When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Hi! This is my third Lexus. In 2021, I bought a brand-new GX 460 Premium w/Sport Design off the showroom floor, and sold it for a handsome premium during the pandemic. Last year, I bought a 2011 LS 460 L AWD, on which I could never diagnose a mysterious buzzing sound at idle, and on top of that, it wasn't as well-cared-for as it should have been. Now, I've found my white-whale car, a 2008 LS 600h L. I love it. It's got 120,000 miles on it and is a 2-owner California car. I drove it 1,000 miles home over the weekend, and it did excellently. But that's not to say it's without its issues.
Control Arms and Suspension
I don't even have to crawl under it to figure out that it needs new control arms. Knocking galore. It may also need new air struts eventually. None of this scares me, but I'm very confused as to which parts to buy. Apparently, the 2007-2011 ones suck, and Lexus may sell you the defective design again if you just buy the OE parts from a dealer, even though the 2012+ ones actually fit? Someone had a very good tutorial on YouTube, but it didn't cover the AWD models. Does anyone have a list of the updated control arm parts for AWD models?
Traction Battery
I think there's something suboptimal going on with the powertrain. It seems like the engine fires on far more than it should, and does so rather loudly. I did get a complete service history, and it mentions a pending fail code for the traction battery, so that's probably in need of replacement. Again, not scary, but I'm not sure. My inspection appointment with Lexus isn't until the 15th, but I'm feeling impatient and would love to know before then, if there's a way to definitively tell if the battery is failing or not. I am able to put it in EV mode, if that helps.
Headliner Material
When I first saw the white (seriously, who thought that was a good idea?!?!?!?!) headliner in this car, which is scratched badly in some places, I thought the previous owner was just rough with it. Nope. Turns out that whatever suede-like stuff Lexus used on the nicer headliners is prone to being damaged. I'd love to fix it, particularly without pulling down the headliner and having everything reupholstered. Can the headliner be fixed?
Diagnostics and Configuration
I am reliably informed that the pre-2010 Lexus products do not allow you to configure anything regarding the car's systems in the infotainment, like the later ones do, and so you have to use Techstream to set things like lock confirmation volume and such. I'd love to get Techstream, but would obviously like to do so in as trouble-free a way as possible. Where does one purchase a reliable version of Techstream that works with this car for reasonable money?
Again, thanks, and it's great to be back in the Lexus fold.
LS600 shares control arms with LS460 AWD. There are number of posts about thouse. That means, there are aftermarket options for lower arms. If I am not mistaken, uppers will still have to be OEM.
You can get OEM coils used or new. If you want air ride, OEM is still the only good option.
Amayama, Megazip etc are good sources of parts directly from Japan.
Carista App and a Bluetooth dongle work well for changing "custom driver settings as well as reading OND codes. A better choice than buying a pirated copy of TS and a cheap cable. Do a search here to see that people have issues with recent buys, older ones seemed OK. The reliable version is from TS and quite pricey. See a car upholsterer for the headliner. Hybrid battery testing with software is the only way to know about battery. Anytime parts are required for repairs, always reference VIN for the correct parts, it's too easy to buy wrong parts based on model. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
The Dr. prius app imo is the easiest way to diagnose your traction battery. The app is free to download, most features are free. However, the section of the app for doing a full test of your hybrid battery does cost $15 or so. It's easy to use. This Bluetooth odb works well with it.
For 95 percent of the average home user needs the pirated TS and cheap cables work fine. Amazon is full of them. I've installed 3 or 4 different ones on various computers. I think the hangup most people have is properly installing the software. If your not good with a pc I'd suggest another route. TS does give you the ability to change more user settings.
I'm going to guess your loud engine is due to worn engine mounts. I replaced the mounts in both cars to tame the loud engine. Both cars had bad left engine mounts. Rights were fine. Once the mounts are replaced the starting and stopping of the ice is much less noticeable.
Upper control arms:
I used these upper arms. https://www.ebay.com/itm/166278401226
A note on the upper arms. I purchased both my 600h's used. It appears Lexus uses some sort of 2 piece poly bushing on the upper trailing arms. Both of my 600h's came with matching rear poly bushings. You might consider using oem for those. And perhaps 2 of the TRQ's for the forward upper.
