DomTurner

My 2006 LS430 passed the MOT with the "Brake Wear" light/message. It was an advisory but not a fail: "Brake wear light on dashboard"

Reviving this once again after some nice weather. Recently my coolant levels were fairly low so I've topped up to the "Max" fill line and it has made quite a difference to the air coming out of the vents. It isn't ice cold like when the A/C is working properly but a lot cooler than it was. After going through the A/C self-diagnostic it is giving me codes 21, 24 and 28 which all relate to the driver, passenger and rear solar sensor. This was at midday on a bright day - should these still be showing even when it is that bright outside? Could this be anything to do with the issues I am getting or do they just control the "Auto" functions? Just thought I'd ask before going to an A/C specialist. Thanks.

here we go again... almost exactly a week later and it's back at it. it isn't what we thought it was and we are sure it cant be anything in the house now. lucky it didn't happen when i got up for work - not sure the neighbours would have liked the alarms going off at 3am!

Right, final update (hopefully). RCD started to trip this morning, after the 2nd time we investigated. After going through the house unplugging everything we moved onto the garage. Turned off the boiler and it stopped tripping. And guess what - all of our cars are now unlocking fine! Must be the wireless control for the boiler interfering with the alarm systems - even a remote control lamp was flickering before when turned on! Thank you everyone for the info and help, what a weird couple of days.

More info: I moved my car not even 5 seconds down the road and it is working fine, keyless, remote etc... Back on the drive and nothing is working again... I cut all power to the house and tried again and got the same result so I can't see it's anything in my house. Checked with the neighbour and they have been experiencing the same thing from yesterday afternoon (once they returned home), their key will not work unless pretty much touching the car and pressing the button a few times. Must be something interfering with the 315/433MHz frequency? Will have to ask around the other neighbours. Thankfully the master key after will work in the keyhole without setting the alarm off so I can lock/unlock with the physical key and start the car to move it elsewhere. I have never come across anything like this in my 20 short years on the planet and I don't even know who to call to check this out...

Has to be some sort of interference or something, next door's car is doing the same! Power off in the house and still happening so unsure what to do next! I'll figure something out...

very strange! i'm trying to think if there's anything in the house that can be causing this but it was working fine one minute and then f***ed the next. perhaps a neighbour...

thanks for the info. the noise sounds more like it's coming from the boot, almost like when it self closes just a bit deeper sounding. i need to disconnect the alarm horn before investigating further though.

okay another update, this sounds stupid but... i mentioned yesterday that my sisters e46 isnt locking/unlocking with the key from the house... tried it again this morning and same result. she moved it 10 feet down the road and it's working fine... move it back and its no longer working

this lexus is becoming less and less “brilliant”. Got a lift to work early this morning and the car is working perfectly fine, keyless instantly worked as the puddle lights came on when i was near and i could unlock it etc… started it up and let it get up to temp and then parked up, ready for me after work. Finished work and come out to my car - everything is perfect again. Pull onto my drive, switch the engine off and as soon as i shut my door I heard a locking/mechanical noise from the rear of the car. Same thing as yesterday is happening… I cannot unlock or lock with the key and i’m guessing the alarm will go off if i try and open the door… wtf is happening.

Hi everyone, firstly thank you for all your help and suggestions. As the engine runs and allows me into drive, I drove the car into my work's car park so I could work on it without the alarms annoying anyone. Bit embarrassing as the alarm was running for a few minutes on the way - I promise it's not stolen! Half way into the journey the alarm stopped and everything seemed normal, no errors and no flashing lights. Got into the works car park and turned off the engine, took the key out and instantly noticed that the light for the SMART access had returned to flashing green and the normal alarm light was flashing red, just like before. I could shut the door and lock it with the black button and after a few seconds could unlock it using the keyless function (hand behind the door handle sensor)! The system seems like it has returned to normal and the main key works to lock and unlock, as well as working in the ignition. I will get a lift into work tomorrow and test it in the morning along with my other keys to see if it truly has fixed itself but for now it's good news! I am guessing the car needed the key in the ignition for a minute or two to recognise it and disable the alarm and I must have took the key out too fast when testing before - if I had known the alarm would eventually quiet down I would've done it on the drive but it's a bit awkward with the curtain twitchers watching! Will update everyone once I know for sure. A slightly related point - my sisters E46 BMW 320i has decided to refuse to lock/unlock remotely when parked near the house but has been fine elsewhere - this only started today as well? Strange!

yes i have always noticed it flashing green and i was in and out of my car a few times today using the keyless entry system until this happened

that was just an example image as i’m not at my car at the moment and was the only one after a quick search that showed the lights i was mentioning.

Thanks, i will also try this. Funny you should mention the corroded terminals in the boot as i read this could make it so the button on the boot itself could fail - it has never worked since i had the car, i’ve always had to use the key or the trunk release in the front.

