wwest

Yesterday the battery on our 92 LS was completely drained and I installed a new one and then discovered it wouldn't charge. Sure enough the power stearing pump has been leaking... Is the alternator really truly damaged or are is the slip ring so covered with power stearing fluid that it cannot function? The reason I asked is that the morning I went to put a charger on the battery but started the car first just to check that there really was no charge rate... I discovered that the battery was being charged, 12.76 volts at idle and rose with engine RPM. But about 10 minutes later the battery was indicating 11.60 volts and no charge rate. Additionally it's hard for me to believe, accept, that PS fluid could damage the diodes or the regulator. Did the slip ring dry out overnight and then get recoated while the car ran this morning? I guess I'll be overhauling the PS pump this afternoon but I'll delay any work on the alternator until I hear from a few of you or it begins working again.

The primary purpose of a torque converter is to replace the functionality of a clutch in a manual transmission car. Secondarily it multiplies the engine torque by a significant factor. At low engine RPMs, at or near idle, the "coupling" from a torque converter's input shaft to its output is intentional "loose", poor. This prevents the engine from being stalled as you come to a stop. The Prius, Rx400h, Hybrid HL and the Ford Escape hybrid all have CVT's which are implemented using a planetary gear style differential. This CVT really is as close to a manual transmission as one might get in that there is NO method for mechanically uncoupling the engine driveline from the output shaft. If the engine is idling at ~800 RPM the A/C motor driving the other diff'l (CVT) input shaft simply neutralizes the engine's output drive by turning its diff'l (CVT) input shaft in the "opposite" direction at the exact same speed. You can see it happening by jacking up both drive wheels of a vehicle without Trac. Start the engine, put the transmission in drive and the driven wheels will start turning, or at least the one with the least frictional resistance will. If you hold one wheel steady then the opposite wheel will turn at twice the normal rate. If you turn a wheel by hand fast enough you can completely negate the rotation of the opposite wheel.

Well, the $50,000 wouldn't be just to tinker, I get to drive a really nice luxury SUV at the same time, a hybrid SUV yet. But at this point it looks as if the real problem might be how to keep the catalytic converter "lit-off" with the low exhaust heat/energy of an atkinson cycle. Maybe the reason Toyota didn't use the atkinson cycle on the Rx400h and maybe also the reason the ICE on the RX400h runs more often than "we" expect.

Why would modifying the intake cycle of the ICE adversely affect the electric motors or the battery? Remember that you "modify" the intake cycle each and every time you move the gas pedal. Not concerned about the warranty, losing that is a virtual given.

Voiding the warranty..... Never had a warranty claim on a Lexus yet! Not so sure I'd let them touch it even if I had one, claim that is.

Please, only traditional naysayers need respond. I am on the verge, cusp, of commiting to buying an RX400h. My idea is to have custom ground intake cams made and installed to convert the engine to the atkinson cycle. I don't need V8 performance and as I see it the loss of about 20% would put me back into an RX330 equivalent insofar as HP/torque is concerned but also with an equivalent 20% GAIN in fuel economy. For the rest of you, sorry, but my wife says I don't need encouragement in this possible venture. Also, I am finding that all the dealers I have visited, WA & OR, seem to have surplus RX400h inventory.

What I was referring to is the "throbbing" effect, seemingly of the EBD function. The "sudden acceleration" that you refer to is most likely the lockup torque converter being released so the vehicle can "freewheel" down the incline. Nothing I have found indicates that there is no engine compression braking in the higher gears but the shop manual incates that technicians should only test for engine compression braking in 1st and 2nd. Also torque converter lockup is only used in 3rd, 4th and 5th. Sorry, this is completely OFF-TOPIC, but I'll leave it here for RX330 owners who might stumble by. In the RX400h the effect might be the result of the batteries already being fully charged (no requirement for regenerative "braking") and the ECU slipping the CVT into a higher gear to allow "freewheeling".

ATF cooling but with sustained temperature... A cooler with no "natural flow", say mounted sideways to forward motion, but with an electric fan controlled by a 150F thermostatic switch.

Quality of a shade tree mechanic.......!!! I'm insulted, VERY!

The EBD on my 2001 RX300 does that, feels almost the same as ABS except very light, with light braking down a slight incline.

Highway MPG, RX400h vs RX330 Assume starting out at a constant speed of 55MPH and then step on the gas to accelerate to 65MPH. The RX330 will instantly downshift and unlock the torque converter as the engine ECU reacts to the new gas pedal position and begins to feed more fuel to the (ONLY!) engine. As you approach 65MPH and begin "dethrottling" back to cruise the transaxle will upshift and the torque converter will lock as the engine RPM declines back down for cruising. As the RX330's engine RPMs rose the frictional and pumping losses increased and INCREASED.... The RX400h will throw in the electrics to generate the extra torque needed for acceleration allowing the engine to remain at a constant, highly optimized, RPM.... Just a guess, but.........

