Hello all,

This is my first post after having purchased a 2010 RX 350 in February of 2020. I have browsed this forum some since then and was not sure what to possibly type in for a search on this issue, so I thought a post might be appropriate. I have even had a nearby toyota dealership diagnose the issue, but they could not replicate it. My next step, pending any solutions from this post, is to take to the lexus dealership for diagnosis if the issue gets worse. That being said, it is very random and I haven't even figured out how to replicate it. It's really two issues baked into one. I will try to be as concise as possible in my description.

Issue 1: Sometimes, randomly, when parking after driving some when I make a sharp turn, locking the steering wheel in either direction, to park, the nav and all electrical in the vehicle will flicker. This includes the electric steering, lights, nav, AC, etc.... That's all it is, a flicker and the center nav unit resets. This can happen multiple times if it is a multi point turn required to park.

Issue 2: Seems to be somewhat connected, to issue 1, but not 100% certain because I believe it has happened independently before. Also, it is rare, but it has happened multiple times. When I park and press the power button to turn the car off, it does. However, my seat does not go back and nothing electrical functions. This means I cannot lock the doors or restart the car. A few (3-15) minutes later, the vehicle will come back on in accessory mode. One time I wiggled the cursor and pushed one of the buttons on the center display control and it came right back on! Unfortunately, it happened again another day after this, and I tried doing the same thing but it did not make it come back any quicker.

If anyone has any suggestions, thoughts, comments, or solutions I would greatly greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!

 

Sound like lose connection/plug somewhere. might be difficult to find since it is an intermittent problem.
You can check under the hood for lose relays or replays with corroded terminals.
I would remove all the relays one by one, check terminals and apply dielectric grease.
That would be my 1st step, and if nothing seems out of place, the electrician specialist would be my next step.
Good luck and let us know if / when you find the problem.

 

Thank you for the response! Is this something I can do safely while the battery is still connected?

 

Probably safer to disconnect + terminal before doing that. You will need to reset one touch windows after disconnecting the battery.

 

I humbly disagree. Remove the "-" terminal for safety reasons. In theory either would remove the power, but since the "-" is connected to the chassis, which is bare throughout, one can avoid electrical shorts. I had read this but was skeptical, till one day my wrench slipped while tightening down the "+" and other than sparks the wrench had a deep gouge (melted). Luckily the battery did not explode. All this would not have happened if the "-" was disconnected while the wrench slipped. For safety connect the "-" terminal as the first and the last connection to the battery.

Back to OP's issue: Intermittent problems are very hard diagnose as they can not be re-produced on demand .. and the ones that fix themselves are even harder to diagnose. Although it is possible that the problem existed from the factory delivery, but most of these happen when some one works on the vehicle. Hopefully dealer would have a history .. that is if the work was done at Lexus. If history is not available, then the tech needs to set probes at the "right" spot with set/reset [event] trigger and then work his back [or better still with multiple trigger points]. Again the vehicle has to cooperate to exhibit fail. Since power is distributed to zones, any observations regarding what else fails will enable the tech to determine the trigger points more logically.
Just throwing this in ... you may like to live with the problem till it becomes a hard fail.

Salim

 

Just wanted to reply for those who have helped. I was going through the process of "you may like to live with the problem till it becomes a hard fail." and last weekend it happened 3 times. I bought a battery from autozone and replaced it, and have not had either issue once yet...knock on wood. Will update this post if anything changes. Checked terminals when replacing battery and they all appeared fine? No burnt looking ones or anything. Wasn't really sure what to look for.

 

It is now 3/27/21 and the issue has yet to happen since changing the battery. I believe it is resolved. Thank you all for the help!