Thanks, it did go through my mind but with the car turning over and starting fine as well as the fact i’ve had no other signs before now, I dismissed it - I will look into that and see if I can get it tested, will just have to drive with the alarm going off!

So this afternoon I noticed my main key's buttons weren't doing anything so I couldn't lock/unlock the car. Fine I thought and attempted to use the physical key (never needed to use them before), only the master key's casing is broken and so I couldn't access the physical key. So I went to get my spare key which weirdly enough ALSO didn't unlock or lock the car remotely... I was, however, able to get the physical key into a position where it could enter the driver's door - however this just set the alarm off... No matter how many times I turned the key from Lock to Unlock, the alarm doesn't go off until it is in a locked state and the key is out of the keyhole and after about 10 seconds the alarm finishes (only with a locked car however). I have also noticed that no lights are flashing inside for the smart access/alarm system: shown here with the red arrow: The strangest thing is I can turn the ignition on and even start the engine but the alarm will sound constantly... I cannot see any error warnings on the dash or anything but I cannot dig further really as the entire estate has been looking at me funny! It seems I can't really use my car at all at the moment. I Have tried new batteries in two of the keys but all 3 that I have are not working. Any help is appreciated!

Thanks for the info and part numbers, for now I will clear up the deposit and fill the coolant back up to a reasonable level and look out for the leak. I have heard that the radiator should be replaced but wasn't sure if you could get around that with just the transmission cooler bypass kit from LexusPartsDirect (can't find a link atm), or just by replacing the radiator (or both). I am not entirely sure of the correct radiator either as I have heard there are 2.

Reviving this topic as I've just checked my coolant as I'm having some heating issues and saw it was very low! Came across this (second image) just above the aux belt. I hadn't noticed this before as I've never taken the plastic intake off but it's very crusty. Not sure if it's the coolant itself or just someone's attempt at fixing a leak but it's worrying ever way. I cannot find anything else that would indicate a leak and the radiator itself looks fairly clean. Any ideas? As for the low coolant, what is the recommended one to use these days?

Yeah the Government website says that the LS430 should run okay with E10 however I noticed an immediate difference in MPG. E10 struggles to get much over 16MPG vs. ~18-20 MPG on E5 (same driving scenarios). I've only filled up with E10 a handful of times and personally stick with premium. I don't feel a difference in power delivery or smoothness, not to say there isn't any. Cannot speak for LS400/460, however.

Thanks for the ideas, I forgot to mention that I spoke to Paul Frost from LexusPartsDirect and he told me that there is only one blend door actuator so I don't think it's that - unless he thought I meant a different part, not sure of the part no or where it is. I suppose the best bet is taking it to an air con specialist and let them have a look for leaks that the previous place may have missed.

Bumping this topic as I'm still having issues. All front vents now blow air that doesn't feel that cool, with the furthest left one being the coolest and the other 3 being a lot warmer. The rear vents (top and centre) are blowing what feels like proper A/C... I ran the Auto & Recirc button diagnostic and no codes are showing up. Because the rear feels fine I think it may be a cabin air sensor issue but after opening up the vent (just above the handbrake release) and cleaning what dust there was, it hasn't made a difference so I'm not sure it can be that either. I don't really know what to try next, I've been told it could be leaking refrigerant but the code I had before when it was empty (23) is not showing at the minute and the place that leaks the most is the rear A/C lines but the rear A/C is completely fine. ... I'm lost.

Back up to £7,795 now?

I've noticed an issue recently in which the air coming out of the passenger vents (including the left centre one) feels considerably cooler than the air from the driver's side (including right centre) even though the set temperature for both sides remain the same - 19 degrees. I have tried to change temperatures up and down with buttons & voice control and it still happens. Closing the left centre vent will send more air through the right one but doesn't appear to be any cooler, but when opened again you can immediately feel the difference between the two which has confused me. I know the car sends more air into "hot spots" of the car when the oscillating vents are enabled so I also thought could this be the car sending cooler air to everywhere but the driver? I have not yet remembered to test it with a passenger onboard. Image of the current climate settings is below (yes I know it needs a little clean):

On my head unit pressing the DISC button will play from the 6-CD changer, however pressing the DISC button again (whilst on the default DISC screen) and it will change to "CD2 changer" which is where you can listen to music through the 3rd party adapter. Obviously you are using Bluetooth so not sure if this applies to you, but perhaps it will only show up on your phone's Bluetooth list if you select the "second" CD changer? Worth a try.

I’ve been having issues with the passenger mirror dipping when I put the car in reverse, it dips a few degrees but then stops. It does this more often than not now and it only started a few weeks ago. The switch is always kept in the L position and the mirror controls on that door work fine as I can move it as far down (and all other directions) as possible using the manual controls. I have tried moving it all the way down in reverse manually to set the “memory” but this hasn’t helped. Any tips to resolve this?