roger889

I have noted that there are a few strings on here about the back door, tailgate on RX vehicles not operating. I have had a RX 300, RX 400h and now run a RX 450h. I've had a couple of saloons in between. A 400LS and a 430LS, great cars. To get back to the RX 450h tailgate it seems to stop operating in cold, damp weather. The car itself is susceptible to condensation inside, there is water running down the inside of the windscreen when it is really bad. Lexus tried to sell me a new lift motor on one of my services saying it needed changing, but I declined. One of the technicians came over to me when I was leaving and showed me where the motor was inside the roof lining. He said if it was unplugged and plugged in again as they had done, it would work. I have since tried that but to no effect. I suspect that it worked for them because it was in a nice warm garage for over an hour and had time to dry out. Since then I pulled the roof lining down and put a warm air gun inside blowing on the motor for about 20mins and hey presto the tailgate lifts. After a couple of days of cold and damp it stopped working again, thus proving there's nothing wrong with the motor apart from it doesn't like cold, damp weather.

Roger 889. I have exactly the same problem on my 2012 450h. In summer the tailgate works perfectly but as soon as the weather turns damp and cold the tailgate won't work. All other locks open and close as they should, the alarm works as it should. I have taken the little inspection cover off the boot lock inside the car and tied some electrical wire to the release pull, then run it along the bottom of the boot door to the nearside and I hide it between the back lights. It can be a bit fiddly flicking it out from it's little hiding place but it always comes out eventually and a sharp pull on it opens the lock on tailgate.