Maxz

With low mileage servicing gets complicated. My last service was an interim. In theory I should be due a full, the car has not reached 60k, so spark plugs still not due yet. Also my pollen and Air filters are not very old and upon inspection still look clean/new. However, it's 2 years since the last brake fluid change and it is 4 years (and almost 20k) since the last differential oil change, so both of these due. Does anyone know how the pricing works? Like is it more cost effective to book another interim and add the brake fluid and diff oil change as extras, or would those items be included (or work out cheaper) if they are included as part of an 80k major service? Of course I will call Lexus but in the past they either have struggled to understand the servicing needs of my/a lower mileage vehicle or have simply defaulted to push for the most expensive option (last time pushing for me to change sparks at 6 years when they are only on a mileage and not an age related service schedule i.e. i have done half the expected mileage for the vehicle age). Thanks all for your wise words...

Yeah, logic does not seem to dictate a 5mpg benefit just for replacing an old 12v aux with a new one. I think the mpg reading you get is only accurate to an extent. I'll give it a bit longer and maybe after a few shorter drives it will level back out at 47mpg, let's see. I reset the mpg counter a few months after I first bought the car too, however on the original battery, it never got as high as 52mpg at the initial reset, it started high 30's and worked it's way up to platau off around 47mpg instead.

For the first time ever I am also reaching 52mpg, when in the past 3 years no matter how economically I tried to drive, 47mpg was the best I could achieve. Seems if your 12v aux is old, a certain amount of energy must be getting "wasted" as the system keeps trying to charge the aux battery to a certain voltage level, that maybe it can't reach anymore. With a new battery in the healthy voltage range (and holding charge), the system possibly retains/charges more energy into the hybrid battery instead, thus increasing your range. Might be a bit of a far fetched theory given how small this AGM aux is, and I wonder how accurate the mpg monitoring really is. I am loving the secret menu, because instead of having to trickle charge at random, I can just monitor when the voltage drops out of the top band and stick it on just to top up. Great time saver only having to setup the charger when it is actually needed.

Mine did this too once, when parking on the drive facing out (south facing drive). I now park facing inwards no issues. Catch was clearly not tested at the upper end of the temperature range...🤔

No more alarm issues. I also had an intermittent issue with the sound system cutting a speaker in/out before, that glitch is also now gone. Will reinstall the folding mirror cable and not jump to conclusions next time!

Note for the last process, use the secret menu also, because a low voltage reading there will also help determine if the battery is nearing it's end. Secret menu trick worked, should have checked the old battery but the new one reading 13.7 volts on idle(nothing electrical on), so well in the green on the battery chart given it is new. Lexus Parts Direct current price as at July 2022 is £145 including delivery. Gold members have a discount though I believe.

Sharing my recent experience of the super natural... One week after my IS' 7 year birthday, same experience as others, as the light and temperature dropped at night, my alarm was sounding off. My drive is south facing, rear of car facing the sun, super hot daytime, cold at night. I pretty much strip searched the car, not a critter to be found, the next night repeat performance, again no pest could be found the next day. The third night I disabled the sensors (tilt and intruder), alarm did not fire off. Did this until I replaced the battery, now fully armed no issues. So I accept maybe this bug could hide itself so well I may not have found it, but another thought, is there potentially enough draw from the tilt and intruder sensors being on, if the battery is near end of life, they could just bring the voltage down enough to trip the alarm? Disabled the draw is slightly lower so no trip? Again speculation as I did not check the voltage on the original battery and a longer trial would be needed to prove it out. If you have a voltmeter diagnosis is easy. If not, maybe the best procedure is strip search (or fumigate!) your car, lock it for a week with the sensors disabled. Rearm after a week, if no sounding, it was a bug, if sounding off resumes, may well be the battery, especially if you know it is the factory original.

Looking promising that the reputation of the cable might not be tarnished after all, ran a techstream health check at lunch and no errors reported. 12v battery is prime suspect, new one in transit from the nice people at Lexus Parts Direct in Swindon. Once replaced, if no further alarm issues for a week, will reinstall the cable and try and do the promised clean install guide (minus all the back and forth chat on this thread).

Alarm fired off again around 10pm last night, with no cable in place. It's classic voltage drop as the temperature drops on an end of life 12v aux battery. 7 years old it is due, other forum posts state the same, given these batteries are small vs a standard size lead acid which you can squeeze 10 years out of. Ordered a replacement last night, hopefully arrives by the end of the week and if no more issues, cable can go back in...🤞

The other main reason for false alarms is the 12v battery nearing end of life where the voltage is dropping off. Mine is 7 years old but is regularly topped up on a trickle charger. If it doesn't fire off again this week, will run the diag at the weekend when I have time, see if I can differentiate the issue cable vs. other fault. The good news for now seems to be simply removing the cable has remediated the problem.

