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[IYB]

Hi all,

 i have a LEXUS RX400H 2008 which i bought less than a year from a dealer,  Recently i parked my car for over a week without using it and i decided to drive my car last week and as soon as i turned the engine on there was a warning lights showing 'CHECK VSC SYSTEM'CHECK HYBRID SYSTEM' ,i immediately parked the car and turned off the engine and try to turn it back on to see if the sign will go away but to my amazement when i decided to turn the engine back on then the car won't turn on again, i called LEXUS DEALER and i was told i need to bring the car for an hour diagnostics which will cost me £186 before they can know what the problem is.

Can anyone here help me with any solution or if anyone knows what is the problem with this kind of warning, i actually bought a new Battery recently and i don't think its a Battery issue, i am trying to avoid going to LEXUS DEALER as the bill is always expensive

Does anyone here knows a good hybrid specialist other than LEXUS DEALER?

Thanks everyone for your time and response back.

IYB

[m4rkw]

Depending on your location I would recommend these guys: http://www.toyotec.co.uk

Honest and highly competent. I went there recently and they could have easily billed me for a bunch of work that was indicated from an MOT advisory, but had a quick look under the car and told me (and showed me) that it was entirely spurious and didn't need to be done at all.

[Herbie]

Almost certainly the 12V Battery gone or going flat.

You say you bought a new Battery recently but exactly how long ago and how much have you used the car since fitting it?

The 12V batteries used in the hybrids aren't very big and don't have a huge capacity because they don't have to turn a starter motor to crank the engine. All they do is to provide power for the entry/exit system and power for the computers to boot up and get the car into the READY state. A 'traditional' starter motor will draw upwards of 300A to crank the engine but as you can see in the photo below, my 2013 RX450h only draws 15.32A to get it to READY.

Even if you don't drive the car there will be a drain on the Battery for things like the alarm and immobiliser circuits; keeping the radio presets in memory etc., etc., and if the car isn't used for any length of time, say, stood in an airport car park for a week or two waiting for you to return from your holidays, the Battery will have drained to the point where it won't start the car.

I'm fairly sure that a set of jump leads or an overnight charge of the Battery will see your car up and running again. If you're not using the car on a regular basis I would seriously consider buying one of these jump start battery packs or something similar.

[m4rkw]

+1 for a jumpstarter, I have one from Halfords and it's saved me and friends a few times. Be careful buying one on amazon as there are several that look great at first glance but a more thorough dig through the reviews reveals they have problems.

[DanD]

You may want to read this thread...

 

There are other threads on the same topic that are worth reading

[Herbie]

@IYB Any further info on this?