Cup Holder Door Won't Open Fully

[DrDistorzion]

hi all!

I tried searching for a way to remove the cup holder door in the mid console on my 2006 RX-400h, but haven't found any usefull info.

The door won't open fully which makes it impossible to use the cup holders. Somehting has dropped belowe the door blocking it from opening fully and I can't get hold of it.

Any one have any link or info of how to remove the door?

Thenks a lot!

[cduluk]

I had to do some extensive surgery on the center console of my Rx400h when i did my wood modifications. Removing the entire console from the car is fairly easy, but taking the actual console apart is a pain in the BUTT.

The door and little panels on the console are attached from screws beneath, and you need to remove a lot of contraptions to get to them... And these contraptions are held in place with tensioned springs and levers (that allow for the open/close operation) and once removed, almost impossible to set back in position correctly. It took me an entire day to disassemble and reassemble the console with guess and check... I would say i have pretty good mechanical ability, and this project really tested my head... and patience!

I would remove the console from the car (pry off lower rectangular side panels on both left and right sides w/flathead screwdriver, remove 3 10mm bolts on each side, pull up, unplug wire harnesses) and try to remove the obstruction from the outside, maybe tip the console over, wiggle the door a little, let gravity help you.

If that doesn't work, then i guess try to take everything apart inside. Just keep track of which screws go where (as they all "appear" the same but some longer than others) and write down each step as you go along. It may also help to take pictures of parts before you remove them, as if you hit the wrong spring or lever, they'll fly apart and go all over the floor, and you'll have to figure out where they went.

If you're careful, you'll be OK <_<

[jbprx400h]

Hi Dr

Things can get "lost" under the flaps!

I was driving down through Europe and had stopped in Luxembourg to fill up with petrol (that's gas to you in the USA!). I used my credit card and thought I had dropped it into the centre console when I got back into the car together with the receipts. The next stop for gas (that's petrol to you in England!) I just could not find my credit card anywhere. Total panic!!! I was convinced that I had put it in the centre console along with the receipts but after emptying everything out all I could find was the receipts. Having searched the rest of the car I came to the conclusion I must have dropped my card whilst getting back into the car back in Luxembourg. The rest of the holiday was a bit of a PITA as I had to cancel my lost credit card and use alternative means of paying for things. Fortunately I had a backup debit card with me.

When I got home a week later I was cleaning out the car when lo and behold I opened the centre console and out dropped my "lost" credit card which had been up behind one of the shutters all week despite opening and closing them many many times whilst away.

Good luck. At least you know where your "lost" item is!!!

JBP

[DrDistorzion]

thanks for the information!

I think I will have to dismantle the center console. I am an robotics engineer so technology is not a problem, the problem is that they are pretty good at hiding how the details are put togeather! :)

[DrDistorzion]

Hi again, I managed to remove the obstacle under the door, without removing the door itself. I folowed cduluk's instructions and removed the console, removed the plastic frame underneath the compartments and could reach the jammed piece from there.

I figured I could share some photoes I took during the operation that might be helpful to others.

But when doing this operation I dismantled one of the cupholder lights to see what type of light source it was because I'm into changing the interior lighting to bright LED's, but when doing this it struck me that these lights haven't been on since I baught the car.. and I measured on the loos connector and there's no voltage on it..

I checked the fuse box and I see there's some fuses missing, and I couldn't figure out what these are for from the text on the fuse box cover, could any one explain? I would be very thankfull. And if someone has any other suggestion on what could be the cause of the non functioning console lights, it would be very appreciated. Not much idea to change the light sources if I have no juice coming to them.. :S

[cduluk]

Those lights in the console are already LED's. There are two giving light to the cupholders, both LED's blue. And there's one more LED illuminating the cubby behind them, but it's amber.

I had purchased a spare Rx console when i was working on mine (last summer), so i replaced the amber LED with a blue one that went to the cupholders. So now all three LED's in my console are blue.

Also, you know the amber lighting where your feet go (both drivers and passengers side has it)? They're the same amber LED's like the one in the console cubby. I also replaced these with blue LED's... Just un-soldered them and re-soldered in 5mm blue LED's. Used the same resistor given. Factory LED's are designed to take 3.2v and ~20mA current.

Are you sure those lights never worked in your console? They're very dim by nature. They are only illuminated when your exterior lights are on, and when your dimmer switch is set to a high position. If you lower the dimmer switch, they'll go off.

The fuse for this circuit will not be located under the hood. There's a separate fuse box under the drivers side dash, next to the emergency brake thing. Just look up there, you'll see a black rectangle. Just pop off the cover and you'll see two rows of... maybe 30 or so. In the back 2/3 of your owners manual you'll find a few pages with detailed descriptions of what each fuse is for.

