F250

OK, for the promised follow-up.

Do not waste your time and money on the LeSabre vent tube setup. The oblong rubber connectors look nice, and the thing is heavy duty, but you basically have to cut it all apart to use it and the thick rubber connectors don;t like to stay on the battery ports. I had already cut my vinyl tubing before discovering that, so I'm going back with the vinyl tubing approach. Turns out that once you wrangle the vinyl tubing over the ports on the battery, they really like to stick in place and are very secure. I do not like the look of the clear tubing because it really looks chintzy, so I'm going to get either some 1/4" ID black vinyl tubing or some 1/4" ID black silicone tubing and then use the same tee adapter as initially purchased for the three connections (two on the battery and one to the OEM rubber vent tube. The great thing about NOT using the LeSabre vent tube setup is that you can actually secure everything you need locally without having to order anything, and the cheaper common stuff simply works! It's all out of sight under the floor liner anyway, right?

samsonn25

12.5 is good, better than 11.8

Russmoy88

Is it hard to swap a battery on a 2010 450H? I know the battery is in the trunk. Thanks,

F250

Not hard. All of the steps below assume that you are starting with the cargo area being empty. If not, you need to first empty the cargo area. I know that may sound stupid to mention, but you never know the starting perspective from which people begin to do something, and you just can't take anything for granted.

SAFETY FIRST... IF YOU DON'T HAVE BASIC UNDERSTANDING OF HOW TO WORK WITH AND MANAGE BATTERY CONNECTIONS, LEAVE THE TASK TO SOMEONE WHO DOES KNOW.

1) Remove your cargo area floor liner (if present)
2) Raise the floor deck section over the spare tire/battery area
3) Pull up the plastic sill which resides under the rear hatch when it is closed (it just pulls up with what I call "loving insistence")
4) Use a small Phillips head screwdriver (very small, mind you) or some other small diameter rod/pick to press down the buttons in the center of the three plastic "clips" holding the plastic cover over the battery, lifting the clips upwards after pressing the center post downward
5) Remove the plastic battery cover
6) Remove the two battery hold down bracket bolts
7) If you're going to use a battery tender or trickle charger to keep charge on the system while the battery is disconnected, now is the time to connect it to the battery post connectors (you have 20 minutes before you loose codes, so it is not absolutely necessary)
8) Disconnect both battery cables and move out of the way (being careful to not knock the tender/trickle charger cables loose, if present)
9) Lift out the old battery
10) Set the new battery in position
11) Re-connect both battery cables and tighten firmly
12) Perform steps 1-8 in REVERSE ORDER

kitlz

Thanks Pete. I knew you'd come through. Fortunately I didn't need to change the battery on my '10 450h. But your instructions will be helpful to those who have to. And no offense, I'll leave it to someone else. A long time ago a battery exploded in front of me. No injury but scary as heck. The only electrical stuff I'll do is change a bulb

F250

I've had some close calls myself, Anita, and have even been hurt a number of times due to carelessness or lack of forethought. Still, I just try to always keep the lessons in mind and slow down to think about stuff when I'm risking being too overly focused on a task.

salimshah

Apart from the procedure, I am interested in learning what gets lost and needs to be reprogrammed or reset.

Salim

salimshah

I have a long list of fun and scars (luckily only memory scars) with batteries. They pack lot of energy and since the voltage is non-lethal we tend to ignore it. I treat it with respect.

Salim

F250

Well, it turned out that even though I connected my battery charger on trickle charge, I did not turn it on, so I got to watch the system go through a "reboot". I probably should have mentioned that before, but in all honesty, was a little embarrassed to admit that in spite of my intentions, my hastiness to minimize the disconnect/reconnect cycle got the better of me. I don't think I really lost much of anything because my disconnect and reconnect cycle took only about 5 minutes. I'm not sure what all gets lost and has to get re-established if the disconnect/reconnect cycle takes longer than the "allowed" 20 minutes.

One thing I did observe, though, is that there must have been something which went through some sort of reset activity even though I did not see anything on the display indicating it. I say that because for the first tank of fuel after changing the battery, my MPG's fell off significantly, but then began improving by the time I reached the fill-up point again (within 250 miles). On the current tank of fuel, the MPG's actually seem to be a little better than they had been running previous to the battery change. I need to run longer, though, to see if that trend holds up.

703

For those who live in AUS or NZ just get the battery from Toyota. They are rebranded Century 55D23L and fits perfectly with the vent tube. No kit what so ever required. Price is great too. NZ$167 which is US$110.

Thomo

Hi Folks
Just wonder if anyone knows where to get aftermarket battery for 2010 RX450h in Uk. As per other posts mine is Panasonic D23 with pos/neg and 1x drain tube.
annoyingly places like Eurocarparts and kwikfit list batteries for my Reg and even after saying to them there’s a 3rd connection (or tube- I mistook for a wire initially) they say After traveling to pick it up they have one and they don’t have drain connection or sorry we don’t touch “hybrids”.

battery is over 7 years old and had a couple problems starting and first failed start which to be fair leaving heated seats, windscreens and blowers on wouldn’t have helped. nonetheless over 7 years is decent but no point risking get stranded and time to get replaced.
i called Bosch as they had AGM batteries which look the part but don’t sell direct to public. They put me onto 2 places they supply and not filled with confidence there either - first place says they “think” they might have right battery with more than 2 connections but would need to bring it in ~£160 which Ok can reluctantly accept that. Other place, after 2 chase calls and still waiting for response.
£250 through Lexus or £290 fitted is pretty ridiculous but I’m probably as well letting Lexus do it in case there’s something else as I have extended warranty- doubt it though given it’s original battery. I’m more than capable doing simple task like this myself and it just pains me that the manufacturers look to have cut of the supply route for aftermarket serviceable components never paid more than £80 for a battery in my life!
Any assistance appreciated!

703

Just go with Lexus and ask them to waive the install fee as you’re buying their battery.

The problem with most aftermarket batteries is that they mostly don’t fit 100% such as the height of the battery and the vent tube.

dankud

I read somewhere that AGM battery requires different voltage charge and can be overcharged in long trip. Also it needs system reset after replacing conventional lead battery with AGM. Question is it true about overcharging and what kind of System reset is required. Do we really need Dealer assistance?
Thanks!

703

Kopavi

A while back I received an email from Rockauto that indicated they were now selling batteries. It looks like this battery might work in our 450's. So I thought I would post an update to this thread.

The price is $156.79. Shipping ads $30 for me. If you use a 5% off coupon (search google for code and enter it in the "How did you hear about us field") the price for me shipped to AZ came to $178.94. They only had one in stock at the time this was posted.

The length at 9 1/16 may be a challenge.
The battery has a 48 month warranty and has with the following specs:

• ​​​​​​Cold Crank Amperage (CCA)650
• Crank Amperage 780
• Reserve Capacity (RC) at 25
• Amp110
• Amp Hour (Ah) Capacity (20hr) 53
• Volts12
• Group Size 35
• Terminal Type A
• Handle Yes
• Length 9 - 1/16 in.
• Width 6 - 5/8 in.
• Height 8 - 5/8 in.

I have purchased quite a few parts from Rockauto over the years and have always been satisfied. Their website could use a refresh and is a little quirky to navigate, but their prices have always been very competitive.