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Does anybody know how to disconnect the steering sensor?
I'm thinking that I'll turn the wheels until the camera guidelines are straight and techstream shows the steering angle as zero. I'll then disconnect the steering sensor, turn the wheels until straight and then reconnect the steering sensor.
No, but since they connect to the steering knuckle directly, the tie rods / rack are free to move easily even by hand via the knuckle when the ball joints are released. Nothing from the anti roll bar linkage will affect your steering or alignment in any way on this car
It's possible that maybe the rack was extended out and pissed off the computer somehow or maybe the ign was turned on during the procedure etc. Although I've never seen that happen on a non-hybrid RX, the 400h unlike normal RX330/350 has an electronic steering rack and different angle sensor, so maybe the data from the rack being extended out while doing the bjs was stored somehow. I'm just throwing things up in the air as I don't know much about the RX400h's rack setup. I would try a zero point calibration, it would be the same procedure for a 2006-2007 Highlander Hybrid, but I don't think you guys have those cars in the UK. Worst case scenario, the steering angle sensor can be accessed by pulling off the wheel and it sits attached to the back of the clockspring, held on by small plastic tabs
If there is no obvious answer, you may have some luck looking into what people with a similar issue to you do that have the 2nd gen Lexus IS (2006+), GS or LS460. Those cars use a similar steering rack to your car in the manner that the electric motor is mounted directly onto the rack itself, vs. the more common design where the electric motor is mounted to the column and the rack is just a basic, manual rack. That design is used on the newer 3rd gen Lexus RX and most other Toyotas now.
Thanks for taking the time to reply to my question regarding the anti roll bar links.
Do you think my proposed solution is sensible/doable - i.e. turn the steering until the sensor is 0° and the parking guidelines are straight, disconnect the steering sensor, straighten the wheels, reconnect the sensor.
Techstream doesn't seem to have the option to perform a steering angle sensor calibration, unlike the car in the YouTube video above.
That's worth a try. You can actually access the wires to unplug the steering angle sensor without taking it off, all it requires is to remove the steering wheel trim lower piece (can turn the wheel to access the two upper screws, one screw is underneath). At least on the non hybrid RX but I imagine the 400h is the same
If you can get it from underneath, you won't even need to disconnect the yellow air bag wire or take the wheel off for that matter. If you do go about disconnecting the air bags, a 5 minute wait should suffice. I've had mine off so many times now that I've lost track. Mostly when I was adding heated steering to my RX350 and retrofitting an LS460 clockspring to it. This procedure is the same for nearly every Toyota / Lexus car from this time period, and it is very straight forward thankfully.
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RX400H | Reversing / steering lines wonky