For the fuses you've pictured, some are supposed to be empty. The diagrams in the manual will show which though <_<

[DrDistorzion]

Thanks,

yes I saw they are already LED's, but I figured it would be nice to change to some really bright ones, to get good ilumination in the large "bucket" when searching for parking coins and stuff. I guess otherwise that I could re-rout the power to these lights from somehwere else on the dashboard, like from the 12V cig-lighter-output for example. Then it wouldn't be affected by the dimmer.

I searched the manual deeply for a description on the fuses, but obviously not deep enough. Or they have mistakenly lost that part in the swedish translation... I found the pages describing how to find the fuses, but no description on what they are fore.

Anyway, if I understand you correctly, you replaced the lights under the doorstep (illuminated lexus sign)? I would like to replace those also, with brighter blue ones. I have spent some time tonight searching for info on how to get to them, but with no luck, could you describe how I get those off? is it just to pull the plastic cover upwards?

Thanks in advance!

[cduluk]

Oh no, i don't mean the door sill lights, i mean the lights that illuminate the areas where your feet are. Not sure if yours has it, maybe it was only on newer models? The "LEXUS" door sill lights are already blue on my 400h.

And i do have experience replacing the door sill light LED's, on my last car, i had retrofitted a set of Rx330 door sills and converted the factory amber 'LEXUS' to blue LED's. See the "My previous Rx300's Custom LED “additions”" link in my signature for pictures. You can pry the door sills up with your hands to get to the back. They require a little surgery to get to the LED's as they're encased in epoxy, but it's do-able. I just replaced the 3mm amber LED with a 5mm blue one, and i used the same resistor.

Here are the foot well lights i'm talking about.

Here are the pages in my manual on the fuses.

[DrDistorzion]

oh, thanks a lot! :)

no, mine doesn't have those lights (if they aren't also unpowered at the moment as my center console lights). This morning on my way to work I double-checked so they weren't just dimmed down, I dimmed up the instrument lights to full and there was no light in the center console. I'll check the instrument panel fuse box this evening.

again, thanks a lot for taking your time! This car has been my dream car for several years, and now that I finally have had opportunity to buy one, I'm going to learn as much as I can about it. Then it's nice to have a community like this to share ideas and info on!

[cduluk]

no prob, glad to help! :)

If all the fuses check out, i would try to light up those LED's manually with voltage from the cigarette lighter (at the bottom of the console). That lighter only receives voltage when the key is in the ignition, so it wouldn't hurt the battery.

OR, if you wanted to be adventurous, you could tap voltage from the shifter plate bulb (the bulb that illuminates the PRNDB panel) as that bulb works with the dimmer. That bulb most likely works with 12v just as the cig lighter does. If you attached those LED's to this voltage, they'd dim just as they're supposed to. And i'm positive that bulb's given enough current to run 3 LED's just fine.

That might be your best bet B)

[DrDistorzion]

no prob, glad to help! :)

If all the fuses check out, i would try to light up those LED's manually with voltage from the cigarette lighter (at the bottom of the console). That lighter only receives voltage when the key is in the ignition, so it wouldn't hurt the battery.

OR, if you wanted to be adventurous, you could tap voltage from the shifter plate bulb (the bulb that illuminates the PRNDB panel) as that bulb works with the dimmer. That bulb most likely works with 12v just as the cig lighter does. If you attached those LED's to this voltage, they'd dim just as they're supposed to. And i'm positive that bulb's given enough current to run 3 LED's just fine.

That might be your best bet B)

Hi,

I must admit this is rather embarrassing, I found the problem... I didn't know these lights were connected to the headlight-switch. Because of the fact that I bought the car a couple of weeks ago and the headlights come on automatically and I haven't driven any time where the high-power-mode has been needed, I have never switched the headlights to the on-position. I thought those LED's should be on the same power source and control as the instrument panel and door sill-lights, but obviously they aren't, which in itself is quite odd I think... isn't it quite often you look for something in the glove box before or after you have the car powered up? So even now when I have them working the way they are intended, I'm thinking of moving them to another power source. I just need to be careful so that I don't connect them in a way so that they are constantly on, as I also intend to exchange them for some highpower-ones.

Does your lights work in the same way as mine?

[cduluk]

Yeah, the center console cup holder and cubby lights only come on when the headlights are on (at night) and when the dimmer switch (to the left of the steering column) is set to a high position. They're on the same circuit as the radio/AC and heated seat/headlight washer lights.

