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Lexus’s dealers were knows as the best dealers. There were honest, friendly and they had outstanding technicians.
Nowadays, I don’t think so. It a shame they charged him even though they didn’t fix the car.
I just saw that video on TV this AM and it is outrageous what that Lexus dealer put that owner through and not find the problem and then gives an estimate for $3800 to do dash board surgery to replace parts. Then the car is driven 500 miles to AMD and driver takes a hotel and AMD finds a battery is all that is needed. When something doesn't make sense when trying to figure it out and it is not certain what is wrong the Parts Cannon does not work - smarts and how to diagnose does.
Yes, this is a problem with all Lexus and Toyota hybrids, i monitor mine with a cheap device from Amazon, which shows me the SOC (State of charge) and you can set an alarm if you want. intAct Battery-Guard
Greed is behind it all, and the average Joe consumer is at the bottom of the heap. Add in how the federal government is wearing one consumer protection after another and it just is not a good situation,
At the very least the dealer needs to reimburse all including expenses and if not alternatives need to be looked into. Not sure if other manufacturers face same problem but Lexus has been plagued with low voltage going to computers at turn on causing numerous different problems for a long time. Example of my 2001 LS430 with original 5 yr old battery sometimes would not go in reverse but turn off and back on and fine rest of day. Lexus dealer and even corporate did not have a clue what was going on. Carried to expert transmission shop same no clue. Ended up diagnosed myself and found if I turned off auto fold mirrors and steering wheel positioning so didn't come on at ignition turn on the problem did not happen. Battery checked fine but replaced and problem has been gone up to today. I even know a person that Lexus traded him out of his car for exact same problem they couldn't solve and when I told him the fix he couldn't believe it. Today on LS430 forum it is widely know of the low voltage at turn on even if car starts fine. I think this video is a wake up call for me to replace my 6 yr old ES300h battery even though all is fine now.
The dealer skipped a step. I bet the Toyota Workshop Manual instructs the tech to check the voltage at the battery prior to any other steps. The engineers understand how this system works and the minimum operating voltage level. The LS500h is a very large, AGM battery that lives in the trunk, which is a much more hospitable place for a battery.
Yeah dealers are pretty much allowed to just replace parts, not to think. I can almost see the thought process: 1) what's not working? 2) replace closest part to that. 3) if still not working, replace the next closest part. 4) repeat until resolved.
I've been through that mindless loop on multiple occasions. (In it right now, actually!)
I have tested it in the past, my LS 500h (hybrid) will start with just 10 volts, this is enough to start the hybrid system which will take over within one second. And it will immediately start charging the 12 volt battery.
For all you LS 500 twin turbo people: Your car will NOT start with 10 volts, this is not enough to crank the engine. ( a hybrid does not have a startermotor, it starts from the hybrid battery which powers MG1 )
But i do have a simple battery booster in case of an emergency, it's getting cold....
What mystifies me is why the heck has Lexus not integrated a transient voltage test procedure into their diagnostic routine?
The low voltage battery problem during startup is obviously common enough based on these posts.
The procedure would be to measure dynamic voltage of the battery while the car is being started. If it drops below X volts replace battery.
Some of the better digital Fluke meters have a max/min hold feature with a fast refresh rate that would measure this.
