DMW 99 RX300

I have a 2006 RX400h that I received a Warranty Enhancement Notification (WEN) stating that they would replace my cracked dash and that I would be notified when a replacement part was available but was never notified about a replacement part being available. I called the local dealer a few times in 2016 but was always told to wait for a notification letter. I made the mistake of glancing at a notification that I received later and assuming that it was the notification that the replacement part was available and that I had until Dec 31, 2017 to have it replaced. It turns out that was another WEN about a brake actuator and because I was never notified about a part being available, like the WEN stated I would be, I discovered that the WEN for the dash had expired. When I contacted Lexus, they told me that I needed to take my car into a dealer to have inspected in order to get on a waiting list for the replacement part. I had the car in the Lexus body shop and asked at the time if they could replace the dash while it was in the shop but they said that it would probably be a year before a dash was available and to wait for the letter from Lexus informing me that the part was available. They did not tell me that I needed to have the service department inspect the car nor did the WEN mention that but Joy at Lexus Of America said that I needed to have had my car inspected in order to get notified. THAT IS NOT WHAT THE WEN STATED! I strongly feel that this is an attempt by Lexus to avoid replacing as many of these defective dashboards as possible. I've read about others who waited over a year for a replacement to become available and those people mentioned having the service dept. inspect their car in order to get on a list and then there are others who gave up because the parts were never available. I wonder how many people have been cheated out of this WEN because Lexus never notified people about the parts becoming available.

In the luggage compartment on the driver's side, remove the panel that has the 12v power outlet (slide out metal part of outlet to remove the clips holding it). The LFS is behind the plastic panel just above the fuzzy panel with the power outlet. With someone pressing the brake pedal, you should have 12v at pin 7 with the Green/White wire. If voltage is there, then the switch and fuse is ok. The outputs Pin 1 (high stop light) and pin 2 (brake lights) should have 12v when the input pin 7 does. If they do not, then it is probable that pin 7 has de-soldered itself. Remove the connector and remove the bottom plastic cover. Carefully push the pins down into the connector housing to remove the circuit board. Compare the connector to the pins in the circuit board to determine which is pin 7. Solder it with any soldering iron and a little fresh solder. All brake light voltage goes into pin 7 of the LFS and goes out to the stop lights on pins 1 and 2.

Great picture! Looking from left to right, there is the tan curved part, a gray part, a goldish part, a gray part, a tan part, and then the silver part that you are pointing to. I suspect that the goldish part is the spring that causes the visor to pop all the way up to the headliner. The gray parts on either side of the goldish part are probably one part that has a flat side (cam) obscured by the goldish part. I suspect that the problem with mine is that the spring (goldish part) is weakened so that only the friction of the assembly is all that is left to hold the visor up. This is only based on what I see in your image and the way that the good visor works which must have a spring mechanism to allow it to retract the rest of the way up by itself. First, I'll see if my assumption is correct about the location of the spring (goldish part in the picture) and see if I can reshape it so that it works again. If that fails to work, then I'll try to apply some Loctite (thread locking compound) to the friction mechanism (silver part) to see if that will work before I try crimping it. I didn't have a chance to cut into it last night but I'll give it a try tonight. I'll take some pictures when I do.

Tonight, I think I'm going to go ahead and cut along the hinge-side seam to see what can be done to fix it and then sew it up. I think that it will look better than toothpicks shoved into the hinge or velcro. The only visors on eBay are tan (I need gray) and there's no way to tell whether or not the ones on eBay have the same problem. My visor feels tight throughout the range of motion; it is just slightly looser in the up position. Wish I had a junk one to experiment with before cutting blindly into it.

There aren't any screws on the actual visor panel. The pivoting hinge that allows the visor to swing to the side window is the only part that I can see that has screws which attach the whole assembly to the headliner. The visors in my old Porsche have screws that actually allow the tension to be adjusted but the RX300 doesn't have anything external on it for adjusting the tension. Actually, there must be some sort of spring/cam mechanism inside because the passenger side visor will flip itself all the way up once it is about 1" from the headliner. I guess i'll see if I can remove the vanity mirror assembly so that I can see what's inside. There's no adjustment. The visor is held up by a friction mechanism inside that gets lose over time. The best you can do is cut the visor open, clamp the friction mechanism tighter and sew it back up again - or, like I did, get a new visor on ebay. You have to cut the visor open because the friction mechanism is surrounded by styrofoam and you can't clamp it down with the foam in the way. Seems like there must be a spring/cam mechanism that causes the visor to pop all the way up into the headliner when it gets within about 1" from the top. I guess I check eBay to see what I can get one for.

There aren't any screws on the actual visor panel. The pivoting hinge that allows the visor to swing to the side window is the only part that I can see that has screws which attach the whole assembly to the headliner. The visors in my old Porsche have screws that actually allow the tension to be adjusted but the RX300 doesn't have anything external on it for adjusting the tension. Actually, there must be some sort of spring/cam mechanism inside because the passenger side visor will flip itself all the way up once it is about 1" from the headliner. I guess i'll see if I can remove the vanity mirror assembly so that I can see what's inside.

