HI,

Looking at a 2010 350C at a dealer non Lexus. The top opened then stalled at the last leg before the truck closure. Salesperson couldn't figure it out. I think the luggage pull out was not set properly. They had some matts underneath the luggage pull out. I didn't drive the car but it looked pretty good otherwise.

I was told it can stall due to "cold" weather and other cars do this as well. This is in Chicago and around 33 today(AND SUNNY..LOL).
This doesn't seem to make sense to me and the operation seemed good up until this point.

Any clues to those more knowledgeable?
Car Fax wise it was maintenced properly and came for California
I appreciate any help.

 

Shouldn't be stalling unless there is either ice blocking something, or some sort of problem with it.

Camaro convertibles for example, use a hydraulic system to open and close the top, and it will not operate below certain temperatures due to not being able to build up proper pressure to operate the hydro cylinders (or so GM states)

I haven't had any issues with my top yet, but from what I understand it's usually some of the micro switches that go bad, and are either pretty simple to fix (so long as you have soldering experience and can do it yourself) or wallet breaking if it's the dealer, because they insist on replacing entire large components, staying that it's all just one non-servicable unit.

If the car looks to be a good buy, I would negotiate the wonky top operation into the deal and knock the price down, if you are willing to take it on. I would say to see if they offer an extended warranty and then use the hell out of the top the first couple of years, but with my experience, extended warranties are just pieces of paper that are good for making paper airplanes, and nothing more.

 

Thank you. I didn't drive the car as part of my negotiations.. Lol... The car was very clean inside and out. I did let go of the hood switch partly way through by accident. The dealer dude said you didn't need to hold it and knew he was wrong. He's not a Toyota or Lexus dealer. I am just wondering if something got messed up and it just needs to be reset somehow. The convertible top mechanism was quiet and he did have the car mats underneath. I left but asked him to reset the luggage rack to make sure it was set correctly. Didn't think about it till afterwards...

They have a 3,000 /3 month warranty and he said if it's a problem they will fix it but they don't have a clue about it either.

Will deal with them this week. Just curious about the cold weather and the sensor if that made any sense but if it wasn't going to work I would think it either works or doesn't not to go 95% of the way and stop. Hmmm

 

The cold weather thing is bs lol. Sometimes I throw on a parka and take it out in the winter if I'm bored and never had issues with it. Normally if it fails it'll give an error code. If you let go of the switch halfway thru that would be why, sometimes it acts weird after that and you have to put it up and back down or vice versa and then it'll be back to normal. As far as the mats under the luggage cover, as long as they are not under where it slots in, it will not cause a problem. People will put amps and small subwoofers and things in that area under the cover, the roof only sits above it, it should never push against the vinyl and go any lower. Enter the vin into the drivers.lexus.com website and it will show you any dealer service that was done on the car, and most of the time Lexus dealers are one of the only ones willing to work on these roofs. Also not a bad idea to take it to a dealer for a pre purchase inspection, they will be able to use tech stream to pull any roof error codes. You can of course get the software and scanner cable yourself but you should always have a used car looked over anyway so may as well go to the dealer. If you want this car and try to negotiate, don't just negotiate a little bit lower. You should either have them fix it at a Lexus dealer before you buy it or take a LOT off the price, like over half. Seriously. Just one of these sensors can be thousands of dollars, if it's more than one you're kinda screwed if you bought the car

 

Thanks. I plan on having a Lexus pre inspection done once we have a price. It has less then 70,000 miles on it and it great shape it seems. The carfax had it serviced on a regular schedule. It had the recalls done including the timing gear thing at around 30,000 miles. I will rerun the vin. I know sales people are sales people but he seemed perplexed but he's not familiar with the car either. Not a Lexus dealer. The manager called me but didn't have a chance to call back. Will see. It's a good price for my area as these prices seem to be coming down a bit now. They have been all artificially high these last two years.

 

So I did sign in to Lexus and ran the VIN and it was very similar to the Carfax. About 21 services and maintence. All the known recalls done and 6,000 miles about new hood struts. Lots of nails in tires but if I ran mine it would be the same...LOL....Something about $12,000 estimate to replace all the leather and console. Not sure what that was about and this was at a Lexus dealer. No accidents and one owner besides the Lexus dealer as the second owner. The interior is the light beige Erku(beatiful) and is spotless so Kudos to the detail team. Two minor dents on the rear door hood top area in the same exact spots on each side which I questioned if the hood is landing correctly when closed. Hard to describe. I have to look at more videos of the closure of the hood top to understand. Of course I will drive it and they are willing to give me extended time to take it to my mechanic , who is familiar with these cars but I might just go to the more local Lexus dealer to find out if any codes etc.

so there was an error but not error code. Just saying the "Operation suspended" . It will go back and close fully. The error is when the car top is opening and then stops when the last hood part is about to close and ends at like a 45 degree angle. I think maybe when it is latching something is not sensoring correctly.
I will read more on this forum. Learning a lot. Hopefully will be a 350C owner soon.

 

My daughter-in-law has a 2010 IS350 C. The top became inoperable. OBD didn't show any codes. Son checked what fuses he could, nothing amiss. Had worked until just recently. Any ideas? Anyone know of non-dealership Lexus repair shops in greater Atlanta, Chattanooga, North Georgia area? They plan to repair it and then sell or trade. Thanks.

 

Normal OBD2 readers won't show any codes other than engine. Better OBD2 readers (in the $200+ price range) can show trans, ABS, and airbag codes. Nothing but the official Toyota/Lexus Techstream scanner will read super-unique codes like the top operation.

It's probably one of the 35+ sensors that have gone bad.

I wouldn't trust anyone other than a Lexus dealership to work on the top, even if I didn't plan on keeping the car.

 

Lmk12, From my experience of owning one of these fine cars, releasing the trunk switch part-way through the sequence could be the root of the problem. I have made this error and it produces the 'operation suspend' message - clearly one must hold the switch until the sequence end.

I was able to restore proper operation without any mechanical intervention, just by toggling the switch.