lemon

Well, I installed a block heater today. Followed the instructions here... http://www.greenhybrid.com/wiki/index.php/...on_Instructions and all was going well, until I had to remove those stupid screws with the star shaped heads on them. Why would Toyota use these things? Anyway, I tried a 5mm regular socket with no luck. Then I tried a pair of Visegrips, before I grabbed the wife's car and headed to the hardware store. There I found something similar to this http://www.toolsnow.com/external-female-torx-socket-set.html Officially these are called 'female torx sockets'. If you're going to do this yourself, buy a set of these to save yourself about three hours and skinned knuckles. Got home and discovered that I had stripped the heads with the 5mm regular socket just enough to make the torx sockets useless. Resorted to vice grips which took the better part of an hour, and involved skinned knuckes and several bouts of cursing/crying. If you're going to do this, the RX is a bit different than the highlander. First off, you don't have to remove the exhaust heat shield. Everything can be accessed from below. You will have to remove the lower splash panel (just like if you were going to change the oil filter. I found it helped to remove the oil filter and the oil drain channel thing to make access easier. Once the nuts and those torx screws are out, the metal cover can be removed (I used a long pry bar and it just popped off - there was a fair amount of sealant holding it and those pesky screws in) Installing the block heater is a snap. I actually put the electrical connector at 6 o'clock to keep the cord away from the oil filter and the exhaust. When refilling the rad, the RX doesn not have a bleeder nipple like in the Highlander post. There's a cap similar to the Highlander that unscrews but no nipple. I just screwed it right out and filled the rad until coolant came out of the hole. Why did I do all this? Well the dealership wanted $250 installed. I paid $46 for the heater and six hours of my life. If I had had the female torx socket from the start it might have been more like three hours. But I enjoy tinkering on cars, so no big deal. Being the nice guy that I am, I let my wife park in the garage in the winter so she won't have to scrape ice and snow (plus she doesn't have heated seats). Between the block heater and the magnetic oil pan heater I stuck on, I figure I'll have heat sooner and the ICE won't have to run so long to warm up, leading to better mileage and reduced emissions.

They're just called 'clip'. Lexus part #53259-0E010. Might be easier to just go to the dealership and get 'em.

Some DAWN dishwashing liquid diluted in water works also. Should you wish to treat the dash afterwards (probably should as the sosp will strip everyting) there are low gloss products out there. If the reflection is not because of a glossy treatment, then I second the suggestion of polarized sunglasses. I've used them for year for driving, and the difference between polarized and non polarized is quite remarkable.

Tough crowd :P Actually, if I'd have had to guess, I'd have thought the coolant leak was from the ICE ... Which coolant leak was from the ICE? Mine or BadBrad's? If you're talking about my leak, the inverter is that whole unit (it runs way down below where mine is leaking) and it sits on top of the transmission. In my pictures it looks like the leak is where two parts meet (almost like there should be a gasket there separating two separate components), but it is in fact all one unit (the inverter). The ICE is nowhere near there. If you look under your hood, the ICE is basically the passenger side of the engine bay and the transmission and inverter are the driver's side. My RX goes in to the dealership on Thursday this week to have a new inverter put in - all under the hybrid warranty.

I think he used to have a 400h.

You should update your profile page - still shows you as having an RX300. Where exactly did yours leak?

Yup. Just the second set of cables, or if you haven't got the cable routed all under the dash, just move the whole thing. It looks very interesting. Where did you mount it and how did you route the cable? Ahhh, now that's project I'm still working on. I picked up my 400h in June to replace a Subaru Outback. The Scanguage was beautifully mounted in the Suby in a nice cubby hole in the dash under the radio. It looked like it was meant to be there. I haven't taken the time to really consider where it might fit in the Lexus yet, but I don't think it will fit right in like it did in the Subaru. I have had it hooked up while driving and it works fine in that regard.

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Yup. Just the second set of cables, or if you haven't got the cable routed all under the dash, just move the whole thing.

