jontoronto

Hi all, I am hoping someone here can help me.
I drive a 2002 SC430 and today, for the first time, when I push the close button for the roof, a red light blinks. When I press OPEN nothing happens. No light, no sound, nothing.
When I press close I can hear something happening, sounds like something is moving, the best I can describe it is like when you actually close the roof and it latches shut at the very end.
I have never had this problem before, I checked the valet button, I closed the latch in the trunk, the button for opening the trunk from the inside of the car works perfectly, so I am stumped.
The hydraulics were changed 1 year ago before I bought the car from a very close friend of mine.
I am hoping that someone would know of this problem and how I can fix it.

Thank you kindly
Jonathan

jontoronto

Anybody?
I'm dyin here!

CBG

Do you have the flap in the trunk in place?

jontoronto

yes I do, and I tried checking all of the fuses but I cant seem to pop them out (do they pop out automatically if blown?)
Also, should I disconnect the battery for 30 minutes? will that do anything?

This is puzzling

mrblister

The fuse are pull out type. Either grip them with a needle nose pliers or use your fingers
If they are bad you should be able to see the bar is broken from a side view . There was a member not long ago that found that the connector that plugs into the valet button in the glove box had come loose which in effect turns off the top. The connector is just behind the glove box you have to pull out the special glove box inserts that are shown in the manual this then allows for the glove box to be able to lower completely and you have a clear acess to the air filter thats behind the glove box. The valet switch you should be able to now see if the connector worked its self loose.

Hope this helps
Buddy

jontoronto

thank you very much
I am unclear on one thing though.
If pushing the button closed for the roof makes it blink red, and pushing the button open makes nothing happen, what would you think the problem is?

Does this actually sound like a fuse issue? How woudl I know if it had something to do with the hydraulic lifts (which were changed by lexus once already, before I owned the car)

I wish I could narrow down what the cause might be
What do you think?

Habious

There are trunk struts...which commonly wear out every couple of years. These hold the trunk lid up when it's open. They have nothing to do with the convertible top.

The convertible top is all electronic. Computer, relays, microswitches, motors and cables.

I get the red blinking light when trying to OPEN the top is the valet switch in the glove box is pressed or the tonnaeu cover in the trunk is not in place. I've never seen the right light blinking when trying to CLOSE the top.

If the top computer is "confused" about the position of the top...or if the trunk got popped before the cycle was complete, a full battery disconnect for 30 seconds (system reset) might sort things out. If nothing else, I don't see how it could hurt.

jontoronto

Ok cool, I am going to try a full battery disconnect right now.
Hopefully it will work after.

Another weird thing I noticed now when messing around with it was that if I open both windows, and then hold the close button, the windows go up.
I get nothing though when touching the open button.

The I drove around and pressed the close button and it started beeping constantly until I shut the car down and restarted.

Im starting to think this is a computer issue....

I will see soon enough I guess

Thanks
Jon

jontoronto

so after disconnecting the battery for about 3 minutes I tried to open the roof and it actually did, but it seemed weak. Then after I closed it, it wouldnt open again. In fact, now the switch doesnt even blink red like it used to.

My mechanic friend seems to think that the problem is in the switch and not the actual roof mechanics.

Could it simply be the switch?

TooCoolSC

I think the odds are with you that it's going to be something relatively minor rather than a true problem with the roof mechanics. I've talked to a variety of people in Lexus service and they all say they have NEVER seen a roof actually go out on these cars. They didn't say "rarely," they said "never".

That's not to say it's impossible, because it obviously is "possible". Just not likely.

Good luck with it. I know it's a really worrisome thing.

Habious

Any chance you have a LuxLink installed in the car? It works independent of the switch.

I was working on the stereo once...and had the climate control module out of the car. I needed to put the top down but, the button for the roof was on the climate control module, in the back seat!

However, the LuxLink still worked and I was able to put the top up/down without the button even being hooked up.

mhoepfin

Could a low battery cause this? I know on other cars I own with lots of electronics that a low battery manifests itself into strange issues.

tfischer

I don't know what you mean when you suggest that a "low battery manifests itself into strange issues," as I have never had a battery with psychological metamorphosis before, but I will suggest that you adopt a policy of never operating the top mechanism unless the engine is running. Serious computer problems can develop when the battery runs down with the top in mid-flight. The top gets frozen in an in between state, and the computer, suddenly deprived of power, forgets where the top is in its cycle. You don't want to have to manually lower the top; see the 20 pages of instructions in the manual to see what's involved.
If you always have the engine running when operating the top, and you have problems, the battery will never be one of them.
Operating the top on battery power alone can be done, of course, and many people do it from time to time, but it's dangerous and is not recommended, as there is seldom a reason for doing it, apart from the very cool demonstration of sophisticated engineering when using one of the remote top controls that are available, and showing off has always been sufficient justification for such a departure from the norm. Life is too short not to live it up a little.

mhoepfin

What I mean is that in other cars I have owned, like my current Phaeton, or say a BMW 7-series, a low battery can cause the car to start having strange faults or warning lights that would indicate other problems than just the battery is low.

Maybe Lexus is different, but this is the norm for alot of German cars. So, when you see a post with some very strange behavior it may be a good first step to make sure that the battery is in good shape.

jontoronto

i am at the dealership now and the car is having its diagnosis.
It seems that there was an error in "switch 3" or "switch position 3"

I could not read it clearly even though the mechanic let me stand by the car as her plugged it in.

They told me it is a switch error and now they are trying to locate the switch.

I hopw this switch isnt 500 or more dollars.

At 124 bucks an hour for the diagnosis Im hoping to get out of here under 300.

3 mechanics and one service manager standing by it now. Maybe not a good sign......


sigh......