Appers

Hi all,

I hoping someone here can shed any light on this or provide any other suggestions to what I've tried already. I've Googled this problem to death for the past week and tried nearly everything that I could find.

Ok so the problem goes like this...

I went to start the car as normal but when I depressed the clutch the green light on the start button didn't illuminate. Nor would the orange light turn on when the clutch wasn't pressed. There is no power whatsoever to the dash or radio no matter what I try to do to. It's as if the car can't see the key. Everything else works, interior lights, remote central locking, main headlights, brake lights etc. It's like the ignition side of the car is dead.

So following the internet's recommendations I have tried the following.

Charged the battery
Checked all fuses (twice)
Removed and tested all relays
Tried a replacement push button switch
Tried a brand new battery
Batteries in both fobs are fairly new but replaced them anyway
Held the fob to the button, still nothing.
Cleaned the earth points near the battery.

Now what is weird is that while I was messing about with the main car battery and trying a different one the switch magically sprang to life, but only once and I couldn't get it to work again after that even with the brand new battery. This tells me that it isn't a problem with the fuses or relays or battery etc it must be some sort of wiring issue.

So really I have 2 questions, has anyone seen this before and can suggest something else for me to try? And secondly where are the other main earth points located on this car so I can try and clean those too.

Any help would be greatly appreciated and will stop me pulling what's left of my hair out!!!

Thanks,

John

1FlexedLex

This LITERALLY just happened to me this morning and ive ran through the same check list you have. Did you ever get this problem

resolved? My car is literally sitting at my work place in the lot.

Appers

Hi, I eventually got this sorted after spending hundreds on specialist electronic engineers to come and have look. They managed to bodge the ignition on long enough to read the codes off the car. The code was something along the lines of communication error between the main computer and the key fob computer in the boot. They said they would need to take the car away to their workshop to find out exactly where the problem lies and would likely cost thousands purely in labour.

I thought this isn't worth it so resigned myself to scrapping the car

While getting the car ready to be sold for scrap I noticed the carpet seemed to be really wet. Then I remembered the trouble I had with the internal heater matrix that was leaking for months which I replaced a few weeks previous.

The water had to have been leaking somewhere and it was obvious now that it had been leaking into the cabin. I thought this had to be the reason the car won't now start, must be shorting some cables under the carpet.

I left all the doors open for several days to dry the car out and kept trying to start it every now and then. Just when I'd finally given up and went to take some pics for eBay, hey presto it started first time and has been fine ever since! It had to be the wet carpet from the previous leak.

After reading every forum trying to find what it was I would suggest trying the following.

Check the battery first to see if it's ok
Check the key fob battery
Check the fuses
Check the push button behind the clutch pedal (if manual) or brake pedal if automatic.
Check your coolant level, if it's gone down then it could be leaking into the cabin from the heater matrix.
Check the earth points near the battery, give them a clean.
Check the push button itself is not faulty. There are cheap second hand ones on eBay.

Good luck!

Petet

You went from thousands to fix to scraping the car to fixing it for free. You must of been happy after it started.

Appers

Oh absolutely, but now I have a little niggle in the back of my mind wondering if it might happen again while miles from home.

Touch wood it's been fine so far

1FlexedLex

Thanks for replying. I do have a leak on the passenger side. Its coming from the top of the windshield by the plastic molding at the roof, that doesn't seem t clip on. Ive tried fixing it before but it seems to not reach enough to lock in place. Also my sunroof collects water towards the front. Idk how or why. And i cant see a reasonable way to solve that. Its opens and closes perfectly and sits norm/Flush when closed.

Appers

This does sound suspiciously similar to the cause of my problem with it being a wet interior.

Try removing the floor mats (if you have any) and taking a hair dryer to the wet areas of carpet. My money would be on that being the solution.

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

I would take this a step further and pull the rubber plugs from under the carpet to let any moisture out and grab three or four one pound bags of desiccant moisture absorbing pellets and place them in the cabin. Fans always help, but pulling the carpets up and fixing the leak is the best bet.

JM2C but I doubt the coolant lying on the floor pan was the reason for the no start condition, more so the moisture/coolant made it into something critical up under the dash. The key ID module is up by the base of the windshield and the power source ECU is on the cabin wall below the glass too as is a body control ecu (BCU). Any of these having something conductive or corrosive on them and who knows what the car will do not do?
So what did you do to fix the coolant leak? Keeping in mind that coolant, unlike water does not evaporate too quickly and if aged can be acidic/conductive and induce corrosion in wiring circuits. @1FlexedLex do your best to dry that thing out and get the glass seated properly so it doesn't leak.

Appers

Without starting a post war, I know for definite the keyless entry module is in the boot (trunk) as this is one of the components I replaced in order to try and solve the problem.

There is quite a difference in distance between the ECU and the keyless entry module so kind of makes sense that a bit of water ingress could disrupt the communications between both.

In order to solve my an unrelated problem in the first place I replaced the heater matrix, and with a better method than I could find on the interwebs. When I get a spare hour I'll describe what I did.

Regards,

Appers

1FlexedLex

Its been a few days of the car being parked at work untouched since i was on holiday. I unlocked the car and saw right away the Start engine switch was illuminated. I put my foot on the brake and the green led appeared. attempted to start it and VROOM! It started. I was relieved so i looked no further. I figured everything dried up since it was really sunny and hot for the last 3 days. 5 hrs later i went for lunch and check on the car. I went to start it and i didnt start. when i unlocked the doors the started engine switch was illuminated. But not Green Led when i depressed the brake peddle. The passenger floor is really Damp. Even after 3-4 days. I took the rubber all weather mat off. And took the fuse cover off. And pulled each fuse and put them back. I tried my luck again and the car started. I will take some pics of where i suspect the leaks are coming from. Thanks for helping me get this far. I truly appreciate it.

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

Seriously buy these or something like these. I was looking for those which are self contained but large in size like the 1lb packs of color changing silica gel desiccant packs. They absorb moisture and when full, turn color so you know to microwave them and cook the moisture out. They will drop the moisture content in the cab significantly. Get some for the trunk too. If not your whole car turns into a petri dish mold experiment! Not to mention they are reusable.

Buy like 3 or 4 of them.

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

^Never used them, but I've used these with great success!


I just hang them off of the back of both seats pockets.

1FlexedLex

Thanks guys ill give this a try. But theres got to be a reason why my passenger floor and carpet is really damp/wet. Could the wheel well plastic be clogged somewhere? Or maybe where the wiper sits you know that plastic strip/cover at the bottom of the windshield before the hood be leaking somewhere. Idk. I feel like something is up.

mike33

iTrader: (1)

Could be the a/c drain is clogged... With the car running and a/c on are you getting the normal puddle under the car?
If not it may be this:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...+drain+clogged

1FlexedLex

Im from nyc. And i havent had the AC on in months. And its still not AC weather. But i will still give it a look