If you have the NAV system, do the following. Press the AUTO button to engage the automatic mode. Then press the CLIMATE button to bring up the climate controls on the touch screen. Now press (on the screen) the A/C button. The little yellow bar under the button will go out indicating the A/C is off. The rest of the system will still be on automatic control. Press the button again to turn A/C back on (or hit AUTO again). The AUTO button controls everything (fan speed, vent position, A/C on off and RECIRC) based on what temperature you set with the temperature button. If you override any one setting, it now is in manual control, while all the other settings will stay in auto. Example - you can hit auto, then turn off A/C and set fan speed to low. Now, the only thing the AUTO setting will control is the vent position (floor, defrost, vent etc.) and RECIRC. By the way, when it's cold out (usually around freezing, depends on the make of the vehicle) most vehicles will NOT run the A/C to avoid damaging the compressor. Also, most modern vehicle will run the A/C when defrost is selected (again, not if it's bitterly cold out). cduluk - you can see this in operation by doing this - hit auto, dial full hot. Air will blow out at your feet and probably RECIRC will go out. Depending on the ambient temp and interior temp, A/C may or may not come one and fan may blow at full speed or not. Now start turning the temp to full cold. Air will now flow from the dash vents, if recirc was off, it may come on, and if A/C was off it may come on. If it was hot out, the fan might have been on low or medium speed - it will now go on full speed as it attempts to cool the cabin.

http://www.scanguage.com I have one. It works well. Does much more than check and clear 'check engine' lights. Tachometer is one function of many.

I don't know if it's such a good idea to charge your battery in this manner. Like I said, I find that a spirited drive in the CITY (not the highway) with lots of jackrabbit starts will bump my battery into the seventh bar (when it goes green). Might not be such a good idea to be doing 'brake stands' to charge the battery. I believe Toyota would prefer it between 20% charged and 80% charged because they found that the lifespan of the battery would be longer than doing complete charge and discharge cycles.

Nope, as you found out, the engine management computer (or whatever) won't allow a whole lot of power to the system when the brake and acclerator are fighting each other. On an older car the engine would have rev'd up and, voila, brake stand. Most newer cars won't let this happen. I know my wife's 2007 Impala is exactly the same. If I keep my foot on the brake and mash the gas pedal, barely anything happens. You might try parking your vehicle overnight with the traction battery at 6 bars, then driving very spiritedly the next morning. You may find you bump into the green zone. Mine has only ever been up to seven, never eight during those circumstances. Like I said, the engine runs continuously when you first start it to heat up the cats etc. I think it's charging the battery at that time, too and any power to the drivetrain is purely from the engine, not from the traction battery, which is why I can usually enter the green zone at that time.

I was just having another look at the TSB, and it 'appears' the ISC reset might only have to be done on 2006 models. Regardless, it sounds like you did it right - whether you needed to or not is the question. Wait and see if your mileage goes up I guess. The needle on my power meter barely moved when I did the procedure. You've never had you battery meter in the 'green' before? Weird. Or maybe it's weird that mine does it very occasionally and like I said, usually first thing in the morning IF the car has been parked with six bars the night before.

In my post about how to do this, I think I mentioned that I could not get the energy meter to move very much - nowhere near 50% even. Still it worked for me. Having green bars is not a problem. First two bars are purple. Up to six the bars will be blue and the last two will turn everything green. If I park my car with the battery full blue, the next morning I usually run into the green as the engine charges the battery when it's running during it's warm up cycle.. If you drive the car for a short while, it will drop back into the standard blue where it normally stays.

Actually, you can see the coolant reservoir through the cover. I noticed that was low and pulled the plastic cover to see if I could see anything. Luckily the leak was at the front, because it's near impossible to see the back. I would think the leak could be anywhere around the outside of the inverter, as it looks like there are two halves that fit together which you can kind of see in picture 5, which is where my leak is coming from. Had a look at my service CD, and it's a fair amount of moving things out of the way to get that sucker out. The tech at the dealership figured about six hours to do the actual remove/install, then a bit more time to reinitialize everything (power windows, ISC etc.). This is worrisome. For one, liquid and 650 volts don't mix. For two, what if this happens again out of warranty? $7000!!! I could buy a decent used car for that.

