dav964

I've had this problem a couple of times on my 2007 LS460 lately. Here's what happened today...

- Attempted to unlock the door using the handle sensor. Doors remain locked and a whistling alarm sounds. Eventually alarm stops but I can't open any of the doors using just the handle. Each time the alarm sounds.
- Attempted to unlock the car using the buttons on the key fob. No effect at all. Tried a spare key. Still no effect.
- Unlocked the drivers door using the manual key. Pressing the start button had no effect (key was in the car). Tried all buttons - no effect. Tried with the fob next to the start button - no effect. Tried every other button - nothing responds.
- Got out of the car and tried the door lock buttons - no effect.
- Tried the lock/unlock buttons on the key fob. Alarm (horn) sounds - progress!
- Managed to silence the alarm using the unlock button on the key fob. Wing mirrors fold out now and the car appears to be alive again.
- Get in the car, start the engine OK and everything is working as expected. The only thing that I can see that is different is when I put the car into revers a "System Initialising" message is displayed at the bottom of the screen and the auto park feature is not available.

Any ideas?

jdanielca

as with most car issues might be the battery, change your feb fob batteries and the actual car battery, as i understand it from reading numerous threads insufficient voltage in the battery can cause a huge range of symptoms. Good luck. those 2 things are easiest to check and could probably be done for free at some autostore no? best start there.

jmcraney

The "System Initializing" message is an indication that the connection to the car's battery has been interrupted. It may be due to a defect inside the battery, but more likely corrosion or a defective battery cable is the cause.

dav964

Thanks for the quick replies. The battery is new (5 months old), but I'll take it back to the garage to see if there's anything they can find.

NotFasty

I had problems with an "almost new" battery in a previous car... my mechanic said he thought the issue was the battery posts - apparently these are all recycled and he theorized that the cables were not making good contact on the slightly-too-small posts.

Once he replaced the battery - I stopped having issues.

dav964

I've just called the breakdown service as the car is "dead" again. This time the door opened OK and on pushing the engine start button the steering wheel came up to the driving position and then everything went off. The engineer checked the battery connection and this caused the car to spring back to life! He tightened the connection to the live pole and tested the battery - which proved OK. I'll see how it goes now, and if there are still issues I'll contact Lexus to see if the battery connection can be looked at.

dav964

A further update, with hopefully the solution...

So the car stopped again. I contacted the main dealer and got them to look at it. The problem turned out to be that the positive connector to the battery had not been fitted correctly. This had also been missed by the breakdown man when he tightened the connection. The connection has now been refitted correctly and at the moment the car is running without any issues. Success at last (I hope)!

While taking the car to the dealers I wondered what would happen if the battery connector failed whilst I was driving. The Lexus service desk couldn't answer the question so I wonder if anyone here could shed any light?

Nospinzone