Passerby

It shouldn't go flat in 10 days.. either sort out what is taking the power or it is knackered and needs replacing

+1 and moths;  usually when I leave garden plants in the car overnight..one of these days I'll learn.

When I discussed towing with a Lexus dealer in relation to the purchase of a 2010 450h on coil springs the line was 'we don't recommend it'. I forget whether it was due to gearbox design or the electric motors

Only if there are few others to talk about. The water pump seems to be the most commonly cited one.

5 hours ago, Raddoc said:

Check under the auxiliary battery in the boot for standing water. 

I have that problem, happen to know if there is a favourite source of the water?

I had a wiper failure on an RX450h and feared lots of hassle. Turned out to be the nut which secures the arm assembly to the drive motor, it had worked loose. Readily accessible with the bonnet up on a 450, can't comment on a 400 but worth a check.

a little blast of 'dry PTFE lubricant' or similar often works wonders on squeaky plastic

Its an old approach but, if the car is doing mostly rural mileage, take it for a blast down a motorway and maybe engage sport mode to get the revs a little higher. Used to be referred to as the 'Italian Tune' - gets the internals nice and hot and clears out the cr*p.

On 1/7/2020 at 10:01 AM, Supermum said:

Hi passerby,

i have the same 2010 lexus rx 450h car and my battery in the boot needs changing. Are you still happy with your Bosch S4 005 as it is much cheaper than the Lexus panasonic battery?

Only fitted just before Christmas so I can't give you a long term view.... But otherwise I have had no issues.

If the car is new to you and you have a warranty of some description then now is the time to make use of it... this sounds like an unusual problem and one for a dealer to sort

Just chipping in on this as I have just replaced my 12V Battery on a 2010 RX450h ... the original Battery (dated April 2010 so probably with the car from new) was a D23 wet lead acid Battery, a Panasonic Battery with Toyota stamped on it, pretty bog standard, not deep cycle. The ones identified above by GSLV6 are too big to sit on the undertray so mayby there are some suble changes in the Battery area between 2010 and 2014. I went for a slightly larger size than the D23 and purchased a Bosch S4 Car Battery 005 for £87 from ECP. It fits like a glove in the Battery undertray and gives some additional capacity plus a 4 year warranty. Easy enough to fit.

I would have added warm water (not boiling😂) to encourage some movement

Good to hear

10 hours ago, Silversalmon said:

Was there an itemised cost for transmission fluid change? Is it £200? - Acceptable, is it £800, I'll take the risk....

 

Not on my sheet, all rolled into the service price. Give them a call.

15 hours ago, Silversalmon said:

Was there any indocation of how much the transmission oil change cost . I'd be up for pushing it too with the dealer. Thanks for the info David.

 

See my thread here for the saga

They can generate an itemised list for each service

The 100k Lexus service that I have just had done included a transmission fluid change. They did try the 'sealed for life' line on me but didn't clarify what 'life' was.... Feeling lucky?

7 hours ago, stringbender said:

I've always wondered how you'd cope if you had to drive through a flood in a hybrid. Years ago ( when the Golf Mk4 came out ) I had to do just that. I was able to slip the clutch and keep the revs. high and I got through - Just !  About 6 cars died there that day. You can't control the engine like that in a hybrid so if the engine cuts out and water is sucked back in then isn't that the end of your car ?

Alan

Water in the electrics can be an issue, cant see keeping the revs high will help. The guidance for land rovers is to create a bow wave which helps to keep the level lower inside the engine bay; something similar but at a lower level might be viable for a Lexus but I would prefer to try it out in someone else's car. The one thing you don't want to happen is for water to be drawn into the air intake and hydraulically lock a piston.. bent or broken con rods and other pain results, probably a new engine. Most likely to happen when the engine is running, can't easily see how slipping the clutch and keeping the revs high will avoid that, just encourage a more spectacular failure.

The only link I can magine is that driving through the water caused a rapid cooling of the diff casing and diff oil which (somehow) exacerbated a problem that was already brewing.

pretty sure that the transmission failure and your trip through water are unconnected. If water had got into the transmission then I would have expected emulsified oil. Suspect it is just coincidence but a very unusual failure for an Rx450. If you have a purchase warranty then it's time to make a call, if not, I would investigate getting a unit from a breaker if you have a good garage willing to do the fitting, Lexus main will not entertain that option.

At low speeds the ride is firm going on hard. If that is why you mean by bouncy then I fear that new shcks will be a disappointment

Thought I would report back on the outcome of the original post:

After ploughing through the service paperwork that I had been supplied with when I took out the 2 year servicing deal from Lexus, I realised there was more uncompleted work than just the brake fluid change. The major service that I had committed to in the srvice cotract was the Major 100k service which, from their Lexus paperwork includes amongst other things: replacing the brake fluid, replacing the hybrid inverter coolant, replacing the front and rear diff oils and the transfer/diff box oil. None of this had been done. There was a background issue that, when the service contract was set up it was configured by the sales rep to run until July 2020 (2 years 8 months, something of a sales tweak...) and hence there apparently 'wasn't enough money in my account for the service' when I booked the service at the end of year 2 with 100k on the clock. When I dropped off the car for first time this really wasn't made clear to me and I was told it would be 'sorted', I would have sorted it there and then if I had been asked to.

Anyhow, I kept all communication in writing (e-mail) in case it became more formal and, after having fielded some lines such as "we now do that at 150k" and "we dont repalce that anymore, it is sealed for life" I pointed out that we had a clearly written contract which I expected them to honour in full. At this point the Service Manager took it on the chin and agreed to book the car in for the outstanding work, which has now been completed. I am not going to name and shame because it has been resolved to my satisfaction in reasonably short order.

The moral of this tale is simply to get in writing a list of the work that is scheduled to be done according to the contract or service you are paying for and don't assume that, because it is 'Lexus' they will not make a 'mistake' - check the post service paper-work against your contract and chase if there is a discrepancy.

Was that a major or minor essential care service? If you have a search on the Lexus UK website you will find the service schedules for both. The major essential service schedule includes a brake fluid change... Some dealers are able to produce an alternative schedule on the day which saves them this expense......

It will depend on the terrain which controls the speed that the engine warms up. I live 2/3rds of the way a reasonable hill. Going up the hill I have warm air within 1/4 of a mile, going down the hill and along the flat through town it takes a mile or so. And yes, that is longer than my old P38 Range Rover.

Mileage is not a great indicator of wear these days: if I were comparing two cars of the same age, one with 20k of mostly round town mileage vs one with 65k of mostly motorway cruising then, all other things being equal I suspect I would go for the motorway cruiser

five mins free at lunch so:

Publicly available data for the RX450h downloaded from the Lexus UK web site on the 15/11/19