The driver's side visor is a bit loose so that it no longer stays all of the way up. Is there anything other than replacement (probably $$$) that can fix it? The Celica that I used to have had the same problem.

Interesting idea. I assume that the only way to determine whether or not the mod has been done to any of the doors is to take apart each door enough to see inside. For now, I'll just live with one remote since I'm the only one driving the car.

This is the best RX300 Remote Programming guide and is the same procedure for 1999 thru 2003: These images are posted permanently on my server so this post can be pinned.

There must be a problem with the system because it will not go into programming mode; and I'm a programmer! The only difference in the instructions at toy-lex.com was that the first step said to lock all doors and then unlock the driver's door. The rest of the procedure was exactly the same. It just won't go into any programming mode. I had no problem programming the keys; I just can't program the remote so I'm stuck with only one working remote until I can get enough information to troubleshoot the problem. Since it is not even getting into programming mode, I don't have to consider transmitter/receiver issues. That leaves the control unit and the inputs: door switch (which works because the foot light turns on/off), lock/unlock switch (works), and the Ignition switch (works). So the problem is likely the control unit or an input connection to the control unit. If I can determine the pinouts and signals for the inputs, I should be able to simulate locking/unlocking and door opening/closing by using jumper wires at the control unit. I want to put it in Confirmation Mode (Ignition on/off 3 times) which the system should respond with one to four lock/unlock cycles to indicate the number of remotes programmed.

They are from the 99 RX300 service manual: http://www.red928.com/Lexus/Lexus_-_RX-300...Manual_1999.pdf

I've followed the instructions to a T but can't get the system to verify (system locks and unlocks doors 1,2 or 5 times depending on the mode) that it is in programming mode. I'm trying to get it into Confirmation mode. Here are the instructions that I'm following up to the point where the system should verify that it is in programming mode: MODES OF REGISTRATION There are 4 registration (programming) modes: Add Mode - Adds a transmitter without erasing existing transmitter codes. Four transmitter codes can be registered at one time. If number of registered codes exceeds 4, previously registered codes are erased in order, starting with first registered code. Rewrite Mode - Erases all previously registered transmitter codes and reprogram new transmitters. Confirmation Mode - Informs user of number of existing transmitter codes already programmed in system. Prohibition Mode - Erases all existing registered transmitter codes and cancels wireless door lock operation. Use this function if transmitter is lost or stolen. REGISTRATION OF RECOGNITION CODE 1) To begin programming, remove key from ignition switch. Ensure driver’s door is open and unlocked, and all other doors are closed. Insert key into ignition switch, and then remove it. Go to next step. 2) Complete the following in 40 seconds or less: press door lock switch to LOCK position, and then within one second, press door lock switch to UNLOCK position. Repeat procedure continuously until door locks have been locked and unlocked 5 times. Close, and then open driver’s door. Go to next step. 3) Complete the following in 40 seconds or less: repeat procedure in step 2), except for closing and opening driver’s door. Insert key into ignition switch. To enter desired mode, turn ignition switch to ON position and back to LOCK position (one cycle), within one second, the specified number of times. See REGISTRATION MODE SELECTION table. Remove key from ignition switch. Go to next step. REGISTRATION MODE SELECTION Registration Mode No. Of Ignition Switch Cycles Add .............................................................. 1 Rewrite .......................................................... 2 Confirmation ..................................................... 3 Prohibition ...................................................... 5 4) If any mode other than confirmation mode is selected, go to next step. If confirmation mode was selected, door locks will cycle 1-4 times depending on how many transmitter codes are stored in ECU. Example: two stored codes equals 2 door lock/unlock cycles. Registration of confirmation code is complete after door locks cycle. Any ideas of what I could be doing wrong?

After clicking on the link that you provided, that actually went to the Pinned "how to" Topic. Thanks for letting me know where it was. I thought that I had broken some sort of rule in the message. David

I created a new topic where I posted the link to a copy of the 99 RX300 repair manual that I found and put permanantly on my personal site for others to access but the topic has been deleted for some reason. The file is far too large to upload to the forum's server so I guess now I know why people continue to post topics asking where a copy of the 99 manual can be found. I had to click on many expired links until I found one that still worked and who knows how long it will remain working. Not sure why my post was deleted. :chairshot:

I've located a copy of the repair manual and have posted in on my site for all to enjoy. The site is going to eventually be about my 1985 red Porsche 928 S that I'm restoring to be a show car but for now, I just post stuff there since I know that it is not going away anytime soon; it's my domain. www.red928.com/Lexus/Lexus_-_RX-300_Repair_Manual_1999.pdf My thanks to grataballi who posted the link to the file sharing site where I obtained the copy. B) How can I get this post 'Pinned'?