Hello all,
Any help or advice would be much appreciated. This is my first post, so please bear with me. Got in my GS the other day to go to work. Depressed the brake and push button start and car started like normal. Ran for 3 seconds or so and something on the dash flashed, maybe it said "system malfunction"? Car turned off and would not start. It was unexpected and happened so quickly. Car has worked fine since I've had it for 3 months or so. The brakes are now vacuum sealed and barely have any room to depress. The vehicle can only be locked/unlocked by hand and have to use the manual key to open the doors. The door open light comes on the dash and the dome lights work. The key fob is not detected and does not work when I hold it up closely to the start button, like it is said to do when the car is immobilized. I just put a new battery in the key fob. That didn't help. I put a new car battery in the vehicle. That didn't. help. I am not sure what to do anymore!!?? I spoke to the Lexus dealer on the phone and they sounded like it was either the key fob or the car battery. Checked those both out. Could it be the computer system? Maybe needs to be re-programmed? Something isn't triggering the ignition. The dash won't turn on or anything. Thanks in advance! Thoughts....

 

unhook battery for 10-15 minutes and reconnect it and then try again.

 

I am away from the vehicle right now as I had to leave town for Thanksgiving. That is a good idea. When I replaced the old battery with a new one, I hooked it up right away and didn't wait to hook up the new one. I will have to try that when I get back home. I talked to another mechanic who thinks I should start with having a new key fob ordered and programed to the car....

 

do the battery first to reset the ECU

 

Im thinking maybe a bad key fob

 

I just got off the phone with the Lexus dealer to explain what I've done so far. I told them about trying a new battery in the key fob and a new car battery and that neither worked. Although, before I do anything when I get back home I will unhook the battery for 20 min. and see if it resets the ecu like burny suggests. The mechanic I spoke to said I have done everything I can do myself and that it would be best to have the dealer look at it. He thought it could be the key fob as well, but that would be strange. I haven't mentioned before that the mesh strap in the trunk that houses wires and opens and closes the trunk was bad, so I do not have it plugged in underneath the open/close trunk latch until I get that fixed. The mechanic didn't think that would have anything to do with it. The closest dealer to my house to get it towed to is Toyota, so I guess I'll have to have it towed there sometime this week to get diagnosed. I'll post on here what is going on. Thanks!

 

How many key fobs do you have?
It's unlikely 2 key fobs are bad at the same time.

 

I only have 1 key fob. Car only came with one when I bought it used.

 

After I towed the car into the Toyota dealer and they ran a diagnostic check, turns out there was a short in the fuse box and had that replaced. Thanks to all that replied!

 

Was this car involved in an accident? You sure have a lot of wires shorting out in multiple locations of the car and they do not sound like normal things either....