Johnhav430

I have two smart keys, and disappointingly, one broke right away upon changing the 2032 coin cell. I duct taped it back together and use it (don't want the other to break). The disadvantage is when the battery dies, you need the physical key, and with the spring broken, it doesn't stay extended without something like a paperclip to hold it in place (obviously this doesn't happen often but it will)....I would love to have a new key, but just don't think it's worth it....I could easily buy one on eBay and move the electronics, but the blank key would need to be cut...

imdking

iTrader: (1)

^^ I don't get that last post. Probably meant to post that on a different thread.

Edit:
Ok. Now I get it. I had not seen the last post on page 1.
I actually bought a master fob from Bell Lexus on eBay. Called a mobile locksmith who said over the phone "the cost to cut and program the key starts at $120. But 63 miles was too far for them to send a tech, and they don't have an office for me to go to. So drive to Columbus to meet the tech. He tells me the job will be $280! Whoa! At this point I figure, I came all this way...... And the dealership wants about $400. So I said go ahead. He cuts a regular key, separate from the fob. He says in case I need to return the fob. So I said I'm not happy with the fact that I was quoted $120, now I gotta pay $280. More than twice the qoute! So I said $200. He calls the dispatcher, and they agree. When he was done, the new fob could start the car, but not open the doors, and NOT open the trunk! Worse than the valet fob! I said I'm not paying for that! The reason I bought the master key was so I can open the trunk by remote, AND smart access! He tells me I bought the wrong fob. I stood my ground. I got it from a Lexus dealership. It had the same part number as the valet key! So now he wants partial payment, because he was fiddling with it for 2 hrs. I said if I'm gonna end up going to the dealership anyway, they are gonna start over, and want full payment. No way José! I drove an hour to meet him, he couldn't get the key programed fully, and I was gonna drop another $400 at dealership! No successful programming, no payment! So he takes the key and tries to unprogram it, wastes another 20 minutes, then he slams all the keys on the car floor and storms off! I said "adios!"

10 minutes later the dispatcher calls me and says can I pay the tech something for his time? I said what about my time, and the drive, and... He gets cocky, so I hang up on him, and drive back home.

So, I still gotta have the dealer program my master key.

imdking

iTrader: (1)

I washed the machine the other day!



one more



Cleans up very nicely. Love the metallic sparkle. I just need to learn how to wax it up.

Bob04

Looks great. Only thing I would do it take off the pinstripe. I took it off both of my 430s, and I think they look much better.

Johnhav430

Looks great!

Do you hand wash? I had every intention of doing so, but it's not practical in the winter, tried it before. So there's a tendency to wait until the weather is better, and that leads to up here salt staying on the car....I broke down and got the $20/mo. pass, and so admittedly sometimes I run through 2X per week. I still have not waxed my car as it was detailed last Oct. by the dealership....but will do so very soon, it still beads water...

imdking

iTrader: (1)

I'm glad you mentioned it! I hate the pinstripe! I did google the subject, and the best approach I found was to use a hair dryer to melt the adhesive, but someone advised me against that.

How did you get yours off?

imdking

iTrader: (1)

I do hand wash. Microfiber cloth with 2 buckets (with cloth going from soap bucket to car, to rinse bucket, to soap bucket, to car.....)

bradland

I had a similar issue recently when buying a new smart key. I bought the same key as you from Bell Lexus but I live there so it was bought in person. Bell Lexus cut it for me for no charge. At the time I was playing around with Techstream and felt confident I could program it. Techstream turned out to be a dead end as it's not 64bit compatible. Long story short I ended up taking it to an awesome local locksmith, AFTER getting a $95 ( and approx 2 hours ) programming quote from Bell Lexus, and watching him go through HELL to get it programmed. The local locksmith quoted me $80 but I gave him $100 for his time and trouble in direct sunlight in front of his shop...

Bob04

One was the tape type. I heated it with a hair dryer and peeled it off. The other was painted on. I used a little bit of lacquer thinner on a towel to get it off. Made me nervous, but it didn't appear to do any damage. I wiped and rinsed immediately in hopes that it wouldn't do any damage. That was about 6 weeks ago, and all is fine. Hopefully it doesn't case any long term damage. Try at your own risk.

Johnhav430

The dealer that sold me the LS430 put their name on the trunk, I was planning on heating it up, but was rather pleased I could simply remove the letters by hand. Dunno if that's because it was only on the trunk for 2 mos., or if that's typical, have never removed that stuff before...

imdking

iTrader: (1)

Hmm. I'll have to take a closer look at them pinstripes. Hopefully they are the adhesive type, and not under the clear coat. They have the Lexus logo on the fender.

imdking

iTrader: (1)

Yeah. What I found shady and unprofessional was getting quoted $120 over the phone, then after driving 60 miles to meet the locksmith, he says $280, before he even starts on the job. After fiddling around with it, all the fob could do was start the car. Not even the door button worked. It was worse than the valet key. Then he tried the "you bought the wrong remote" spiel. At that point, I said, no full function, including trunk operation and smart key (the reason why I bought the key), no pay!

Hopefully I can get a better quote from the dealership once I get the car tittled and registered in a week's time.

Bob04

Mine was not under the clear coat.

Gronemus

As they say, to each his own. I happen to fall into the camp that they look great if done properly. I will admit that some cars shape do not lend themselves for stripes but the 430 isn't one of those in my mind.

The first thing I noticed when I took my car for a test drive was that the original owner had commissioned a regional artist to put stripes on the car. Sid has been striping cars for decades and I remember looking at his work over 40 years ago because he signs his name "Sid did it" over the stripe usually by the gas cap door and I'd keep running into cars that he had striped. I finally got to me him back about 9 years ago at the local Acura dealer while he was performing his magic on some cars in the showroom. Just one of the nicest people that you would ever want to meet. From that day I knew that I was going to get my next car striped by him.

So when I saw his work on the Lexus I knew that was a good omen...

Jabberwock

Programming a new key on LS430 or SC430 is a two part process. First the key itself is programmed (registered) with the car's ECM. That is a fairly easy process. Second and totally separate step is to then program (register) the specific electronics and unique ID of the keyfob into the car's ECM. The process is easy using techstream. The manual process (non techstream) is doable, but more complicated and not easy or intuitive.

Both sets of manual programming steps are available on the forum (use search). They involve a bizarre series of steps consisting of unlocking, locking, opening and closing doors and inserting and removing keys all in a short period of time. It can be done but usually takes multiple efforts. I registered my new key on the SC430 in 4-5 attempts but registering the fob took 20-30 attempts to get right.

Be aware that there is a limit of I think of 4 keys and fobs that can be registered. If the ECM is at its max it likely is better to have dealer remove the extra non present keys and add your new key.