argonfatl

most likely it’s inverter. You can replace inverter in 40 min.

yeehawbob

Thanks! Is there a video specific to RX. I've seen one for Prius.

jason818

Hello Club Lexus Members,

I recently purchased a 2012 Lexus RX450h with about 145k miles. Several days later i went to put in gas for the first time. After filling it up i drove about a block and i heard a ping sound. The yellow triangle, Check Hybrid System, Check Brake System, Check Engine, Slip Indicator and Brake Warning Light appeared all at once. Drove the car about a mile home. I read if i disconnected the negative on my 12 volt battery for 1 minute all the lights would go off. It worked. Drove the car for a few days and all the lights came back on. Not sure if this means anything but the battery bars would drop to 2 purple bars in traffic. Even with all the lights on, my energy monitor is at 5 so I'm hoping it's not the Hybrid battery. Does anyone have suggestions on how to fix these issues without spending thousands on a new Hybrid battery? Can the gas cap cause any of the issues.

Thank you

Check Hybrid System

Check Brake System

Showing 5 bars even with the Hybrid System down.

RadiantX45

Ping sound as in a digital warning sound? Or a ping sound from the engine?

You can go to AutoZone and have them scan the vehicle for free, that will give you the fault code which you can research online or you can go to the shop and get a diag.
My guess is that the hybrid battery health has deteriorated enough to trigger the code. But you should get the code first as all we can do is guess here.

jason818

Hello PDITTEL,

The warning sound went off. These are the codes that i got. P0A80 replace hybrid battery pack, C1259 ECM communication malfunction and C1310 Malfunction in HV system. If i replace the hybrid battery will all the other codes erase along with the check engine, slip indicator and brake warning light.

Thank you

salimshah

The scanner points to problem area and not necessarily diagnose a problem or give you a solution.
Each item then needs to be tested, else you will keep throwing parts at the vehicle.

Let me give you a scenario, let say there is a communication problem and the battery information is not being read by the cpu. At that stage the cpu may also give you the error message that battery reading is bad.

Do the next level of diagnosis to confirm the problem.

Salim

jason818

Hi Salim,

Thanks for your input. I will look into it.

yeehawbob

I am noticing that more and more cars are having this issue after they reach 130k miles.
Having said that I also notice multiple error codes for the same message "Check Hybrid System" display.
Your local tech may give you a different cause all together, but here are some of the causes and fixes:
1. Make sure the vents under rear seat are clear. remove the grill and clean foam.
2. Inverter coolant Pump located under Inverter may have failed, easy to replace, $100+ for pump + labor.
3. Check All Fuse located at multiple locations in your car.
4. Error Code for "Rear Speed Sensor" comes up and the connector is on the Inverter. Noticing many cars with failed connector.
5. Inverter itself may have gone bad (noticing with many cars) expensive part and 3-4 hours of labor cost.

I am not a mechanic but I have been dealing with multiple shops and now my car is out of commission for 3 months where the mechanic damaged the Wiring Harness due to a faulty Inverter HE purchased.
I'm looking for a replacement Inverter and Engine Wiring Harness, so contemplating if it is worth it to spend another $3-4k into the car that is worth only maybe $8-10k.

jhanuman

I got the check hybrid system a year ago on my 2010 RX450h (169k miles). Mechanic had it for a week checking the voltage & concluded there were cells dropping below the recommended level & was tripping the error msg. He reset it, told me I needed a hybrid battery but could keep driving it with risking the car could just stop, or eventually the error msg would return. It did. I ordered a battery from Green tec auto last week ($3495 (3yr warranty)+ $650 mobile install). I decided to look under my hood a couple days ago & freaked when a large tail was in my engine, & crawled under the dash area. I decided to turn the car on to scare the squirrel away & more warning lights came on, AFS & ABS & blinking headlight. I brought it to autozone & their codes were POA80 & CO200 & ABS. I'm afraid the squirrel chewed through wires to make at least the CO200 go off. I do have comprehensive still which covers for animal damage ($500 ded). I can't see any damage myself. Worried that if the wire damage is extensive, insurance could total my car. Or could possibly my 12V battery which autozone checked out at 7.9 cause the error codes? I haven't driven it much since the error msg returned (when I put it into cruise).

salimshah

Although the charging voltage may be higher, but the error codes can not be trusted till the measurement by sensors and the eco is done with proper 12v.

