TommyC

Apologies for the long absence, change of job/house etc etc. For those that are interested the issue was quite straightforward: A blown fuel pump relay, cost £25,00. (Well done ChrisKaye). Sadly, this wasn't discovered until a completely new battery had been put in, at which time I thought, well if I'm going to do this then I might as well do that.... etc etc. The three lessons learnt were: 1) The car will run on battery alone if the fuel pump relay fails, (or at the least mine did). 2) Lexus Tunbridge Wells told me they had tried to charge the battery and this had not worked, (the diagnostic report on the battery that Toytec showed me proved this to be a complete fabrication). I'm can't even be sure they did the inverter as per the recall. I was still charged £150 for the pleasure. To fail to notice a failed relay shows that either they are entirely incompetent or just didn't want to know but I wouldn't have expected to be lied to. The myth of the wonderful Lexus dealership is just that and I will never frequent one again. 3) Toytec in Crawley are excellent however their chief mechanic is a major perfectionist and if you are also this way inclined, (as I am) you may well come out with half your car being replaced and £6k lighter! Still, 20k miles later without so much as a murmur and I'm a very happy owner. Tom

Exactly what I thought Chris .... this all sounds pretty odd, ... the engine ran out of fuel/stopped running but ran on battery & the now the only problem mentioned is the battery ? ...maybe the overdue inverter recall could be a key factor here ? did it run out of fuel or was it possibly an inverter failure in the first place . If the inverter fails the RX 400h will automatically go into its fail-safe driving mode reducing power and speed .... so electric only ? ... sounds like the same symptoms .... did the AA add any fuel to the vehicle ? (was it the correct fuel ?) did they try to jump start it ? did they blow anything ? ... there are a lot of questions ...this may just be a comedy of errors ... but 145k on the clock, it should have gone in for the recall years ago.... Thanks Dennis: The car was low on fuel but not empty, it had however been sitting for two weeks, (holidays). I topped the car up after towing it the last mile home with 20 litres of unleaded. Kept trying to start it (running the main battery down, which was already low due to car running exclusively on battery after engine failed trying to get the car home). AA added no fuel and did not jump start, (12v battery was fully charged so not an issue). Certainly should have had the recall many years ago, Lexus have advised that this was done while the car was in their care last week, still no start though. Tom

Many thanks to you all for the responses. In response to your questions I'm 99% sure the car was running on the battery alone before that ran out, and my initial gut feel of a fuel supply issue is still valid. Lexus Tunbridge Wells were not willing to proceed without changing the main battery, (£4.5k) but would not commit to this solving the issue. Despite on the surface appearing very helpful, they did not seem too interested (perhaps understandably) as my pockets were obviously shallower than their average customer and the car was old and of low(ish) value. They advised that they had attempted to charge the main battery and that they had performed the inverter recall (no way of verifying this). The notes stated that "car runs for 12 seconds and then cuts out, I'm fairly sure that this is the starting cycle rather than the car actually running? There are no exhaust fumes from the rear during this process, nor even a particularly strong smell of fuel. I do believe that there are battery issues, (the car was filling with water due to the infamous rear joins which I solved but who knows what impact this may have had on either the cells or contacts to the HV cells). I don't think this is the key problem though. The car is now with Toyotec in Crawley whom seem a little more sympathetic to the cost constraints. I'd be interested if anyone has had experience of using them. Will try to learn to write more briefly and update as things develop!! Tom

Thanks Colin, I've asked Lexus Tunbridge Wells to get the battery charger so that we can at least determine what the cause of the original fault was prior to making a decision on the battery. I'll keep you posted if anything relevant to the group comes up. Tom

Hello! I've used this forum for a while but this is my first post (anywhere) so please be kind! I have searched for similar posts but have not been able to find the detail required. I've just had a call from Lexus Tunbridge Wells telling me that my traction battery needed replacing, I had it taken in as the petrol engine just stopped mid drive, (traction battery still worked and got me nearly all the way home, less than 700 yards). Codes from the OBD were P3190, P3191 and P3193 indicating no power from petrol engine and that the car had run out of fuel, (fuel was low but by no means empty) My hope was that it was a blocked fuel line/filter/pump etc. so I was somewhat shocked to be told the battery had failed (it was obviously very low having been driven exclusively on electric without the engine to recharge it). The AA had also attempted to restart several times further draining the battery. My questions to the forum are: Has anyone else had a similar experience? Are dealers able to charge the traction battery independently thereby verifying whether it works or not rather than assuming because it's dead, it's broken? Is there an alternative to a new battery, (re-conditioning etc. no second hand on ebay currently) I haven't had the projected costs yet but feel these could be crippling to say the least. Could they have got it wrong or is the (costly) lesson here to never drive without the petrol engine functioning? Car is a 2005 with 145k on the clock, it is also having the inverter replaced under the recall. Apologies for the long winded post and many thanks in advance for any help you may be able to provide. Tom