About two weeks ago, I noticed that the my white ambient light strip on the drivers side front door started turning darker and darker to the point that it now looks completely dead. I brought it to Lexus and they immediately gave me the talk of needing to conduct a diagnostic, which would cost a hefty $250. Such a rip-off for a simple task done over an OBD port. About two hours went by and I received a video from the technician suggesting that my fuse taps (dash cam) were tapping the drivers side door and the power draw was too great that it blew out the led strip.

I was a bit shellshocked, blaming myself for what had occurred and to my fault, I did use a larger fuse for the dashcam while keeping the original amps for corresponding slots. I was still trying to make heads and tails over how much extra power could have been rerouted into the led strips and why the led strip blew out while the window switch illumination remained lit.

I went home, checked the fuse box diagram, took a picture of the actual fuse box and quickly realized that the active fuse tap was NOT tapping into the drivers side door but the 12v socket. What drew even more questions was my constant tap, used for parking mode, was tapped into the REAR RIGHT door slot. So if the technicians diagnostic was in fact true to a certain degree, then there would have been EVERY reason for the rear door illumination to die but definitely not the front.

So now, as I'm typing this message out, I can't seem to figure out for the life of me as to what could have caused the led strip to burn out. In fact, I'm truly questioning the technician since he doesn't seem to understand how a fuse tap works in assuming the two fuses within the tap do not route double the power.

As much as I type this message out, no matter how much finger pointing I do at the incompetent dealer will likely bring the led back to life. Lexus said the entire door panel needs to be replaced and in my case, the F-Sport variant in black on black will run around $2k before labor. I googled it and found it as low as $1,400 but that's still a hefty price to fix something considered to be an "interior perk."

Would anyone have any advice on potential fixes?

 

I would buy a $5 LED strip from Ali Express and install it there myself. They are programable color and brightness. I did that on my RX even though the factory mood lights still "Work" To me they are way, way too dim.

 

Thanks Toyotaman. I'm not really considering adding any third party LED lights to the RX at the time. I honestly don't care if they are dim but the fact that I am constantly in the know that 3 of the 4 doors are lit will be enough to trigger my OCD. Worst case scenario, I can turn them all off, which will be far from ideal knowing the footwells will be dark too.

I'll be chasing things up with the dealer next week. I won't budge from the fact that I paid 270 dollars for a diagnostic from a technician that didn't know the simplest of things, including the fact that a fuse tap will not cause a power surge back to the connecting unit. He also didn't check on which slot the taps were inserted so its a sign of laziness that I'm just not willing for forgive.

In fact, I am thinking much worse of a scenario including the fact that there may be a short in the wiring harness leading up to the ambient light strip.

 

Post is old but im 90% sure that you placed the fuse tap the wrong way. It needs to be flipped the other way because you're now reversing the fuse flow and its killing your battery and operations. You cant place it going whichever way you want even aesthetically. Make sure you have the right fuses in the right slots as well. The fuse you choose to tap should be about double of what your device is (device always should be lower amp rating than existing fuse), I chose to do hazard for constant and p.outlet for switch.

Ik its an old post but JIC

 

Appreciate your response Viperx. I actually tested the fuse box before I installed the fuse taps and they are facing the correct way. The current is flowing out of the top (as per the photo is posted) and back into the bottom. I also reduced the dashcam fuses to just 5w and haven't had any issues since.