That's what the technician told me (it was off the top of his head and not out of the parts computer). The inverter takes the 288 volts of the battery pack and ups it to 650 volts for the front electric motor (MG2? MG1? .. whichever one drives the front wheels). If you remove the engine cover on the driver's side of the engine, the inverter is the whole unit under that (with the plastic coolant reservoir on top) and it sits on top of the tranny. I'm trying to Google the part to see if I can get a price, but so far no success. At work now - I'll take and upload a pic when I get home. **edit** Found one http://www.oemlexusparts.com/seccat/rx400h...verter-42443/3/ Yup...about $7000

Vehicle has 120 000 KM on it. Noticed the inverter coolant reservoir was low on coolant a few days ago. Popped off the plastic engine cover and noticed pink crusty stuff where coolant had leaked out and crystalized. Can upload a picture if anyone wants, but it's at the front of the inverter where it appears that two halves meet. Thought maybe there was something similar to a head gasket sealing the two halves. Took it to the dealer who advised that the inverter is not repairable and is replaced as an entire unit. Thank God it's covered under the hybrid warranty as an inverter is around $7000 apparently. The dealer said they'd be taking pictures for Toyota to see, as they've never seen one leak before. Scarily, they said they've replaced the odd inverter in the past, though I have no idea what for. I had a nice long chat with the hybrid specialist at the dealer who advised that it's a fairly simple job with only a few bolts holding it on. Fairly time consuming though, as they have to drain the inverter coolant, disconnect hoses/wires, disable the traction battery etc. etc. He also advised they would reset everything (power windows, sunroof, ISC reset and VSC/steering zero point calibration). Plus a car wash, hahaha. One bonus is that the inverter coolant is recommended to be replaced at 128000KM, so I won't have to worry about that anymore. BTW, the inverter is the black rectangular thing with the rectangular warning sticker on it. The black plastic stealth bomber shaped thing on top of that is NOT part of the inverter.

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/lofiv...php/t58930.html The TSB is for the dealer, and references hooking up the special Lexus computer. However, the actual procedure can be done without the computer as detailed in the post. Evidently, the computer is mostly needed to make sure the coolant temp is over 180. I have a Scanguage II, which I used to confirm my coolant temp, however, any amount of spirited driving using the engine and not just the battery should raise the coolant temp to 180 and then you can peform the procedure. I can 'almost' guarantee your mileage will increase after you do the ISC reset.

Everything's running great, i don't think it's affected by that. I've had the bat disconnected a few times working on the steering wheel project, everything's still A-OK <_< The car will still run just fine after disconnecting the battery, but the idle speed control WILL need to be reset. There is a TSB from Toyota stating just this (basically, if you disconnect the battery or run it below 7 volts, you HAVE to reset the ISC). The car will run, but the engine will idle too long and/or more often than it should, thus affecting your mileage. But whatever, it's your car. It is quite easy to do by yourself, though.

Don't forget to do the ISC reset if you've disconnected the battery.

Sweeeet, dude. The new steering wheel looks a lot classier than the one originally in the RX - the little chrome trim does it and the overall look of the buttons is nicer. I guess you won't know if the airbag really works unless you crash (knock on wood). Good job.

What did all what mean in English? This ISC reset? It's easy to do yourself. Do a search of this forum - I've posted instructions somewhere. Doesn't have so much to do with increasing the efficiency of the hybrid system, but more to do with decreasing the amount of time the gas engine runs (something to do with the idle speed blah blah blah). All I know is that I did it myself, and my mileage and the amount of time I could run on electric only increased.

You can ask the dealer to check the ISC behaviour, or it's easy enough to reset it yourself. I've done it and someone else on here recently did it. Do a search of this forum for the instructions. In both cases (mine and the other forum member) our indicated mileage increased noticeably (in my case about 10l/100km to 8l/100km. In regards to your highway experience, I've noticed on my 400h that highway driving will hold the batteries at the 80% mark (top of the blue bars, no green bars). Once the battery shows the full blue bars, I notice the flow of power alternates from charging the battery to assisting the engine (or transmission or whatever it assists). The flow of power moves from one to other quite often. If I'm easy on the gas pedal, I can get to around 60km/h on electric alone. If you can't do this, I'd think the ISC needs to be reset.

First thing I would do is reset the ISC. Do a search for ISC learning. If you're not comfortable doing this (it is easy though) ask the dealer to do it. This has nothing to do with the E boxes you're talking about, but I would suggest it in case the battery has been disconnected or run down prior to you getting the vehicle. My mileage went from around 10.1 l/100km to around 8 l/100km after doing the reset. If you do a lot of highway driving, you may not see any E in the consumption display. Also, it's not instantaneous, but is an average of the previous five minutes. If you can find a very hilly area and coast down a number of hills or brake as you go down the hill (and make sure there are regenerative arrows in the main display), you should then see the Es appear in the consumption display. Also watch your power meter - when you're braking, the needle should swing down into the blue area indicating that regenerative braking is occuring. If it's not, you may need the dealer to dig deeper.