Hi,

On my 2013 LS (SWB), I’ve got a weird issue with just one of the door locks. It’s the driver side rear door, which locks and unlocks just fine when the car is running. It also works just fine when the car is in Ignition mode (Start button pushed twice but without depressing the brake pedal so as to start the car). There is zero issue whatsoever locking and unlocking that door (or any others) in either situation. That would lead me to think that there’s nothing wrong with the lock/actuator itself, since it’s performing fine 100% of the time in certain modes (albeit not in every mode as set forth below).

Unfortunately, that one particular door’s lock does not respond when I try to lock it in Accesory mode (push Start button once) or when the car is totally off. That is true regardless of whether I try to lock it using the key fob or the master door lock switch on the driver’s door panel. Thus, when I drive somewhere and get out and try to lock the car using my key fob, all of the doors lock except for that one door.

what I’ve tried:
1) replacing key fob batteries.
2)using my other key fob (also with new batteries installed).
3) replaced actuator on the troubled door
4) checked fuses in box in trunk, box in engine bay, and box under steering wheel. I have not yet checked the box under the passenger side dashboard, not recently at least.
5) disconnected car battery and let it sit for a while after reading that could reset things
6) fooled around with the programmable settings available to me for door locks (also went through every other setting that was available to be altered through the “vehicle customizations” option via the nav screen).
7) general inspection for loose/damaged wires, connectors, harnesses etc. I certainly haven’t inspected it all though, given the vast electronics systems in this car. I also need to check that door’s Body control module with my multimeter.

Anyone have any ideas of what would cause something like this? The leading culprit at this point is the Body control module in my opinion, but I know very little about that part and how it interconnects with something like a door lock, and if a faulty control module would still be able to open and close that lock 100% of the time under certain conditions, and 100% of the time not open and close that lock under other conditions. Like I said, I don’t have a good grasp on how that system works.

I’ve read through all the posts I can regarding door lock actuator issues, general electronic problems, etc. And while there are a ton, I have yet to find anything specific to a door lock working in some modes, but not in others. In other words, the problem isn’t that they are randomly or intermittently working/not working. And it’s not that one door lock is never working. There are tons of posts about both of those scenarios. Here, however, the problem is very consistent actually. But it’s not fully functional and leaves me unable to lock this particular door when I exit the vehicle. I might have to bite the bullet and take it to the dealer, but after the amount of time I’ve spent on it already I’m really hoping to avoid paying them to do something that I’d be more than happy to do if able. Appreciate your help, fellas.

 

Your car provides audible feedback (beep) in response to wireless electronic key operations. The feedback volume can be adjusted or turned off. Do you hear a short beep when you use the wireless electronic key to lock the car?

 

Does it work normally in all situations with your fob in your pocket and use your hand on the outer handle to lock and unlock?

 

yes, I do. And interestingly, enough, when I unlock the car (or should I say, when I unlock the three doors that work) using my key fob, I hear several more beeps than I did historically. I think the typical number of beeps you hear when unlocking the car is three, but I hear closer to nine. I figured that has to do with this somehow, although it doesn’t really narrow down the problem from what I can tell at least.

And I am familiar with adjusting the volume of the tone, as you mentioned. I’ve gone through each and everyb available option to customize in the “vehicle customization“ feature, most notably, the options that pertain to “door locks”. No matter what I’ve tried, however, the problem remains.

 

Next, with the ignition off and all doors, hood and trunk closed, and the wireless electronic key about 30 feet away from the car, operate the LOCK and UNLOCK buttons on the wireless electronic key. If I remember correctly you should get 1 beep for LOCK and 2 beeps for UNLOCK for normal operation. Be sure your second wireless electronic key is not present .

 

I get ONE beep for LOCK. For UNLOCK i get TWO beeps if I hit the unlock button on my key fob once, and I get FOUR beeps if I hit the unlock button on key fob twice (to unlock all doors, not just the driver’s door). I believe that is the standard set up.