If you want to wire them to be on even during the day, i'd suggest wiring them to the cigarette lighter plug. The cig lighters in the car are only hot when the car is in ACC or ON, so when you turn off the ignition they'd be off. The cig lighters receive 12-14.5V based on the alternator and plenty of current to run other things. At present i've got my radar detector, laser jammer and a few other lights wired to the cig lighter above the shifter with no problems.

Only problem with this setup is that the dimmer wouldn't control the lights... And i don't believe the dimmer is double pole, so i'm not sure how one could get it to control both things.

[DrDistorzion]

Yeah, the center console cup holder and cubby lights only come on when the headlights are on (at night) and when the dimmer switch (to the left of the steering column) is set to a high position. They're on the same circuit as the radio/AC and heated seat/headlight washer lights.

If you want to wire them to be on even during the day, i'd suggest wiring them to the cigarette lighter plug. The cig lighters in the car are only hot when the car is in ACC or ON, so when you turn off the ignition they'd be off. The cig lighters receive 12-14.5V based on the alternator and plenty of current to run other things. At present i've got my radar detector, laser jammer and a few other lights wired to the cig lighter above the shifter with no problems.

Only problem with this setup is that the dimmer wouldn't control the lights... And i don't believe the dimmer is double pole, so i'm not sure how one could get it to control both things.

ok, dimming is no problem, I don't need it. I don't think there's any use of dimming those lights, although I guess there could be an idea to put a switch in the door mechanism that switches the cupholder lights off when the cupholder door is closed, and another switch for the glove box light connected to that door mechanics.

It could at least be useful if I decide to go for real highpower-LED's that emmits a lot of heat. I thought of placing one like that in the glove box, or several of the around the sides because it's allways hard to find what you're looking for in there with a lot of stuff scrambled. :)

And about the door sills, maby I missed it somewhere, but I read that the LED's are incased in epoxy so a little bit of surgery is needed, that's no big deal but to get to them, did you remove the whole plastic part that the LEXUS-sign is built into? is it just "clicked" in place if you understand what I mean? I want to be extra carefull not to try to bend here and there causing something to break...

I noticed the lights for the driver-side feets, and the passenger side as well. They are very very faint on mine, so are the LED's in the lexus-sign.

Did you replace the lights lighting up the door-handle cavities? Those are also very faint and ugly on mine, so I'm thinking of replacing them aswell.

[cduluk]

It might be a nice idea to retrofit your own set of LED's into the center console and glove compartment. You could install tiny N.O. momentary switches so they'd only illuminate when the doors are open, and use the back of the cig lighter plug as a power source. I would just advise that you wire voltage regulators as well as proper resistors along with the LED's to control the input voltage and current. The alternator can crank out up to 14.5v sometimes which could blow out LED's very quickly. I think a pair of 5mm LED's will do the trick without emitting any heat. Or you could use some CREE or surface mount LED's with some heat-sinking... But i don't think you need THAT much light...

As for the "LEXUS" light-up door sills, you'd need to remove the panels from the car as the "LEXUS" part is embedded into the plastic. The sills are attached only with clips, so just pry them up with your fingers (or a flat head screwdriver). Pry from the top front first, then work your way towards the end. When you remove them, the black rubber door seals will want to come up too, so just make sure to separate the two so they don't rip. And when you've got the sills lifted a few inches, unplug the wiring (towards the front of each) as there isn't a lot of slack. Once you've removed the sills, you can gain access to the backs and get to the "LEXUS" light up pieces. And they're attached to the sills with double sided tape, so don't bother trying to separate them (i tried, made matters worse)... Just do the dirty work with them still attached together. Just follow the wires into the "LEXUS" plate, maybe use a dremel and carefully drill your way towards the LED circuit area, then you can replace it.

Here are some pics of the such sills, i found these online:

You also mentioned the lights in the door handle cavities... I've been wanting to replace those with blue LED's, but have put that project on hold due to the fact that the ONLY way to get to them, is to remove the entire door panel- which is a MAJOR pain. If you find the motivation to remove them though, i say go for it. I'll get to them one day when i find the inspiration and time.

You may also want to replace the amber LED's in the upper center console, the ones that aim downwards onto the shifter plate. The LED's are located in the shallow of the dome light slider switch, on the panel that has the garage door opener buttons and buttons for the sunroof. You can remove this panel by removing the clear light cover with a flathead screwdriver, then removing two philips head screws beneath, and i "think" there might be two more screws up front, but i could be wrong, don't totally remember. I just replaced both with the same 5mm blue LED's, just un-soldered and replaced.

[DrDistorzion]

Thanks a lot for the info! :)

I was actually thinking of cree's not to get their maximum light emission but rather run them on a little bit lower current than their design-max, so that I get more light than 5mm-LED's but without excess heat, it would also save me from voltage spikes, and it would also increase the lifespan of the lights.

