happening to the service rep. Prior to the code update to my transmission (http://www.lexushelp.com/Ownership/Bulletins/EG/EG020-06.htm), the regen was active all the way to a dead stop. After the update, the transmission is stopping the regen after the travel speed is under 1 mph. I suspect that a sensor must be failing since the regen is stopping anywhere from 5-80 mph under ideal hybrid driving and stopping conditions. That is dry pavement, temps between 40-80, and gentle stopping. Battery charge state doesn't appear to be a factor either since it's been both in the green and mid blue when this occurs. I'll be harrassing the service guys tomorrow and will reply back if they find something wrong.
  7. I went with the RX-XM kit from Factory Interactive for my '06 (no SAT button). The self installation DVD went through all of the steps and the installation was straight forward. Their kit uses a receiver that is Toyoto branded. The only custom part was their harness to go between the stereo head unit and the XM receiver. https://secure.factoryinteractive.com/order.html#rx-xm
  8. The regenerative braking is the electric motors acting as generators which will recharge the battery while slowing the vehicle. You will both hear a whine from the motors and see the green arrows on the energy screen (with the nav system) pointing to the battery from both the front and rear motors along with the energy "tach" residing in the blue area. The friction brakes are the usual pad/rotor brakes that the ABS will control like on any modern vehicle. If you are light on the brakes, you can nearly stop the vehicle on just the electric motors. If you press hard, you will get both the electric motors and traditional brakes working together. Press really hard, below 35 mph, and you can get the tires locked up and the car stopped before the ABS kicks in. :whistles: (The passenger was asking for it!) The problem I'm having with my vehicle is that the electric motors will stop braking (for no clear reason - excluding a dip/bump) leaving just the pads/rotors to stop the vehicle. The main problem with this is the stopping power is reduced and the stopping distance is increased unless I compensate by pressing harding on the brake petal. I'm curious if others are having the same issue with the updated transmission code.
  9. My ’06 RX400h started shutting off the regenerative braking after minor bumps at about 3,000 miles, resulting in a reduction in braking power as the car switched to 100% friction brakes (and having to then press harder on the brake pedal to stop in the same distance). This was easy to adjust to since I can see the dips and seams in the road… Now at 21,000 miles (8 months later), after the transmission update for the 40mph surging issue, the regen is randomly shutting off when braking. Is this normal for the later built 2006’s with the same transmission code?
  10. The fuel is foaming up in the tank, due to excess water in the supply or a poor filter in the station's pump. Go to another station or if you really want the cheap stuff, pull the nozzle out slightly (no more than 1/2 way) to keep the nozzle from tripping. If you do that, you'll have to listen for the tank filling up to know when to stop, otherwise you might spill.
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