tus

It's getting to that time where I have to pull my boat out and get it taken care of. According to the service records for my 450h, I can see that the tow hitch and wiring harness were installed by Lexus when it had 15k miles on it.

Looking at the owners manual, on p377, there is a table that shows RX 350 wo/towing package (2WD/AWD), RX 350 w/towing package (2WD/AWD), and RX 450h w/towing package (AWD). Does this mean the towing package for the 450h is basically just the hitch and wiring harness?

For the 350 I know there are additional parts and pieces besides the hitch and harness that explain the 1500lb difference for TWR. I would expect an additional line in the table if this were also true for the 450h but there is not one.

Guess I just want to make sure that 3500lb is the limit I have to go by. The boat, trailer, and other things left in it come to just over 2500lb, although I am looking at getting something bigger now that its the end of the season and there are some deals out there.

F250

The true towing package includes a transmission oil cooler to dissipate the extra heat generated by having the trans,mission work harder while towing. You can tell if you have the cooler by looking in front of your front tires, inside the wheel well. If there are louvers inside the front face of the wheel well liner, directly in front of the tire between the tire and the front bumper, you have the cooler, and that's good. If there are no louvers, you might want to investigate having the cooler added.

Also, I just towed with my 2010 RXh this past weekend, and the dealer installed trailer light adapter did not work, and I even had to cut away some of the rear under body plastic liner around the hitch just to be able to connect the trailer wiring. I should add that this hitch and towing package was installed by the dealer at something like 7 miles, before it was ever sold to the first owner.

tus

Thanks. I believe I noticed the louvers but will have to check again. Should also find my harness tester and make sure the wiring is working.

On every Chevy or Ford truck I've had, the towing package would have heavy duty cooling, radiator/transmission/oil, and depending on what it is, a different/required rear end and possibly springs, along with the hitch and harness. Being new to hybrids I wasn't sure if they needed all the additional parts, but the transmission cooler does make sense. I really wish they would make it clear what the differences are in the owners manual.

Living on a lake, my bi-annual ritual is to pull the trailer 30ft down my driveway, 500ft down a level road, and back it down a 280 foot boat launch (really just a paved 20ft easement between two of the homes) to the lake. I really don't need to have the full package for this but I am looking forward to going to other lakes in the area next summer and not having to borrow someone's truck twice a year.

F250

Yes. Use your tester to verify the connectivity.

In terms of towing, I know what you're talking about since I've been driving my F250 Power Stroke for 10 years now. That thing pulls like nothing else I've driven.

In all honesty, your short distance may even let you get away with the lights NOT working. I didn't discover my own situation until we were hooking up the trailer, and they let me have it anyway because I was only driving in the day time, even though it was 240 miles. I was somewhat nervous about it, but had to get it done and they didn't have anyone to troubleshoot the wiring.

vlad_a

If you don't have the towing package, the trailer lights controller is missing. That's probably the most important component of the towing package, IMHO.
No big deal, the connector for it is located behind the right tail light. Pop in 2 towing fuses under the hood and you'll get +12V going to that connector, along with all the wires you need for a generic unit, which is what I'm running.

P.S.
RX450h does not have a transmission per-se. Although classified as a CVT, technically, it is not. It is PSD (Power Split Device). Mechanically, it is a rather simple, similar in its implementation to a differential.

F250

I've searched for this controller component from a parts standpoint, but can't find it (yet), so I have another question. Does this controller include the wiring connector which goes to the hitch for connection with the trailer's wiring harness, or are those two parts (controller and controller wiring harness) separate from one another? Also, can you point out which two fuses are required (and amperage)?



Yes... "CVT fluid cooler" then, instead of what I earlier referred to as "transmission cooler".

vlad_a

The towing package does not include the towing hitch or the 4-way flat trailer connector.
If you had one, here's the only cable you would need:


And here's the full plug-n-lay wiring kit without the towing package:



I don't recall what the fuse ratings are. Luckily, unlike Germans (Audi!), Lexus actually lists fuse ratings on the back of the fuse box cover.

You only need one fuse, but I found two marked with Towing on them, so I put both in. From the looks of it, kit above has the right fuse already and instruction which one to use.

F250

Well, mine was installed at the dealer before it was ever sold to the first customer, and it already has the 4-wire flat connector mounted on the side of the hitch receiver tube, so I assume that everything else was present. Even the fuse was in place in the fuse box when we hooked up the trailer at Uhaul, but still had not lights at all. I simply need to uncover everything to make sure that the converter was installed by the dealer and that the wiring harnesses are actually connected to each other. I still wonder if it might have been a problem on the trailer side of the connection. Overall, this is not a high priority right now, but something I can loo forward to digging into over the next month or so.

Thanks for all your input.