However, i mentioned it earlier on, but just to reiterate, when I walk up to the (locked) car with my key fob on my person and go to grab the driver’s door handle and open it, I get several additional beeps that I’m almost positive indicates some sort of error. Historically I always got two beeps I think, which is consistent with the number of beeps one would hear using the key fob and pushing unlock once (see above). But for some time now (im not really sure when it started but it very well may have been around the time that the problematic door—driver side rear door—started giving me trouble), the car beeps and lights flash 9 or 10 times instead of 2 times like they had always done historically. I’ve read through different subforms on this site in regards to this sort of problem. I don’t believe there was any consensus about what additional beeps indicates, other then people’s general opinion that it indicated an unspecified problem of some sort. I have not seen anything directly on point on either this site or other (clearly inferior) sites. One last point along those lines: when i approach the (locked) car with my key fob on my person and instead grab the door handle of either of the other two doors whose locks work fine (ie the front and rear doors on the right side of vehicle), I don’t get nine or 10 beeps like I do when reaching for the driver’s door as I mentioned above. Instead, I get the typical two beeps on both of these doors (front right and rear right door). Just wanted to make sure to highlight that for you as I imagine it fits into this puzzle somewhere. Thanks again look forward to hearing from you.

 

Good job! So, one last thing. Lower the window on the driver’s door. With the ignition off and all doors,hood and trunk closed, take the wireless electronic key about 30 feet from the car. Press the LOCK button on the wireless electronic key one time. You should hear one beep. Leave the wireless electronic key behind. Go to the car and use the door handles to check each door to see if they are locked. If all doors are locked, reach through the open window on the driver’s door and open the door. That should trigger the alarm. You’ll probably have to retrieve the wireless electronic key to silence the alarm - so be prepared for that.

 

Before running this drill, should I manually lock or unlock the problematic door? It won’t respond when I hit lock on the key fob obviously, so it will remain unlocked unless I manually lock it beforehand. Or does it matter?

 

No need to do anything special.

 

So when I went to try opening the problematic door, it opened (because it didn’t lock when I hit the lock button on the fob like I anticipated) and the car alarm went off. I restarted the drill, but this time went to the other three doors, all of them were locked. When I reached through the window of the driver’s door and opened it from the inside, the alarm went off again.

 

Usually, when there are multiple beeps when operating the wireless electronic key, there is an attendant explanation message in the "Multi-information display." Is there anything there that is helpful?

 

Nope. Funny enough (not really), when I went to leave this morning my car didn’t even try to turn over when I hit the start button (brake pedal pressed and key fob with new battery in hand). On the third or fourth try I eventually got it to turn over but there was nothing obvious left on overnight that would’ve caused the battery to falter like that. I haven’t checked the voltage on the battery since, but the battery is only a few months old and isnt a bargain battery or underpowered for the needs of the car. Whatever caused the failed startup this morning was not open and obvious. I have to imagine it has to do with the excess beeping/problematic door lock issue/etc. I don’t know if it tells us anything but when I was able to get the car started this morning, the message on the navigation screen on startup said “system loading, please wait” or something to that effect. Usually, I only see that kind of message after I’ve disconnected the battery (I think). What do you make of that?

Like I said from the start, I have yet to find anything obvious (or even any obvious clues) about the culprit for my door lock. The strange part to me is that it works perfectly fine 100% of the time when the car is running (and even when the car is in ignition mode). But when the car is shut off or in accessory mode, that same lock doesn’t do a damn thing 100% of the time. Any other suggestions?

 

sorry, I missed this question. No, it doesn’t respond at all in that situation.

 

One other thing. I came across some posts online somewhere that talked about pressing and holding down both the lock and unlock buttons on the key fob at the same time while sitting in the car with the car turned off, something about how it was supposed to reset the some of the electronics systems/computers or something like that. I believe it was suggested in response to people posting about having door lock issues (not the precise symptoms im seeing but still worth a shot to try). So I tried that and while doing so I got the message seen in the attached video. Does that shed any light on the problem? To be clear, all four doors and the trunk and the hood (and sunroof) were all closed when the video was recorded.

 

Silly question, is your trunk light working? I had a similar issue:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...or-issues.html
The solution was a fuse in the trunk that also controlled the trunk light.