I just spent 30 minutes searching the forums for my issue. Some are similar but no one seems to know anything regarding my issue.

I own a 97 ES 300. With in the last year the door locks (when I get in the car) begin a locking and unlocking sound. The doors are not actually locking. This will go on for up to 3 minutes.

Now the car has begun to lock automatically after I get out, on the rare occasion that I don't actually lock it. Then with in a few minutes the alarm begins to go off. I have to unlock it with the fob or the key to stop the alarm. It does not do this at the mechanics. (naturally).

Tonight my husband went to pick up pizza. Left the car unlocked as he could see it. When he went out to open the door it was locked, and the alarm went off when attempted to open the door. He was able to open the car, thus stopping the alarm by using the key. However the car would not start. NO WHERE and I mean NO WHERE does Lexus tell you how long the car is disabled for your "protection". No one on the forums seems to know or understand the situation at all.

I do not want to go to Lexus to have this researched and repaired as the bill will begin around $3000.00 at the local dealership. If I had some idea, my mechanic would be able to repair this.

Any suggestions (without acronyms and cryptic words that men use on these forums) would be very helpful.

 

The problem is your door lock actuator. I had this problem on my '98 ES300 for about 4 years and it started off very sporadic. Eventually, it became much more frequent so that we always opened the door with the key to avoid the alarm. I never got locked out, but my door locks would start unlocking 3-4 times after I opened the door.

I did some searching on these forums and the most likely problem was the actuator, so I finally ordered one and replaced it about 3 weeks ago. It has been working without any problems, so I wish I had done it a long time ago.
If you are mechanically inclined, you can order the part and do it yourself. This was the part for my '98
This basically involves removing your door panel completely and then replacing the actuator that is attached to the inner door lock. It probably took me about 1.5 hours after I researched and looked at some videos etc.