If the batteries happen to be nearly, or fully charged then regeneration cannot be effected.

Last night I checked ebay for RX400h and found two in Portland OR, both new and available "buy it now" for $45,000. Non-Lexus dealer with, as my vague memory recalls, not so stellar a reputation, but what gives....???

The AWD rear PTO, Power Take Off, case is in line with the right front drive halfshaft and is attached to the right side of the diff'l (front and center) case. PTO uses gear oil, diff'l runs in ATF.

turn trac off, step on the brakes while the rear wheels are turning and the abs pumpmotor will activate.

Jack up the rear, start the engine and put it in gear. The rear wheels will spin, the Trac ecu will think they're slipping and start the Trac pumpmotor.

None of the ECUs remember more than ~3 minutes of "driving style" history and even that history is erased each time the vehicle is restarted. Otherwise the next driver, after the LOLITS, might be really surprised at how poorly the vehicle reacts.

If you can overlook my red face I will admit that I do have an ATF overtemp indicator on 2001 AWD RX300. I went out and checked to see if it came on with the ignition switch as soon as I saw jbarhorst2's post. It does. But that means that in 45,000 miles it has never come on (I like to think I would have noticed) and so by Lexus' standards it has NEVER overheated.

I was aboard one of the first united flights for the 767 years ago. Just before landing everything "came apart". The pilots explanation was that he had to "reboot" the main passenger cabin processor just prior to landing. Your Prius, or RX400h, has only ONE engine processor, of course its possible for it to "stall" at any time.

Actually the throttle plate is "airtight". Most modern day cars have a variable idle air bypass path around the throttle plate that can be restricted by the ECU to attain the correct idle RPM under differing idle loads, A/C, power stearing, etc.

Okay.... Real-time response. Couldn't get my hand far enough down in front of the engine from above. But if you turn the wheels to the far right you can quite readily access both bolt heads with a box-end wrench from below. No need to even lift the vehicle. 14mm for the pivot bolt under the pump pulley and 12mm for the "slip" belt tension adjustment bolt. A good LED ( 1 watt luxeon) flashlight, 2 for $27.00 at Costco, is a big help also.

If the MINIMUM ALLOWABLE period is infinity (life of the vehicle) then what is the optimum interval required for the owner to achieve maximum transmission reliability and durability? It is quite well proven, and accepted within the engineering community, that a properly designed automatic transmission will not overheat its lubricating fluid, absent abuse, during its usefull design life.

The chicken or the egg question.. Is the ATF fluid overheating due to insufficient cooling capability or is the overheating the result of the fluid being inordiantely contaminated with frictional surface wear debris as the result of a poor or improper design? The AWD model of the 2005 RX330 has an ATF overtemp indicator light and if it illuminates the driver is cautioned to pull to the side of the road and allow the ATF to cool before proceeding. Since my 2001 is AWD I suspect it to be subject to the same design flaw that results in the possibility of the ATF overheating in the 2005. Additionally mine has a viscous coupling within the PTO which would no doubt contribute additional heating to the ATF within the adjacent diff'l and transaxle.

"..contingent on regular inspections..." NOT! When Toyota or Lexus deem that regular inspections are needed they do not hesitate to so state! Read the owners manual section on maintenance if you do not believe me. And, being now 64 years of age, I happened to be around in the early sixties and I can assure you that Toyota was not, at least not in my part of the US. In any case the 1968 Ford country squire station wagon I bought new was retired to the wrecking yard with 268,000 miles on the odometer. I had personally overhauled the engine and automatic transmission at somewhere about 125,000 miles because the bands were worn out. Insofar as I know that was the one and only time the ATF was changed out. My next Ford, another country squire station wagon, a 1975, also went for over 200,000 miles before my daughter managed to total it out. With that one I got lazy and bought a used transmission, 30,000 miles, from a wrecking yard to swap in when the original's bands begin to slip at about 125,000 miles. I can "point" you to not less than 5 LS400s, 92 up to 95, that now have over 100,000 miles and none of them have ever had the ATF changed out. Nor have they needed it. I have always been quite conscientous about properly maintaining all of the vehicles I have owned, or own, so while I do not today remember what the Ford owners manual said about this I am quite comfortable taht had it required ATF change outs that's what I would have been doing.

page 499, left column, 2005 RX330 owners manual: Section addressing failure modes of the electronic throttle control system. " ! CAUTION Be especially careful to prevent erroneous pedal operation." Who wants to volunteer to be the person to ask Lexus how many erroneous gas pedal positions and/or operations exist?