IS300H Drivers door won't lock

knocker1980 · December 13, 2017

Over the last couple of weeks i've noticed that sometimes the drivers door wouldn't lock when using the remote but in the past two days this now seems to be permanent. All the other doors and the boot will lock and unlock on the remote but the drivers door remains unlocked and the alarm doesn't look like its being set as if I open the drivers door after locking everything with the remote the alarm doesn't go off. The door doesn't seem to lock using the buttons on inside of the drivers door although as with the remote, all the other work fine.

I've found a few threads about the lock actuators failing the drivers door on other Lexus models but nothing about the IS300H, has anyone come across a similar problem before and of so what was the solution?

The car is a 2014 model with 89000 miles on it

Andrew888 · December 13, 2017

In my experience with Hondas thats a classic symptom of a knackered actuator I'm afraid. If the die hard among us that cannot accept that is to spray silicone lube in the lock as it 'may' be sticky.

knocker1980 · December 13, 2017

As a bit of an update it now appears to be working intermittently now that the temperatures have come up a bit so i'm hoping it might just be a sticky mechanism rather than a broken actuator.

Is there a diagram anywhere that shows where all the fasteners are that hold the door cards in place? I'm going to have a look inside the door over the weekend and have a poke around but I don't want to damage the door cards trying to brute force them off whilst they're still attached by some mega hidden screw.

Andrew888 · December 13, 2017

I've been searching high and low for a for workshop manual for me to explore my IS, however seems only that Lexus Techdocs. EU seems to only viable option at the moment. You can pay for the time in slots to access the library. However if its just door cards I'm sure IS350 USA owners like replacing speakers or something that involves the doors could possibly be a 'how to' for it.

Andrew888 · December 13, 2017

Oh here you go

Martin F · December 16, 2017

If you look on www.toyodiy.com it will give you the parts catalogues and diagrams which can help with seeing how things are assembled.

You need to sign up, but it's easy enough and free.

There are other similar sites around as well.

knocker1980 · December 28, 2017

Bit of an update to this.

The door locking problem was indeed the central locking actuator motor. I sourced a replacement motor on eBay and after swapping it out today the central locking seems to be working (sort of)

Although the locking now locks and unlocks using the remote it now seems to be in reverse on the drivers door - If i press the remote button to lock then the doors the drivers door will unlock but the other 3 doors will lock, if the button is pressed to unlock on the remote then the drivers door locks but the other 3 doors unlock.

I'll be having another look tomorrow as it'll be getting dark soon but could anyone point me in the direction of what i'm likely to have put back the wrong way round?

Andrew888 · December 28, 2017

Sounds like a polarity issue? Or it could be a canbus (programming issue at dealer level) depending how Lexus relies on Canbus...

C Andrew Green · December 28, 2017

3 hours ago, knocker1980 said:

Bit of an update to this.

The door locking problem was indeed the central locking actuator motor. I sourced a replacement motor on ebay and after swapping it out today the central locking seems to be working (sort of)

Although the locking now locks and unlocks using the remote it now seems to be in reverse on the drivers door - If i press the remote button to lock then the doors the drivers door will unlock but the other 3 doors will lock, if the button is pressed to unlock on the remote then the drivers door locks but the other 3 doors unlock.

I'll be having another look tomorrow as it'll be getting dark soon but could anyone point me in the direction of what i'm likely to have put back the wrong way round?

~~If it's anything like the IS250 it looks like you may have the pull-pull cables swapped...... swap them over and that <should> reverse the operation sense.~~

No sorry, scratch that idea, the pictures I have aren't too clear on what goes where! The two pull cables I saw are the latch and the lock cables not pull-pull!

Andrew

Edited December 28, 2017 by C Andrew Green
Incompetence

knocker1980 · January 5, 2018

Just a quick update to this. After much faffing about with the actuator and various motors that always had opposite polarity to the stock motors I ended up biting the bullet and buying a whole new actuator unit from Lexus which ended up costing £145.

The original unit wasn't working correctly at all as I'd had it in bits so many times and half the time the outside handle wouldn't open the door so I was having to open the driver's door by getting in the passenger side and using the internal handle.

It's a lot of money for what it is but to be fair I was bracing myself for it being two or three times that amount so I can live with it.

I hope this is the first and last thing to go wrong for a while now, I bought a Lexus because of their reputation for reliability so to have something fail on a car less than 4 years old is a bit frustrating.

Andrew888 · January 5, 2018

Honda ones are alot more lol.. My old Civic Type R was 200 odd... However as spares were aplenty it was easier to attain. The IS300H is a bit of a rarity in the scrappers..

200h · January 7, 2018

On 05/01/2018 at 9:03 PM, S88HON said:

Honda ones are alot more lol.. My old Civic Type R was 200 odd... However as spares were aplenty it was easier to attain. The IS300H is a bit of a rarity in the scrappers..

if anyone needs parts my local breakers always has the 300h in stock

here is the link

https://www.car-transplants.co.uk/