URGENT HELP PLEASE

[Burroo 67]

Hi,

Went to go to the shops today and my 400H will not start.  All the usual instrument panel lights come on but not the READY light so I can't get the vehicle to start.  Any ideas??

[BachelorDays]

Stuck gear shift?  Try the Shift Lock and see if that helps.

[Herbie]

Try disconnecting the 12V Battery for a few minutes to reset things (your windows and some other stuff may need to be initialised afterwards if you do).

[Burroo 67]

tried both of the above guys, to no avail.....

[BachelorDays]

How's the Battery condition?  Got a voltmeter?

[Burroo 67]

TBH the Battery appears to be fine, I'm wondering if it might be a fuse problem?

[BachelorDays]

It's happened suddenly and so the normal checks - Battery (condition, terminals tight and clean), gear stick stuck, a fuse..  

[Burroo 67]

been on Google trying to locate what fuse it could be - having trouble locating an answer so once again any suggestins as to what to look for would be greatly appreciated.

[BachelorDays]

I read in a post that a guy gave it a few mins on Ignition and the Ready light came on, but his diagnosis was a bad Battery.  I know from experience that shifting the gear out of P and into N and then back to P will get a stuck system going.  Honestly, though, these are just things one tries.  How are you checking the fuses?  If you have a voltmeter then best to check continuity (but never with the key anywhere near the ignition).  What's your Hybrid Charge showing?

[Delphius1]

Difficult question to answer remotely. It depends on the state of the hybrid Battery, the state of the 12v Battery and the other software & hardware interlocks such as gears that would prevent the engine from starting as it should. Do you have any error message on the dash like hybrid error?

With a good hybrid Battery charge, the 12v Battery should be in a good state of charge too. I can't remember whether the starter iruns from the 12v or not, but if it does, a low 12v Battery may prevent the engine from being started to avoid issues with all the other 12v systems.

All this hybrid trickery is new to me, but I do feel there should be some way of starting the internal cumbustion engine independent of the state of the hybrid system so you can limp home using the ICE. It just seems there is a bit too much interdependence in the system.

 

[BachelorDays]

The ECU fuse in the main fuse box under the bonnet?

[Herbie]

Could be the neutral safety switch (or whatever its official title is). It's a physical switch interlock that prevents the car starting in anything other than P or N. If that switch is broken the systems may think that the car is in D or R.

[Burroo 67]

Right, as I said the batteyr appears fine and the Hybrid batteries show an almost full charge.

Just noticed that the audio.info system is not coming on when the ignition is turned on so I wonder if there is a linked fuse and if that is the problem??

[BROUWERS]

You say the 12V battery appears to be fine, but did you check the voltage with a multimeter?

[Mr Vlad]

Hi m8. I sometimes get the same thing in my 450h. What I do is to press the switch to turn it off. Then I try again and all is well. Don't know if you've tried this but it could help.

[Burroo 67]

 

.Not got the facility to check as not got a meter to check with??

[Burroo 67]

And I do not have a power switch on and off, it;s a March 2008 MK 2 I have so it's a key to start and turn off.....

[BROUWERS]

Without a multimeter try the 'secret' menu described in this video. Around the 00:43 mark, the Battery voltage is shown:

https://youtu.be/zLlh5TfbyRQ

[Brian26]

HI there,

I had the same problem a few years ago with my 400h. All the relevant lights came on when I pressed the start button but no ready light. It was the 12 volt Battery, as I was away in my caravan at the time I managed to jump start it using the van Battery. Once I got home I got the Battery load tested and it failed. Battery changed and no more problems.

Hope this helps

Bri

[BachelorDays]

Did you get anywhere with the Audio fuse?

[welland]

4 hours ago, BROUWERS said:

Without a multimeter try the 'secret' menu described in this video. Around the 00:43 mark, the battery voltage is shown:

https://youtu.be/zLlh5TfbyRQ

That looks clever.  Is he touching something that is invisible in the video,  but really visible to the naked eye? 

[welland]

10 hours ago, Burroo 67 said:

Hi,

Went to go to the shops today and my 400H will not start.  All the usual instrument panel lights come on but not the READY light so I can't get the vehicle to start.  Any ideas??

Have you got it going?

I've been having intermittent Battery issues with my 2006 rx400h for some months.  It was not holding charge very well.   Some mornings, my wife would get in the  car to go to work, then she'd come back in the thd house 5 mins later saying the Battery is flat.  When i went outside, before i tried starting car, i discovered that it did start.  

The lesson here is that the action of unlocking the car with the remote and getting in it (courtesy lights), and adjusting the seats and steering column seemed to take the last bit of useable power.  By switching it off for a few minutes, but not locking it, the Battery seemed to recover enough to work at the next attempt.  I think it also helps to do the following:  switch the screen off, switch the climate control off, switch the wipers and lights off, switch the courtesy lights off,  and avoid use of the power tailgate. Basically avoid using any electrical power.  

I did closely monitor the Battery voltage for a few days and discovered that on one occasion, the car started when the voltage was 8v, but other times it would not start when it had 10v

[BROUWERS]

4 hours ago, welland said:

That looks clever.  Is he touching something that is invisible in the video,  but really visible to the naked eye? 

The buttons aren't visible. It might take a few tries to get into the menu, but I can confirm it works.

[welland]

8 hours ago, BROUWERS said:

The buttons aren't visible. It might take a few tries to get into the menu, but I can confirm it works.

He seemed to do an awful lot of tapping.  Is that because some of his taps didn't work, or is it necessary to make all those taps in that sequence? 

[Burroo 67]

Not tried it this morning but will be getting aux Battery metered early this afternoon and will jump start the car hopefully if it is a Battery issue (which by reading Brian 26 above it may well be).

Keep you updated....