JoniNguyen

So today, I started my Lexus Ls600hl and the lights were flickering and the car wont start. Then on the Dash it has the yellow ! icon and the lcd says Parking brake not available.... The car wont start. I tried disconnecting the battery etc. nothing. Then i jumped the battery and got it to turn on, but it says parking brake not available - see dealer for information. But the car runs fine and everything now - But i don't understand the warning, the parking brake wont engage anymore. Has anyone had this issue? I will take it to the dealer tomorrow to see what's wrong.

Nospinzone

In all my years in this forum I don't recall ever reading that problem. If I had to guess I would say disconnect the battery and reconnect it, but you've already done that.

Best to let the dealer do a diagnostics on it. Let us know what you find out.

jmcraney

Seems like this is an indication of a discharged or defective battery. The parking brake on these cars is operated by an electric motor that requires lots of current and the car is designed to warn when the battery does not have sufficient capacity to operate the parking brake should it be required in an emergency.

jlawr

I agree. Take it to Autozone or O'Reilly's and have them test you battery for free. Betcha it needs replacing.

roadfrog

+3 on the battery. I would start there.

CJITTY

battery for sure..I'm almost positive. I have a 600 also and ran my battery down on accident and got the same message..I disconnected the cable for about 30 mins and then jumped it with one of those jump boxes and tested battery at Lexus. .came back with excellent results but a low battery on these LS's causes soo much drama

JoniNguyen

The battery is fine... for some reason it discharged unknowingly causing that problem. I took it to the dealer to have them reset - they came back and told me the system crashed and now every light came on and they can't get it working normally. I was like "OH ****" plz plz plz don't tell me my car is effed. They tried and tried, then i remember i installed the data system lowering module. I went back to the body shop, spoke with the tech, and removed the data system. The system loaded again successfully. hahah thank goodness. Lesson to self, remove all aftermarket accessories before going to the dealer for any computer diagnostic work.

CJITTY

Rule #1 for me...NEVER show up with the data controller installed for warranty work. I am surprised you did that. You didn't pay the body shop to remove the controller did you? That is a 20 min job tops. I always take mine out for any warranty work that might be a conflict by having that installed...either electrical issues, suspension problems, etc....20 min or getting a denied claim..hmm...rather not deal with questions even though it most likely isn't the culprit

JoniNguyen

yea, i forgot about it since it was in the glove box. all i did was just disconnect the controller instead of removing the glovebox and all that. it was fine afterwards. The car doesn't have warranty anymore, but it's a mistake on my part haha. They only charged me one hour of labor when it took the tech two hours cause we take all of our lexus there for servicing.

roadfrog

Same with BMW 7's. A battery that is even HINTING at going sour causes all types of problems in them. Things like stability control, transmission issues, etc etc.

Reminds me when I had my F350 Powerstroke. Guys on the forum like me had various different power tuners (Bullydog, Banks etc), and anytime we went for warranty work, we'd have to disconnect and remove the hardware AND reset the OBD and clear stored codes to avoid being denied claims. Some members reported that when the service advisor saw any hint of mods (like pillar gauges), the questions would start. Some transmission warranty claims were denied as a result of these mods.

CJITTY

Disconnecting the controller without putting the oem connections back would leave an open loop..I tried it once and got the air suspension error until I reconnected the module to the harness..unless I'm misunderstanding what you were saying

JoniNguyen

all i did was disconnect the controller and the system resetted fine. My next step was gonna be removing the harness and plugging back the original cables. but the problem was fixed. So i still don't know whether the controller had anything to do with the reset. I've disconnected just the module before and no air suspension errors. hmmm

CJITTY

Wait, let me understand just so I am clear. Are you saying you can unplug the back of the DataSystems controller from your glove box, leaving the wire harness only and you get no air suspension errors on your dash at all? I didn't think it would put the oem air suspension ecu back into a normal state since the data link is not present. So I wonder if the harness just puts the system back to factory state in that situation. That would be cool because I don't like removing it all the time, but it's the price I pay for having a CPO warranty and mods lol. That way I can just loop the harness out of sight. I guess I could try it again and see if the car raises back to oem ride height since I normally run on level 4

JoniNguyen

yep. I left all of the wiring intact. I just disconnected the two plugs from the controller and put it in my pocket and walked out haha. No warnings or anything. My understanding is that all of the original wires are connected when we installed the harness. Only when u plug in the controller do those few wires it override the system, otherwise it's the same connection. The wires that goes into the controller are spliced from some of the orignal wires. If those wires are not connected to the the controller then the electric current continues to pass through the original wires by passing the unconnected wires, if the controller is connected current goes thru the controller then back to the original wires. I've done a few wiring splicing in previous cars (my m3 temperature sensor) to trick the system and that's how essentially it works and i believe this works on the same basis. I've taken the controller out before and the car just go back to normal, then when i plug it back in, the car runs by the controller's settings. weird.

CJITTY

Thanks for the write up...very interesting. I know I got an error. .I am not sure if its because I have a 600 but I don't think it should matter but I will try that again and see what happens. Glad your issue cleared up!!