spacecraft

Thanks for the reminder, it's a good point.
Though my dealer (which is a very big one) told me that so far NONE of their clients have ever experienced the fault - also among older cars.
They say it's slightly more likely to happen in very hot climates, which is not the case where I'm living.....

smassey321

Slightly unrelated but the Prius has a similar issue/recall. The difference is the Prius fix is software only and not a full hardware replacement like we got. My wife has a 2010 prius w/ 35k miles and got the software fix in February. Last week her inverter failed.

Dealer has 5 other Prius with failed inverters. Part is on national back order and will take around a month to get in. They put her in a new V so it is not so bad.

Bottom line is get your inverter replaced. Her car was pretty dangerous to drive when this happened.

PBriggs

Hi,

I received a recall notice for my 2007 Lexus rx400h vehicle and I took it in to the nearest Lexus dealership to get the work done. After the replacement, I drove the car for a day when all-of-a-sudden, the PS light came on and my steering wheel jammed up. I had the car towed back to the dealership the next day, but just before the tow truck came to pick the car up, I noticed the PS indication light wasn't lit up anymore and I was able to drive it around without issues. Still, I had the car towed back to the dealership. They took a look at it and said there were no stored codes and the car was driven for 2 hours to recreate the problem, but nothing happened. So I had it towed back. I drove it for another day or so and started experiencing problems again. This time however, it was a bunch of signs: "Check Hybrid System," "VCS," and "PS" signs were all lit up. However, I was able to still drive the car (steering wheel didn't jam up or anything -- maybe just once, but only for a second or so). I called the dealership which is about 75 miles away from where I am (unfortunately, nothing closer), and asked whether the problem could've been related to the warranty work they did and they said probably not, but couldn't say until they check for themselves. I sent the car over again and this time, they were able to run the codes and traced the problem to the ECU unit. They are now saying that I have a faulty ECU unit and it needs to be replace and they're asking for a little over $1000. My question is, am I being ripped off? I've never had these problems before the warranty work. I only got the work done so I could re-register my vehicle with the state of CA, which required it.

Thank you for your time.

thomas1

I wonder if your dealership is giving you the run around. Maybe take it to Toyota and have them run a scan.

maseace

Which ECU was it? There are dozens in this vehicle. I wonder if those symptoms could have been related to a dying 12V battery.

PBriggs

Thanks, thomas1 and maseace for your replies.

@thomas1, after lexus sent the car back the first time saying there were no issues, I had Toyota look at it when the lights came on again. The Toyota people were actually kind of weird in that all the service adviser said was, "yeah, the tech thinks it's definitely related to the recall work that Lexus did." I had sent Toyota the receipt of the work that was done due to the recall and they had hooked the car up to the computer and did the diagnosis. When I asked if they were able to provide me with any printout that stated this, perhaps the diagnosis from the computer, he said, "no, sorry the computer doesn't make printouts, but don't worry the tech, who has over 30 years of experience, said it was related to that recall work." While I appreciated the information, I couldn't really do anything with it without proof. I called the service adviser at Lexus and told him as much and he, as expected, wanted to know more. I said I didn't know anything else, but that the service adviser at Toyota would be willing to corroborate my claims. I connected them both via 3-way-calling and heard the exchange. It went along the lines of the Lexus service adviser asking about the issues they found and the Toyota adviser not really giving a straight answer. That's when I had my car towed to Lexus again to get it check out by them (this would be the second time in my story timeline).

@maseace, great question. I unfortunately have no idea which one. Before all this started happening, I had left the country for a 1.5-month-long trip and came back to a dead battery. I had AAA come out and give me a jump. I rode the car for >30 mins and it worked just fine. The "Check Hybrid System," "VCS," and "PS," signs popped up after the warranty/ recall work was done. I don't know what to do at this point. Then all-of-a-sudden, all the problems I'm experiencing is related to this original fact -- that the car is reconstructed.

I called Firestone whether they'd look at it and they said, "honestly, we don't have the technology to communicate with your system properly. It's best to do it elsewhere."

It's probably important to mention that my Lexus RX400h is a reconstructed vehicle (was previously salvaged). However, it was working just fine before the recall work when they messed with the electrical system. The fact is, the work that was done on the vehicle during its reconstruction wasn't the most neat and proper. It's jury-rigged in various areas and I feel when they open things up they see various wires tapped up in an unprofessional way, they're automatically biased -- something along the lines of, "of course you're experiencing problems! Such shoddy work!"

maseace

I would replace the 12V battery, which you said had gone dead earlier, especially if it is more than 3 or 4 years old. Costco has good ones for around $70. Monitor for any weird symptoms with the new battery. It could be anything, though, since the vehicle is rebuilt - wire harness problems are hard to find and fix.

PBriggs

I called the Lexus dealership asking for more details and they said that the tech used a different ECU unit from a rx400h that was lying around and saw that the vehicle worked just fine. When they put the ECU unit of my car into the rx400h that was lying around, it started to experience the same problems my car was experiencing. Should I just bite the bullet and pay the $1000 or so dollars and get the unit replaced? They mentioned that since the car is reconstructed, they cannot offer any guarantee on the repairs. Here's what the Lexus service adviser wrote: "...as I mentioned before, the vehicle has had multiple wiring repairs and I do not know at this time if you will have any other issues once the ECU is replaced." $1000 is an awfully large sum of money to be putting down

thomas1

Maybe you can get a used ECU from a junkyard for a cheaper price and have them program it.