I guess on the bright side if the starter ever goes on the ls600h it's a total for sure. is the ls500 awd the same ? Wondering if I can make it to ohio without ruining the catalytic converters.

 

Took off the passenger air box to show how tight is it. Also found a picture of the engine removed to get an idea of the location. I'll try to get pictures from underneath after it warms up a bit.

 

If your starter goes out call me and I’ll take your LS600 lol

Im totally not kidding, I’ll fix it and flip it.

 

The starter on the 600 is inside the CVT .

 

More specifically there is no starter lol, good call. The starter is built into the hybrid system.

 

Just think of it as a VERY large starter that can move the car as well lol!

 

Pretty much LOL

 

Starter? Indeed, not quite!

It's MG1 (motor-gen 1): it starts the V8 and is also spun by the V8 to, in turn, spin MG2 to charge the hybrid battery pack. However, as I understand it, it provides no direct traction, and MG2 is the only one that helps propel the yacht .

I personally find it fascinating how this thing is built and designed (acknowledging the serious repair issues being discussed here and in a separate thread). FWIW, I worked doing research on hybrid technology (and other gas-saving ideas, like variable displacement) as a graduate student many moons ago, independently assessing a bunch of concepts that were out there, a few years before hybrids became "cool". So, the 600 is special to me in more than one way.

EDIT: MG 2 can output 221 hp, and it's only limited by the 49 hp the hybrid battery pack will provide (getting the 389 hp from the V8 up to the advertised total of 438 hp).

 

So what I am hearing is if one can cool the pack and upgrade the wiring you can have a lot more power on hand? That would have been curious since 221 is enough to move the car to reasonable speeds and keep it there and allow a full EV mode and much more appeal to the car as a whole and allow the gas engine to be a range/power extender to the EV mode.

Interesting to think about, I would personally rather have a 460 SWB AWD with a supercharger though.......but a low power EV mode is tempting. Wish there was a car short of the 918 that had that sorta deal going on

 

I imagine the battery pack output is limited to extend it's life.

 

That seems like something that could be tweaked with a tune🤔. I'm sure it's designed like that to maximize the life of the battery but since club Lexus has figured out how to rebuild the battery it might be worth the performance bump

 

Those are viable options . I'm definitely not above cutting a hole at this point

 

There was an other thread where loose O2 sensor plug was potentially a culprit.
If there is a way to push it in with long bar or something to see if that is the problem, it can save lot of grief if that was really the problem. Can you see the connector?

 

With the sensor essentially bring in the transmission tunnel you can't see it from the top nor from underneath.

 

Kinda tempting to come up with a procedure for cutting the tunnel in the exact area to remove the sensor and sell a perfectly sized and shaped plate to be welded in by a professional or a version packaged with structural adhesive and very carefully sized self tapping fasteners to be used by owners.

Pack would include full detail step by step directions, a template to place in the footwell once the carpet and insulation is removed and the correct cutting head(s) to ensure no error, the new plate to be placed over the cut point, a pack of adhesive, a second template for cutting areas of the insulation out to allow the carpet to sit visually perfectly flush, and some high quality paint to apply to the edges of the welded area/adhesive to prevent any chance of rust.

Any interest in something like that?