chuckbass

Hello everyone:
New member here. I recently purchased a used 2006 RX400h. Just the other day, when I put the vehicle into "D" or use the power lock buttons, the front passenger side lock make a rapid"clicking/buzzing" sound.

The manual rocker/lock won't lock the door either, it feels loose and won't move into either position.

I did a search and found others with the issue of the door not locking with the remote or the power lock switch.

Is this an actuator problem, or could this be a cable issue?

I went ahead and ordered a Mabuchi motor from ebay, just in case.

Thanks!

HtownBlue

It does not use a cable. It uses a metal rod system from the latch to the actuator / lock. Sometimes the plastic piece connecting the rod to the latch will break. It could be the actuator as well, but if it was working you wold hear it moving upon locking and unlocking the car, it would just not be making proper contact with the latch via the rod / plastic fitting.

chuckbass

Thank you for the response. Do you, by chance, have an illustration/diagram that shows the plastic piece?

RX330inFL

http://lexus.sewellparts.com/oem-cat...400h-2006.html

chuckbass

Thank you!

dcdyd

I am having exact same issue with my 08. It is about 58K miles. It started happening today.

Chuckbass, did you fix your issue? If yes, can you describe what was the cause? Was that the motor?

chuckbass

I went ahead and ordered the door actuator motor from ebay for about $5 and was prepared to install it. After I removed the door panel, it turns out that the cables were just loose (where they connect to the interior handle). I popped them back in, tested it about 20 times and then put my door panel back on.

I haven't had any problems since. Hopefully, your fix will be this easy.

dcdyd

I will remove the door panel and take a look at it this weekend. Thank you for the response. I will report back what I find.

dcdyd

Here is what it turned out. There are two cables from the door actuator to the internal door handle as well as the power lock button. The cables should be fixed into each clip. If the cable somehow gets out of the clip, when locking the door, the button makes a rapid "clicking/buzzing" sound. By the way, in my case, it is the driver side front door. Other door may be different and I had no experience with those yet.

PIctures are given below. Note that you don't need to take the whole door panel down. Once you can open the bottom and side of the door panel, pull the bottom up and backwards so that the door panel is 30-40 degree from the door, you should be able to see the two cables and check whether it is fixes onto the clip or not.

Below photo shows that the cable for the power door button is at the normal position, fixed on the frame.



Below photo shows that the cable for the power door button is lossen from the frame so that the button will make rapid "clicking/buzzing" sound when trying to lock the door.



NOte that both photos are taken from the driver side front door.

thomas1

Great pictures, thank you so much for the feedback....

chuckbass

Glad to see that your issue was the same as mine. It's pretty nice when a vehicle issue turns out to be something quite simple to fix!

dcdyd

You can save a lot if you have basic skill for car maintainence. We are here for helping each other.