The door handle lights sounded complicated so I guess I start with the glove-box and then move on to the door sills. :) I'll keep you posted. And thanks again for all the useful information!

[cduluk]

Thanks a lot for the info! :)

I was actually thinking of cree's not to get their maximum light emission but rather run them on a little bit lower current than their design-max, so that I get more light than 5mm-LED's but without excess heat, it would also save me from voltage spikes, and it would also increase the lifespan of the lights.

The door handle lights sounded complicated so I guess I start with the glove-box and then move on to the door sills. :) I'll keep you posted. And thanks again for all the useful information!

no problem, glad i could help!

[javadude]

Thank you, cduluk and DrDistorzion! I've had a rattle coming from the sliding centre console for ages. I kept moving/removing different things from the storage box as I tried to work out what was moving around in there. I finally removed everything and found it was still rattling. I took the console out and shook it a bit and out dropped a chrome valve cap. I've no idea how that managed to get under there. Worth mentioning that after unclipping the wiring harness you need to pop the cable tie out of the base with a screwdriver. It's a bit like the ones that hold the tail gate trim in place.

[Hooker37]

Concerning something (like a pen) falling into the well for the console drink holder door of a Lexus RX 350 which prevents it from opening all the way.

First take out the removable cup divider.  Then take about a 8” length of some very sticky tape, and cut it so only the very end about 1/4 “ is revealed.  Then slide the sticky end down the inside of the door (holding it close to the door in a half-way open position) till it was hitting the bottom of the door well.  Then open the door all way until it touches the pen, or ? and the pressure of the door against the tape will cause the pen to stick to the tape.  Slowly close the door as you pull up the tape and slowly pull it to the drink holder area.  You can also assist the process by putting some very sticky tape on the end of a chopstick (or pencil), and when you see the object, try to make it stick to the tape on the chopstick and begin pulling it into the drink well.

It took a bit of patience, but I saved myself a trip to the dealer for an expensive console removal doing this.

Good Luck!

[Jimmie C]

I had the problem that something was restricting the cover from opening all the way. I read about how to take it apart, but then saw a post from Hooker 37 below that talked about how to fish out the offending object(s) with sticky tape. This work great...after retrieving three pens the problem was solved in five minutes

 

[Jama claudia]

On 6/14/2019 at 1:13 AM, Hooker37 said:

Concerning something (like a pen) falling into the well for the console drink holder door of a Lexus RX 350 which prevents it from opening all the way.

First take out the removable cup divider.  Then take about a 8” length of some very sticky tape, and cut it so only the very end about 1/4 “ is revealed.  Then slide the sticky end down the inside of the door (holding it close to the door in a half-way open position) till it was hitting the bottom of the door well.  Then open the door all way until it touches the pen, or ? and the pressure of the door against the tape will cause the pen to stick to the tape.  Slowly close the door as you pull up the tape and slowly pull it to the drink holder area.  You can also assist the process by putting some very sticky tape on the end of a chopstick (or pencil), and when you see the object, try to make it stick to the tape on the chopstick and begin pulling it into the drink well.

It took a bit of patience, but I saved myself a trip to the dealer for an expensive console removal doing this.

Good Luck!

It’s July 2, 2023 and I just came across this post! It took me ten attempts, but I finally perfected the execution of your maneuver and got a pen out of our console cup holder. We haven’t been able to open that door all the way for 5-6 years!! Our dealer wanted $250 to dismantle the console and told us we would never be able fish the pen out…Thank you so much for your creative solution. 😍

[Art Nouveau]

For specific reasons to follow, I'm glad to see that this thread has been resurrected. 

In June of this year I bought a 2008 Lexus RX 400h, with 106K miles. Nice car, with what appears to be the standard suite of this model's problems: cracked dash top and malfunctioning center console clamshell doors.

A Coverlay dash cover arrived two days ago, which should fix the dash problem.

About the console: the open/close buttons work, although the "Open" button seems to be permanently in a partially depressed state. When pressed, the clamshell doors partially open and partially close. I can easily move them the rest of the way with my fingers. (The cupholder door works perfectly.)

To simplify clamshell door repair, I bought a console assembly from a scrapyard, with the idea of just swapping the existing console with the replacement. All the doors and buttons on the replacement work perfectly.

Only one problem: the fake wood trim on the replacement is different enough in color to be noticeable. So, two questions:

Can the plastic, fake-wood trim pieces on top of the console be removed without damage? If so, then I could swap them out.

Failing that, can the door mechanism be removed from top of the console? If so, then I could swap console tops.