"check Hybrid System" Warning On Lx400H

[Durwin]

Hi, our 55-plate RX400h SEL came up with a "Check Hybrid System" error on Tuesday, the dealer we bought it from said we shouldn't drive it so it was recovered and taken to Swindon... they've had it 2 days and not a peep from them yet, but that's another matter! I was wondering how serious this could be, I've seen one or two similar problems with other Lexus hybrids on the internet, but not with an RX400. On top of this, the recovery guy told us the front tyres were illegal because they'd almost completely worn away on the inner part of the tyre, something we couldn't really see until the car was up on the truck. Again, we've seen a few posts about this problem on the IS range but not on the RX. The thing is, this car was in the garage over Xmas just gone for 2 weeks, as we had a vibration through the steering wheel, they thought it was wheel bearing but it turned out to be a faulty transaxle (not something I know much about). The bill for this was around £2500 although thankfully we negotiated a deal on the price. Now the hybrid's playing up and it looks like somethings up with the steering or suspension, although it could just be the alignment / geometry - again, we haven't heard from the garage so we're starting to scare ourselves with what the problems could be!!!

Another thing we noticed, for about 4-5000 miles the average MPG was 32.1. After the transaxle replacement, we couldn't get it above 28, although it was winter - so we reset the counter in June and since then, about 1500 miles, its only around 29mpg. This is 10% down on before, so I'm worried something's messed up there

Is is time to ditch this car ?! Its nearly 5 years old, 45K miles on the clock...

We'd appreciate hearing if anyone else has had similar problems?

[steve2006]

Hi,

I have read somewhere (but cannot remember where,will post up if I do) that there is a known problem with the "power convertor/invertor" or something similar which is affecting Hybrid models.

If it is BRACE YOURSELF!

[Durwin]

Well, the garage have told us its the transaxle again (that was replaced early this year) rather than the Hybrid system, it just generated the same error message, so fingers crossed it will all be covered under warranty of the original parts/work. They haven't addressed the worn tyres issue yet, I'll speak to them about it next week!

-durwin