Salim

megansdad

Hi - new here. Got the dreaded Check Hybrid System message. I have been snooping around the forums for a few days and decided Club Lexus was the most active group. Now that I have joined and am getting acclimated, I dug into this thread, and just noticed it has more view/post traffic than any other thread in the 3rd Generation Hybrid forum. That is a bit scary. Anyway, yesterday mine finally fell to a single purple bar on the battery graph, and the car is now dead in the water. I had to get it towed back to the house.

Can anyone tell me, when the big battery is that far discharged, is there a procedure for bringing its charge back up to where the car will start and run again?

Thanks in advance.

megansdad

We, too, discovered what happens when you pile up all your road trip luggage in the footwell of the back seat. The Big Battery overheated and the car shut down on the Interstate. We had it towed to the nearest dealer (300 miles). The dealer said it needed a new battery, but thanks to online owners' forums, the fix was to get all the stuff away from the vents in the back seat footwell allowing the Big Battery to cool down and resume normal operation. All the errors cleared themselves.

MellonC00

I also got the CHECK HYBRID SYSTEM and CHECK BRAKE SYSTEM warning this weekend. The odometer was at 142K. The car runs fine and the battery still charges. I have a suspicion this may be rodent damage as a couple of my distributor coils met the same fate about 6 months ago. Unfortunately, I had to take it into the stealership hoping the coffee tastes better this time. Let's see. They quoted me $225 just to diagnose.

Question:
Exactly what is the hybrid system warranty in CA? All websites I've been to says CA hybrid system warranty is 150K miles or 10 year whichever comes first. But the dealer is adamant that it's only 100K miles nationwide.

megansdad

Ugh. I can't tell you anything about the warranty. Sorry.

I can report that I went ahead and got a new (reconditioned) hybrid battery for my own Lexus (2011 RX450h with 256K miles) and the first time I drove it with the new battery, it had the exact same failure as before, except for stranding me. It didn't strand me. I was able to park the car, shut it off, restart it, and with the new battery in it, it charged up just fine (recall with the old battery, it held its breath and turned blue, refusing to charge or even budge). However, of course now the plot thickens on my failure. To make myself feel better about spending $3K on the new battery, I can say, at 12 years old and over a quarter million miles, "Oh well, it probably needed a new battery anyway."

However, it really stung to have the car ding out and shut down the moment I floored it to see what would happen. Stupid Lexus. My wife says, "Why do you always try to break everything on purpose?" She doesn't get it about testing things to see if they are now fixed, etc. It was a basic test. I learned it is not fixed. About a day later or maybe two days later, it appeared to automatically clear itself of any errors. Now it is running fine.

I should mention, the dealer wanted $7K for the battery. I got my custom reconditioned/rebuilt battery from Green Bean Battery ($2750 plus tax, comes with a transferable warranty), and I could not be happier with the price and the service, except of course that it didn't fix the problem. I'm hoping the Lexus is so smart that it shut down only because it didn't realize it had a new battery yet, and when it does figure out it has a new battery, it will give itself more slack and let me floor the car like it should. We'll see just how smart that "computer" is.

She drove it over the weekend and she drove it to work today. So far so good. But I hate the uncertainty.

MellonC00

I got quoted 7750 for full hybrid battery replacement. I refused repair of course. then, they refused to provide me with actual OBD codes and battery info from each cell. So much for the free rental car and starbucks coffee. I plan to take it to a hybrid shot nearby next week.