BigNel76

Hello everyone. I recently inherited my late grandfathers 2002 LS430 with about 120k on it. It’s been garaged or under a carport for the duration of its life in NY and FL. I love this car and it’s in fantastic shape, however it has some of the minor electrical gremlins that seem to be pretty common on this model. I’ve spent a bunch of time in the last few weeks reading through many of the related threads (door lock actuator motor repair, power mirror switch repair, Valet switch gas cap/trunk opener problems, speaker fixes and replacement, TechStream from ebay, etc…). BTW, This is a fantastic forum and has already helped me solve a few other issues. I’ve been on many other forums with many other cars over the years and love that there is very little of the back and forth bickering over nonsense. People here seem to want to solve problems and help others do the same, which is a nice change! That said, I’m a little stuck. I seem to have a combination of issues which have me a little baffled and which don’t really align fully with other situations in the threads I’ve read. I’m still working through these problems, but I wanted to lay them out and see if anyone has any thoughts, guidance, magic bullets, wisdom etc…

So the issues are as follows:

1. Interior Gas Cap & Trunk button do not work. (no the valet button isn’t pushed in ; )
2. Interior Door lock buttons do not work.
3. Power Mirror adjuster switch does not work. (99% sure the switch is bad. Tired the switch cleaning and it didn’t’ do anything. A recycled one is arriving this week)
4. None of the remotes operate any of the locks or trunk opener, yet they do cause the car to beep, so I assume the signal is being received.
5. Occasionally the red security light will flash while driving, which i read means the car thinks it's in key program mode...not sure this is part of the bigger scenario or not.

Before everyone points me to the already known fixes for each of these issues, please let me give you these pieces of info, as this seems to be where things stray off the beaten path and why I'm posting again on these issues.

First thing I did was to test every fuse and relay in the car, which all passed. There's also a brand new battery in the car and in both Fobs. Next I managed to get an Ebay copy of TechStream working & connected to the vehicle. It talks to all of the ECU’s in the car successfully and it doesn’t throw any codes on anything. When I go into each of the individual items I mentioned above that do not work (door locks, trunk button, power mirrors,) I can test them all successfully from within the software. To be clear, when I run the tests on all the power locks, all 4 of them open and close. Therefore I know the communication link works, and the actuators function. The mirrors move, so that is likely just the switch (this one seems easy, but I included it because maybe it’s related somehow). The trunk and gas cap both pop open when tested in the software, so again the line of communication is clearly functional as are the actuators.

I was originally thinking I had a bad ECU somewhere in the car or a ground issue. I already swapped out the ECU in the passenger door, but this had no change and also tested properly in TechSTream. My next move was going to be the driver door unit, then the trunk fuse/relay box for the gas cap/trunk and then maybe the network unit? This was all before the TechSTream successfully triggered all of the not working items. This has me thrown.

My feeling now is that it’s more likely a switch issue, but I haven’t read about anyone having door lock switches go out on them. If the signal reaches the actuators from the techstream computer setup, it tells me it’s not a communication stream issue but rather a source trigger signal issue. This is obviously just my speculation. Maybe the door control unit can send the signal but not receive it from the door switch?

As for the gas cap/trunk popper, I’m leaning towards it being a bad valet switch because it too functions in the software. The valet key button pushes in smoothly and seems to be operating right, but maybe it’s the mechanical portion inside that lock switch that isn’t allowing the trunk/gas cap signal to be sent? I assume this switch locks out the signal from the key fobs too.

Now that you know the issues, here’s my current plan on each item, and where I would love to hear some thoughts and ideas as to what else to do and in what order.

Door locks:

1. I have 3 more actuator motors sitting on my work bench, and even though they all work now, I’m going to do the next 3 out of preemptive caution. I also read somewhere that the bad or weak actuators themselves can actually cause some of the issues I have. Not sure how true that is, but I’m doing it anyway.
2. Replace the actual power lock switches on the doors.
3. Replace the driver door ECU – I took the one apart that is in there and it looks clean as a whistle. No burn marks on the board at all, and again it tests out with TechStream.
4. Replace the network control module (think I have part the name wrong)…or maybe the main ECU fuse box unit?
5. Check for loose ground connections in the car. I have checked a few already and everything looks very solid throughout the vehicle.
6. No clue…take it to Lexus and get ripped off I guess


Gas Cap/Trunk Switch:

1. Dig into the valet key switch and see if the lock is bumped like in the repair video on the guys SC430.
2. Swap the whole valet key lock/ trunk gas switches assembly out with another one
3. Replace the trunk Fuse/Relay Box unit
4. ???


Mirror Control Switch:

1. Replace it as soon as the one I ordered shows up and hope that’s it!
2. ???


Key Fobs not working:

1. Get everything else working then see if these work. Reprogram???



That’s about everything and as far I have dug in. Thanks in advance and sorry for the long winded first post but like I said, I'm pretty much twisted in circles on this thing! I also think i have more than one issue interacting with each other. ugh!!

BigNel76

BigNel76

aufenscuht

You probably have a bad ground. I would check and see if the wiring in the door jamb maybe getting crushed when closing the door.

BigNel76

BigNel76

BigNel76

BigNel76

BigNel76

BigNel76

Finally solved it 100%!!!! What a ride... Reprogrammed both key fobs. Couldn't get the procedures online to work, but found the section in Techsteam to be able to do it. The car is all set...well of course it threw a VSC error this morning, but that's another thread Gonna techstream it and see what i see. Hoepfully it's nothing (fingers crossed)

Mbodall

Holy crap! That was quite the saga... and quite the read. Thank god for text-to-speech so I could do other things with my hands and eyes while having my phone read the whole thread to me lol. It also makes me a little sad that you said so many good things about this forum being awesome (which it is), yet didn't get any input/replies except for one person. You're probably aware that there's usually a lot more interaction between members in threads, so I hope you're not discouraged from posting again with an issue or anything else. Plus, as you mentioned above you might end up helping even a non-member with the same problem when this thread comes up in their Google search for answers.

With that said, I'm so happy for you that you got it all figured out minus the most recent VSC light. With your dedication to delving into all possible causes and leaving no stone (or wire) unturned, I'm sure you'll figure it out quickly.

Good luck with the final hurdle!

BigNel76

Thanks for the nice words. I did get it all 100% fixed! Used the old paperclip jumper into the OBDII port to trick the car into the zero point calibration procedure. There are lots of videos out there on youtube, but many with the wrong ports on the plug for this car. It was the 3rd from the left on top, and the 5th from the left on bottom. I'm guessing pulling so many ECU's in and out flipped the system out a little bit. Anyway, so far so good. The car was perfect all weekend and constantly makes me happy driving it. I have a 2018 WRX that's tuned up a bit, a Sequoia, and my wife's LX460, and yet there 's just something about this car...I probably went on a little long with the narrative portion of things (haha) but does appear that this may be a somewhat different scenario than most have gone through, so again, hopefully someone else will benefit with this fix.

Mbodall

Speaking of helping people, this thread could probably use your input on the specifics of that procedure if you feel so inclined.

I also posted a link to your thread here after reading this interesting problem since they sound somewhat similar. So, you might have already helped one person, and might be able to help yet another with that procedure!

OZONE

It's been a while but how did you get the immobilizer ecu out. I'm working on a 08 gs but looks like it's in the same spot.Looking at it through the center speaker it looks like the dash has to come out. Any help is greatly appreciated! THANKS!