Lufters

I live in upstate NY where it got down to -15 below zero last night. It was below zero yesterday and car ran fine. I remote started the car this morning so it could warm up a bit. Started normally and ran but noticed engine shut down before the 10 min. auto shut down.
Got into the car to leave and had check hybrid system and check brake system with no Ready light. Turned off the car and tried to restart. Got same warning lights and engine would not turn on. Waited a few min and tried again to restart. It started but with Check Hybrid System with check engine light on and yellow triangle with !. After a few min engine shut down on its own and went into accessory mode. Would not restart. Later in day after it warmed up a bit (5F degrees). Went thru the same thing as before. But when I got it running it stayed running and got it to the dealership for service. Check Hybrid System with check engine light on and yellow triangle with ! was on the whole time I drove it there.
I'm thinking 12 volt battery?

P.S. First thread I posted for this is not working properly. Admins please delete other thread.

nesh

Buddy Lufters, you gotta post an actual question and not just titles with no post.

Lufters

It's not me. There is an issue with the website. Admins are looking into it.

Lufters

So here's my original post. Admins couldn't figure out what went wrong after several attempts. Server must have needed a reboot,etc (I'm a former network admin). I think it's some good info for people to hear. This happened a couple weekends ago on a Sunday 2/7.

I have a 2012 RX450 (appx.52,000). I live in upstate NYwhere it got down to -15 below zero last night. It was below zero yesterday and car ran fine. I remote started the car this morning so it could warm up a bit. Started normally and ran but noticed engine shut down before the 10 min. auto remote start shut down.
Got into the car to leave and had check hybrid system and check brake system with no Ready light. Turned off the car and tried to restart. Got same warning lights and engine would not turn on. Waited a few min and tried again to restart. It started but with Check Hybrid System,check engine light on and yellow triangle with !. After a few min engine shut down on its own and went into accessory mode. Would not restart. Later in the day when it warmed up a whole 5F degrees, I tried it again. Same thing happened, would not start with the same warning lights.Tried a couple more times and finally got the engine running as before, with Check Hybrid System, check engine light on and yellow triangle with !. But this time it didn't shut down. I let the car run and warm up for about 25 min and then decided to try to make it to my local Lexus dealership about 7 miles away. As nervous as I was getting it there with the warning lights staring at me...lol, I made it with no issues. So before I tell you the solution, anyone want to guess what it was?

kitlz

Your 450h was in hibernate mode?

Disclaimer, I know but will play along

Droid13

I remember that morning because my RX had a pretty rough start too on that very cold day. The engine ran really rough for the first 15 seconds before settling down. I normally am not a warm up by idling guy, I drive away gently right away, but this day I waited for about a minute before getting underway.

I have two guesses:

1) Coolant warmup taking too long. There is a diagnostic code that is thrown if coolant does not come up to temperature within a given amount of time (probably more for detecting bad thermostat or low coolant rather than really cold days)

2) Some kind of error thrown from the hybrid battery temperature sensor. Maybe for similar reason, too long to reach operating temp. Not sure there is actually a code for that though.

nesh

I have no guesses. But that would freak me out.

Lufters

Lexus said the inverter froze. It sent defaults to computer hence my problems. They reset the codes and everything is back to normal. They said not to worry about it. Not expecting to have it break a record again and get to -15 below zero anytime soon...I hope.
They didn't even charge me and got a free car wash out of it, with a bottle of water and a thank you note when I got in the car.
I'll keep an eye on it. I believe the inverter is part of the hybrid warranty? I know inverters can have some issues especially in previous models. I may be a little paranoid now if it gets really cold again.

So the question is....really no matter how cold it gets within reason), the inverter should not have "froze". Wondering if this is a sign of it breaking at some point.
Or it really was just too cold for hybrid components.

HotPeper

A little late, but I see nobody replied to your question. I would not ignore the issue. -15 is not that cold when your coolant should be rated at -30. I would have the inverter coolant checked. If it is freezing at -15, it could also risk boiling in the summer heat.
It was -20 several nights this winter here in Wisconsin. Cold enough that the remote start would not start my 2015 rx450h (parked outside at work, 48hrs, 4am coldest time of night). I had no problems with the hybrid system though. It's amazing how easily it turns over with that big traction/starter motor.