While turning right under heavy acceleration the trq arm bushings have too much deflection. The steering wheel can be off by 30 degrees until I come off the gas pedal. I believe the oem poly bushings are firmer and eliminate the offset steering during hard acceleration.
If you look above your front wheels you'll see your arms and bushings. I'm curious if you also have poly bushings on the trailing upper arm.
It's hard to go wrong with oem. But if you live in an area which wears them out yearly the aftermarket ones offer a great savings.
The Dr. prius app imo is the easiest way to diagnose your traction battery. The app is free to download, most features are free. However, the section of the app for doing a full test of your hybrid battery does cost $15 or so. It's easy to use. This Bluetooth odb works well with it. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...rch_asin_title
For 95 percent of the average home user needs the pirated TS and cheap cables work fine. Amazon is full of them. I've installed 3 or 4 different ones on various computers. I think the hangup most people have is properly installing the software. If your not good with a pc I'd suggest another route. TS does give you the ability to change more user settings.
I'm going to guess your loud engine is due to worn engine mounts. I've owned 2 600h's. I replaced the mounts in both cars to tame the loud engine. Both cars had bad left engine mounts. Rights were fine. Once the mounts are replaced the starting and stopping of the ice is much less noticeable.
Upper control arms:
I used these upper arms. https://www.ebay.com/itm/166278401226
A note on the upper arms. I purchased both my 600h's used. It appears Lexus uses some sort of 2 piece poly bushing on the upper trailing arms. Both of my 600h's came with matching rear poly bushings. You might consider using oem for those. And perhaps 2 of the TRQ's for the forward upper.
While turning right under heavy acceleration the trq arm bushings have too much deflection. The steering wheel can be off by 30 degrees until I come off the gas pedal. I believe the oem poly bushings are firmer and eliminate the offset steering during hard acceleration.
If you look above your front wheels you'll see your arms and bushings. I'm curious if you also have poly bushings on the trailing upper arm.
It's hard to go wrong with oem. But if you live in an area which wears them out yearly the aftermarket ones offer a great savings.
I saw your impressive saga with that gold LS 600h L you bought, and I'm glad you responded. Thanks for the advice. I will check the bushings again, but I feel like they were the original OEM ones. And the motor mount could absolutely be the culprit.
Carista App and a Bluetooth dongle work well for changing "custom driver settings as well as reading OND codes. A better choice than buying a pirated copy of TS and a cheap cable. Do a search here to see that people have issues with recent buys, older ones seemed OK. The reliable version is from TS and quite pricey. See a car upholsterer for the headliner. Hybrid battery testing with software is the only way to know about battery. Anytime parts are required for repairs, always reference VIN for the correct parts, it's too easy to buy wrong parts based on model. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
Thanks! The B-pillar upper trim on each side and the passenger visor are worn badly enough to warrant replacement, and I have those part numbers from the Lexus dealer; the rest of it looks perfectly serviceable.
LS600 shares control arms with LS460 AWD. There are number of posts about thouse. That means, there are aftermarket options for lower arms. If I am not mistaken, uppers will still have to be OEM.
You can get OEM coils used or new. If you want air ride, OEM is still the only good option.
Amayama, Megazip etc are good sources of parts directly from Japan.
If the upholstery items are unobtainum an upholstery shop can recover the b pillars. I had all 4 of them recovered.
My friends hybrid battery caused him to be stranded a month ago. The dr prius app was able to clear the faults and get him home.
I highly recommend getting the app If you intend to drive it for any length of time with a weak battery. It has some unique tests that will give you a percentage of battery health. I suspect your down to around 20 percent health. You can also monitor block voltages to do a few deep discharges in an attempt to recover some capacity.
If the upholstery items are unobtainum an upholstery shop can recover the b pillars. I had all 4 of them recovered.
My friends hybrid battery caused him to be stranded a month ago. The dr prius app was able to clear the faults and get him home.
I highly recommend getting the app If you intend to drive it for any length of time with a weak battery. It has some unique tests that will give you a percentage of battery health. I suspect your down to around 20 percent health. You can also monitor block voltages to do a few deep discharges in an attempt to recover some capacity.
