skhuu

Hi all

I am new to the forum, sorry if I posted at the wrong place. I am also new to Lexus from BMW. I am from Johannesburg, South Africa. I recently bought a 2007 Lexus IS250 ES which now has 106km, so it's not under motor plan.

The car showed the battery warning light and after a while it switched itself off. I had it towed to a place called Car Service City, it's a reputable local garage from my experience and has branches all over the country. They told me it was an alternator and they had to take it to be fixed or fixed and also a fuselink. I accepted their quote and it was fixed.

I collected it and drove off, but before I could go anywhere I saw several thing;
1. The AFS ON light was flashing, tried to turn it off with the switch and nothing happens.
2. There was a Check VSG or something warning.
3. The other warning of a car screeching or on a road, also I tried turning it off with the switch and still nothing.
4. The time on the display wasn't showing anything.

I turned back and showed them these problem since the car didn't have any lights or any problems before I went there. They told me that I have to take it to Lexus for them to reset the ECU because their diagnostic system can't access it. It has to be done only at Lexus.

I get home, park and try to lock the car and the central locking is not working. I try several times and nothing. I try to lock and unlock doors from the button and it's not working. Now I am curious I start checking all other things which normally work and most don't.

Apart from above mentioned errors, these are the rest;
1. I can only lock the car with remote within seconds after turning off the ignition or moving from on to off on the button without starting. If I stay about fifteen seconds it won't lock.
2. The car won't lock at all with the remote, so I have to use the manual key.
3. The boot can't unlock unless ignition is on or car is running.
4. The shade is the same problem, it only works when it's on or running and won't automatically go down on reverse.
5. The steering will won't retract automatically when I switch off or comes forward when I switch it off. It stays put. I can control it manually though.
6. The sit erases memory when I switch off. The driver's window needs to be reset every time as it also loses memory when I switch off the car.

Apart from these the car drives normal, no problems with that.

I have booked the car for next week Thursday. The garage said its only to reset the ECU, but when I spoke to the technician he said I have to book it in as it doesn't look like as simple as they said. Now I am imagining I will get a huge bill.

I need help if anyone ever had such problem, or sort of close. Maybe it will help me know what the costs might be. And also if there's another fix to the problem that could help.
Also, does the dealers charge for diagnostics in case I decide not to go through with their quote if it's way too much for me or I still need to budget?
I know most garages don't charge for that.

Any help or advice will be appreciated. By the way, I love the car and it drives so nice. The features are awesome, it's more like I am driving a BMW 5 series.

idoke1

iTrader: (5)

You can try to reset the ecu. Unplug the cables off the battery. Let it stand for 15 mins. Replug the cables back in and see if that helps. It can also be that the alternator they replaced could also be bad.

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

Have the shop test your battery; sounds like the battery isn't holding a charge any longer. A bad alternator can cause a good battery to go bad.

skhuu

Sorry for the delay in responding and thanks for your reply. I have already tried resetting the ECU by removing the terminal and also removing the two fuses, can't remember their numbers.
I think maybe the garage I used were only concerned with the car starting. Otherwise they could've spoke to Lexus and maybe quoted me to take the car there themselves if they know what they are doing.

skhuu

Thanks for replying. My battery is about 3 months old. I took it to the spares shop and they checked it and it was about 12.3 or something volts.

I guess, my option is the dealership, hope they don't charge me and arm and a leg.

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

^And how exactly was the test actually performed when they got that reading? Was it on the battery with the car running and the battery connected? Was the battery disconnected from the car when this test was done? 12.3 could be fine, or could not be good...depending on how exactly the test was performed.

skhuu

The battery was not in the car. They first charged it fully and then tested it. But since it was holidays I couldn't do anything to solve this.

Something I also noticed is that the battery seems to die to quickly after you turn off the car. Example is I stopped the car, played music for less than 30 minutes and the battery was dead. Normally the radio will switch off after some time before the battery could die, but this time it died fast.
I think I will take the battery back to them and have them check the battery and the alternator to make sure all is working well. Now I suspect the battery.

Thanks for your respond and advice, hope it's just the battery.

skhuu

Finally sorted my problem. I booked the car at a dealership and they said it was a MPX-B fuse and they replaced it and everything is now working.

The painful part is they charged me R736.00 which is about $60 for something I could've fixed for about $2. Dealerships are ripping us off, honestly I was pissed off. Especially after checking and finding out the fuse doesn't cost that much. I mean it's like they charged me 97% for labour.

Bichon

Sound like they charged you for 1/2 hour labor. That doesn't sound like much to diagnose and fix a problem that left both you and your original shop stumped.

skhuu

I blame it on the original shop, they should've checked the fuses. But they lied to me and said the car needed an ECU reset when it was actually a blown fuse.

tirengolf

Skhuu, the original shop you took it too, are they a lexus toyota shop only ?

carlos3366

thanks for the update, don't feel too bad, it was worth it.

skhuu

No it's not a lexus dealership. It's a general garage with a branches throughout the country. But after this whole ordeal I saw a lot of negative posts about them on this consumer complaints website called www.hellopeter.com.

skhuu

Yeah, am glad it's sorted. Was a struggle to always have to use the manual key and other nonfictional accessories.