jwren

This was the previous owner. Yes, I was able to see this history as well and it was sold to the dealer that I purchased it from. He probably purchased it at an auction. I will have to ask him as he is a friend of my husbands and will tell him the truth. We purchased it as is...

mnewxcv

there are 3 things you can do in my opinion:

1: have it towed to the nearest Lexus/toyota dealer for a proper diagnosis. A toyota dealer should be able to do everything a Lexus dealer can. (This is my recommended action)
2. Wait for your mechanic to be ready in his new shop.
3. Remove the 12v battery from the vehicle and take it to autozone or your local parts store where they do free battery testing. This process will also clear all the codes in the ECU.


Now, you say this has happened to you before? When you drive around are there any warning lights on that get ignored?

jwren

Yes the VSC light was on with all the warning lights, but it was just sensors according to the computer that was read. My husband can fix. Check Hybrid System light came on with VSC and the car stalled in the middle of the road, no power to gas and little power to brakes. Turned the car off and waited a few minutes. It started back and slowly let us glide back with limited power. It happened a few more times like this, I have some codes that were read I will post after that. This time the car just stopped, hybrid system light turned on, we had to coast into our neighbor's driveway and the brakes were barely working. Had to hit my parking brake. Dangerous!

jwren

I also noticed there were multiple battery issues with this car. My husband can fix everything that doesn't require a lift. Any ideas? He can even fix the hybrid battery if that's the case, but he needs a lift and he is aware of the very dangers of the high voltage of that battery.

joedaddy1

iTrader: (1)

mnewxcv

please post them, they are the only real information we can use to help figure out the cause of the problem.

jooksing82

Ouch sorry to hear your sorrows.

I noticed the hybrid system is very cautious goes into the "limp" mode if it detects anything related to the engine wrong (which can include electrical) I had it happen when my oil turned in to jello (long story read my other post)

The battery testing at 12v sounds low. A new fully charged 12v battery should read ~13.7V (https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/r/...-voltage-range).
When your car is running you should see ~14.7 or so. the 12V name is just marketing simplification.

Now if your battery is low it may indicate that
1) the battery is going bad as you indicated (I find the Costco battery a better buy than the Toyota battery both in cost and quality)
2)The car's inverter is not charging the battery at the 14.7V in the "Ready" mode (check the tech stream codes as well, also battery voltage while on, inspect your inverter visually,loose connector? )

jwren

Nad1370

jwren

jooksing82

Not sure if my experience can help but in winter of 2014, I had Cylinder misfires after filling gas from the Costco I normally go to. I don't remember if my Check hybrid system came up or not (i think it did not). I added a bottle of Heet and used up the gas as soon as I can to fill fresh gas from else where. light went away and did not come back (I still go to that Costco today with no problems)

When My car had the sludge/jello oil I had codes. It threw a bunch of codes...
P0306, P3190, C0300, P0031, P0300, P0301, C0700, , P0000, P0302

My dad 07 Corolla was showing P0171 (lean) which was a common problem. I changed the gasket to the intake ( it was leaking in air)

If there is a problem with the coil packs some one did the work here.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...-rx400h-2.html

and here
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/hyb...id-system.html

one check engine light fixed by new spark plugs https://www.clublexus.com/forums/hyb...t-came-on.html

Nad1370

jwren

mnewxcv

For now it is important that you do not try starting the vehicle more times. It can cause to damage the hybrid battery if you fail to start the engine many times. To make this easy to understand, every time you try to start the engine, it draws power from the hybrid battery. If you fail to start the gas engine after many times, the hybrid battery will be too low to turn over the gas engine. Since the gas engine is responsible for charging the hybrid battery, if the hybrid battery is worn down low enough to not start the gas engine, there is no way to recharge the hybrid pack easily.

It is difficult to diagnose, but you could have a problem with the 12v battery (as mentioned before) and/or the fuel pump. A weakening fuel pump could lead to lean conditions as well as stalling. The 12v battery is easy to test with a proper battery tester, but the fuel pump is one thing that is a little harder to diagnose (especially if it is running weakened rather than completely failed.) if you do replace the fuel pump I would replace the fuel filter as well.

jwren

Thanks my husband tested the 12v battery and it was fine, then he jump started it to be sure and it read 13.7v on his voltage meter. He thinks it is, in fact, the inverter, that it could have a leak in the coolant and that could cause the inverter to overheat and burn out parts, which I believe that is what that recall was all about. Not sure if I explained that back correctly, Something like that. He is very mechanically inclined but hasn't worked on a hybrid before, so he found out that the orange covered wires are the HOT ones. I also printed what you posted for him to check. Thanks.