Alain1020

Hey everyone and Happy Labor Day
Well not so happy for me.

The problem and hope some of you might have some experience and input on this:

Wife was driving her 09 and parallel parking the car at home three days ago when she noticed vertical lines throughout the screen as the rear view camera display disappeared. She restarted the car and rearview cam appeared and disappeared again and it's been like that ever since. She tries locking the vehicle using oem key fob and doesn't lock/unlock at all. I get home and she tells me what happened and I try the key fob and no luck so I replace the fob battery and still no luck. I go into the car to see what's going on and no interior lights turn on. I attempt to start the car and as soon as I insert key I get the chiming but key does not want to turn left or right even after shaking steering wheel loose. The only thing that was working was driver seat control. I attempt to jump the car thinking it was a dying battery and key still does not want to shake loose and no power still to vehicle. I cleaned battery terminals/post and no luck. Next morning I call AAA to take it to my mechanic and the AAA driver was able to shaking the steering wheel loose and accessory lights go on. I ask him to start the car and it starts without idling issues but the warning lights (VSC TRAC VSC OFF, Skid Control and the airbag symbol (image of person sitting and huge redball on his lap) are being displayed. I connect to my OBD2 code reader is not giving me any codes as it says (NO CODES). I loosen gas cap and retighten drive around the block hoping it's something as easy as that but still no luck. I know it might take time to turn off if it's the issue. My radio works, AC works, and display screen is dark without display unless I press the AUDIO or Climate button then I see those on screen but otherwise when i choose display I get the vertical lines on screen. I reset the windows and they all work now. Interior lights won't work unless car is on and running. That's so strange. What's really discouraging is when I used the OBD tool I don't get a Code reading to see where to start.



SO THE ISSUES ARE: Car is driving/idling fine otherwise



1. Warning lights (VSC TRAC VSC OFF, Skid Control and the airbag symbol (image of person sitting and huge redball on his lap) is being displayed.

2. Interior lights won't work unless car is on and running. Dash lights are on no problem.

3. Display screen is dark unless I press the AUDIO or Climate button which those functions work but go back to the dark display screen after a minute or so. When i choose the display buttonto get GPS screen on I only get the vertical lines on screen.

4. Key fob does not activate lock/unlock/panic button but I do see the red light respond when I hit the buttons on key fob and fob battery is new. Doors have to be locked/unlocked manually and individually.



Thanks so much in advance.

Alain P

NTH

I had a similar issue on my previous GX with all the lights and nav screen going wonky. The culprit was a seized passenger side exterior mirror motor. When the motor seized from age, it blew one of the fuses. I can’t recall which fuse, but this fuse was what triggered all those weird things you mentioned. Yes you read that right. Since you mentioned this happened shortly after your wife did some parking maneuver, I will try to help here. Not saying this is The fix, but worth a shot.
First do you normally have it where when backing up, the passenger side mirror tilts down? To activate this feature I believe your exterior mirror control switch has to be set to the R (not in the middle of L and R). If so please go and put truck in reverse and see if it tilts. If if does, then we know the mirror motor is not the issue. Repeat the test for the driver’s side mirror as well to see if it’s seized or not. Please report back.

Alain1020

Man, thanks a bunch NTH. I did as you mentioned switching the mirror control to L and then to R and both did not activate the sideview mirrors. I will research the web to see which fuse and replace and get back to you. Much appreciated.

Update: after a little more research based on your suggestion I found out the culprit was fuse #27 ECU-B located in engine bay. I borrowed the 10amp fuse which is for my cigarette lighter (located near the gas door release). ALL my warning lights I mentioned went away, my rear view camera works again, the GPS screen is back to normal (no more vertical lines) and my key fob once again operates as normal. Others say they had the fuse blow due to a bad side view mirror motor which causes the fuse to blow. I haven't tried my using my sideview mirrors tilt feature yet so I placed a taped to cover up the L/R sideview mirror switch as I don't want it to happen again while wife is driving the car. I'll investigate a little further on my day off.

Once again thanks for your rapid response. Saved me from taking my car to the mechanics/dealer.

NTH

Ha! Glad I was able to help. So in the future if you get these weird symptoms again, you’ll know to check your mirror actuators first. These GX are getting up there in age so some electrical parts will fail eventually. Replacing mirror actuator is a rather easy DIY btw.

Alain1020

I watched a Youtube video on replacing the mirror actuator and it doesn't look too bad so I'll try tackling the job myself.
Thanks again for you assistance.

Alain P

NTH

My pleasure Alain

Lexus4321

GX470, nearing end of 2022, replace all the fuses and relays.
OEM fuses and relays are well fatigued at this point, and they will be the gremlin of some things that pop up as issues.