My dongle should be here today!
Interestingly enough, on a 100-mile drive an hour ago, I got a Hybrid System Overheat message on the instrument cluster. I realize these NiMh batteries are air-cooled, so I pulled over, turned the car off, and checked the battery fan and filter. The fan seemed perfectly clean, and the filter was not egregiously dirty. And the engine coolant temperature was just fine, so it's not anything on the engine side. The error went away when I left the rest stop, but then came back 40 miles later. I pulled over again and restarted, and it went away.
Good thing I was headed to the Lexus dealer. They're inspecting it now, and they'll do a battery health test. However, I'm still going to take your recommendation on the Dr. Prius app.
Either way, this car is so far right up my alley in terms of complication. I also own a 1996 Jaguar XJ12 (that's the last year for the V12), so I'm used to these esoteric, ridiculous luxury cars.
Heat is a main cause of short battery life. So, the overheat alert, along with suspected battery issues is probably connected. Before allowing dealer to replace batteries, check around for other sources to save substantial money.
The hybrid overheat is a sign the pack is bad. Weak battery modules that have a lower capacity, covert the excess charge to heat. You can actually watch the temperature of the bad modules rise with the app.
It's my understanding 2010+ years have a dedicated filter for the hybrid battery. This is a 2008, like yours it has the rear ac filter but no battery filter that I know of. I think this fan in yellow is for the battery. There are 3 different air ducts in that cramped area with a number of air damper actuators. I'm not going to pretend to know how it all works. I do know my car will automatically turn on the rear ac on hot days. If your rear ac is functioning I'd guess the battery is simply old and in need of replacement.
I recall a thread where the cool air for battery cooling is sourced from in the cabin with a filter buried in the system. There was an exploded drawn view of that system from a Lexus parts website. Suggest that you do a search for year specific fan or similar parts to find a sketch of your specific year layout. It wouldn't surprise me if the cooling setup got changed by engineers over different model years.
The hybrid overheat is a sign the pack is bad. Weak battery modules that have a lower capacity, covert the excess charge to heat. You can actually watch the temperature of the bad modules rise with the app.
It's my understanding 2010+ years have a dedicated filter for the hybrid battery. This is a 2008, like yours it has the rear ac filter but no battery filter that I know of. I think this fan in yellow is for the battery. There are 3 different air ducts in that cramped area with a number of air damper actuators. I'm not going to pretend to know how it all works. I do know my car will automatically turn on the rear ac on hot days. If your rear ac is functioning I'd guess the battery is simply old and in need of replacement.
Ah, okay. So what I thought was the filter and fan wasn't. And that's what they said could be causing the overheat: a bad battery pack. I'm just grateful it didn't do it at any point in time during the 15 hours I drove hime. It also didn't do it on the way home from the dealership (100 miles). And you were right on the money on the battery life; Dr. Prius shows it at 22%. So why does the LS 600h L's battery do so badly, when other Toyota hybrids seem to manage well over 250K miles before needing a replacement.
As far as the suspension, Lexus of Tulsa couldn't give me a definitive answer on what's causing the suspension clunks within the timeframe of their standard inspection, which is what I really wanted looked at. It probably is the control arms and possibly the sway bar end links, but I want the suspension inspected more thoroughly. They said it looked like someone replaced the front struts and that it was done outside of a Lexus dealership; it's possible that person didn't replace the mounts that sit between the struts and the strut tower.
Since the battery needs replacing, Lexus of Tulsa quoted me $6,476, including labor, to replace the battery pack. That's honestly not bad, and is certainly an attractive option. I can also check Eskridge Lexus of Oklahoma City, as that's much much closer to me. But then, I saw this company, purporting to sell a pack that (with no core charge) for $2,750, with the idea that I'd DIY it and send back the old one.
What does everyone think? Has anyone replaced a battery pack in these before?
Last edited by fanatic777; 11-07-23 at 06:13 PM.
Reason: Clarity
11-05-23, 09:48 PM
New-to-Me LS 600h L: Control Arms, Diagnostics