So seems at the moment all the hard work was somewhat in vain. My alarm just started firing off at 11pm (Sunday night). I'd noticed for the past week the mirrors had started doing a small "shimmy" as I started the vehicle, when originally they just stayed static (open position). Lucky the cable was quick to remove, even in the dark with a torch. After the initial relock, the alarm still fired off. However, relocking a second time (maybe reset something/ecu), all seems quiet for now. Obviously I could have a tilt sensor, intruder sensor or lock switch malfunction instead but let's see. I will try and run a techstream diagnostic this week and if there are no errors, then will have to assume the cable is at fault e.g. cheap capacitor has blown inside the control box. What a shame! 😫

On mine (2015 model) you have to hover the key over the Start button, wait for beep and then press. Might be different for newer models.

Correct, because you have disabled at vehicle level rather then fob level. The vehicle is now set not to accept a smart entry signal, only key presses on the fob lock/unlock the doors and unlock the boot.

Menus will look different on a 70 plate and path might be slightly different but you should still have the option to completely disable Smart Entry, unlike owners of other "premium" brands who can't and have to use a fetching big yellow steering lock and/or semi-reliable Faraday box or pouch:

Yup, all I did in the end is switch pink next to orange (for RHD UK car). Just to be clear, you need to move the other end of the conjoined white wire the same number of spaces but I think the photos should hopefully already make it clear. For the pair of plugs shown, another way to describe is swap the wire in position 4 (linked with pink) with the single plug to plug white wire in position 2.

Yeah a lot of investigation for only needing to switch around two wires in the end! At least future forum members can turn the job around in 30-60mins easily now instead. Switching the wires on the part took 10 mins, fitting to the vehicle only takes 20mins. Easy to follow guide with photos to follow at some point...

Shada, spot on about the grey wire for ACC+. It aligned with the white wire which is also ACC ON (+) per the instruction sheet that ships with the product. No modification required on this wire location in the end (at least in regards to the version of the wire I got shipped). No folding when driving, even with auto-lock on. When I get 5mins will do a full + detailed write up, so anyone else can do these straight away in future. It also makes sense in regards to moving of the pink wire next to the orange. On the original Lexus plug in the vehicle, they then align with the thicker red and blue wires, which are clearly the lock and unlock wires. cable works great, was worth the wait.

I bet it has a comprehensive list... ...of exclusions 🧐

Also, for pesky cable cutters, you can do this with some galvanised mesh, using existing fixings on the radiator bulkhead and bumper impact bar to secure it. It’s a bit “Mad Max” and with persistence and the right tools someone could still cut through it, but like the Catloc itself, is more a deterrent than anything else.

Colin is spot on in regards to the MOT emissions test, my local garage even told me they don’t do it on my 300h last time around! Might be partly due to the fact the engine does not run constantly (although you’d think they’d have an emissions test mode where it did!?), anyway not complaining of course 😁 Last time I checked (about a year ago), Prius and Ct200h Catlocs are not conventional Catlocs, just plates that fit over the Cat. When I approached Catloc directly, their generic locks do not have a small enough diameter/circumference to secure the “UE6” unit. My measurement around the centre as below (please double check this for yourself if needed). If you do find something or a solution to secure it, please share! 👍🏻 If mine gets nicked I will most likely straight-pipe, as I service at Lexus but MOT at an independent, the latter less likely to know, care or even notice such a “modification”. Fingers crossed the IS300h continues to remain unscathed.

Thank you for the seller feedback update and sharing the details on your process changing the wires Amir. See below, I found a pair of tweezers works well to lift the white holding tabs, then slide the wire out the back. For plug number 1, I also recommend lifting the tabs as you reinsert the wires/pins too. I found the cleanest and quickest way is to completely remove the two wires shown and simply swap them. If you fancy being double safe, maybe send the last two images to the seller asking them to confirm the revised wire locations are correct. Did the seller provide any details on moving the white wire for the ACC+(on), so mirrors don’t fold whilst driving (as I would prefer to leave low speed/stop auto-locking on if I can)? In any case I have Shada’s detail on the thin grey wire I can go with if seller doesn’t know. Let me know, and after that will attempt to install. Many Thanks

Thank you Shada for all your knowledge and advice on this. The detail on the thin grey wire very useful. Will adjust the wires and fit when I have some time during Easter. Once all is done and hopefully works according to plan, will post a stand-alone guide, save any future purchasers of the cable from a long read.

Hi John, we’re not so lucky as you LHD owners who can simply plug and play. Signals are a different layout on RHD, in the Lexus engineering guide LHD vs RHD have different pin-out diagrams for the drivers side lock/control panel. Even the seller states two wires need adjusting per below.

Shada, we’ll see if Amir gets anything clear back from the seller, but if not for the one click fold... looking at the Lexus engineering diagram of the lock pin-out (I believe is for RHD front lock), which appears to be a mirror image of my “wires in” diagram from the socket numbered (1), this seems to match what you say about moving pink next to orange. From the instructions that came with the cable pink is the “12v when locking” signal, so needs to be moved to align with pin-out number 2 on the lock socket diagram (remembering the two diagrams below are mirrored, based on the location of the brown earth “E” wire in relation to the lock “L” aka pink and unlock “UL” aka orange). Long winded explanation I know, hope it makes sense? The one I’m still not sure on is what to do with the white cable to prevent folding when driving, when the owner has the lock doors at low speed/standstill option on.

Condition from a 15 plate 30k miles vehicle. Was dusty/fluffed up but far from blocked. I’d say it is a once every 50/60k job to do.