Power Back Door (Tailgate) not working on 2010 (Series 3) RX450h

[alitech]

Sorry for the delay. I spoke to lexus to ask if it was OK to make everyone here aware of the deal I got for this fix. Lewis Castle is the person who deals with this stuff at lexus Croydon. The cost including parts and labour for me is £990. The car is currently at lexus Croydon and they are keeping it overnight to diagnose a different issue. If you are close by, or even a bit further out, it might be worth coming to Croydon to get this fixed.  Might take a full day so you might need to hang around here if you are coming from far. 

[Vadim]

Good deal indeed, if VAT is in. I assume they have the PBD units for 2009-2013 in stock.

[NRCocker]

Hi,

 

I have this exact problem.

 

Battery went flat during the cold snap. Called recovery and got the car moving. Ran and recharged the Battery, but since then the boot will not open to key fob, interior button or exterior button. All other electronics appear to be functioning normally. I've read the forum entries and I've checked the valet button near the glove box without success. I've also attempted the reset approach, but this doesn't appear to have worked.

 

Any advice?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Herbie]

You need to use Techstream to do some diagnosis of the problem and see if you, along with some of the others, are getting a fault code of U0230.

You could try an ordinary OBD2 fault code reader but I'm not sure if it would pick up on it.

[Vadim]

NRCocker, welcome to the Team PBD )

So far the most plausible and efficient solution has been Lexus Croydon in my view.

[alitech]

Got the car back today and happy to report the boot is now fixed and working as normal. For some reason it sounds a bit louder than before, like robocop slowly moving his head to face you before uttering "at your service". Don't remember what his signature quote was. Sounds cooler than before so I don't mind. It's working again that's what's important. Croydon lexus was a dream to deal with. Always have been. Don't get me wrong they are still expensive but compared to the ideas and self diagnostics discussed here along with quotes of £1600+ I think it's a steal. 

[NRCocker]

12 hours ago, Vadim said:

NRCocker, welcome to the Team PBD )

So far the most plausible and efficient solution has been Lexus Croydon in my view.

Damn! Croydon is just a little too far.

[Herbie]

2 hours ago, NRCocker said:

Damn! Croydon is just a little too far.

Nowhere is too far when you drive a Lexus 

[NRCocker]

19 hours ago, Herbie said:

You need to use Techstream to do some diagnosis of the problem and see if you, along with some of the others, are getting a fault code of U0230.

You could try an ordinary OBD2 fault code reader but I'm not sure if it would pick up on it.

Confirmed - U0230 code.

 

Is there anything I can do to fix it?

 

[Vadim]

3 minutes ago, NRCocker said:

Confirmed - U0230 code.

 

Is there anything I can do to fix it?

 

So far - just PBD unit replacement.

After replacement you can donate the broken unit to members who wish to try to find the fault in the PBD cirquit board to benefit the Lexus community (the repair may be as cheap £20 and even a DIY soldering project if the fault is explored and pinpointed).

[ChrisM]

13 hours ago, alitech said:

Got the car back today and happy to report the boot is now fixed and working as normal. For some reason it sounds a bit louder than before, like robocop slowly moving his head to face you before uttering "at your service". Don't remember what his signature quote was. Sounds cooler than before so I don't mind. It's working again that's what's important. Croydon lexus was a dream to deal with. Always have been. Don't get me wrong they are still expensive but compared to the ideas and self diagnostics discussed here along with quotes of £1600+ I think it's a steal. 

My F Sport rear door motor sounds different to my old SE-L motor, and more powerful. Bonus having the swipe badge opener. 

[ColinBarber]

19 hours ago, alitech said:

Got the car back today and happy to report the boot is now fixed and working as normal. For some reason it sounds a bit louder than before, like robocop slowly moving his head to face you before uttering "at your service". Don't remember what his signature quote was. Sounds cooler than before so I don't mind. It's working again that's what's important. Croydon lexus was a dream to deal with. Always have been. Don't get me wrong they are still expensive but compared to the ideas and self diagnostics discussed here along with quotes of £1600+ I think it's a steal. 

Did you retain the old faulty unit?

[Vadim]

Bad luck: after my original order for the PBD unit via megazip.net was cancelled, the new order from "partslane" has been delivered today ... to Canada. Apparently somebody in Dubai had a hot day and recollected a small town London, Ontario province in Canada. Hope it will get sorted one way or another.

[Vadim]

Maybe not that bad luck after all. My second order from Dubai (the one which shipped to London, ON, Canada) has been fully refunded via eBay (loss on USD/GBP exchange rate is inevitable though). With a degree of disappointment I decided to put interior panels back on car until I procure a replacement PBD unit, pulled the string attached to the manual opening lever since January, and ... the lights turned on, PBD is back alive somehow!

Since it stopped 3 months ago, I drove hundreds of miles, long and short trips, disconnected Battery overnight, charged it, removed and put back the PBD unit and the tailgate lock unit at least two times for inspection, checked every fuse in the car, pulled out and tested the glovebox button and its wiring, the weather changed a few times from snow to late spring and back - all with zero effect. Now it suddenly started working again for no obvious reason. Anyway I'm going to put the plastic back properly, and lazily monitor reasonable PBD offerings.

So, please don't throw away / leave to the dealer the replaced PBD units - they may well work in different circumstances / different cars. I think it may be worth putting them on e-bay with an appropriate description or donating them to electronics enthusiast owners for examination as discussed above.

And if you order from abroad, keep in touch with the seller to find out the actual availability and make sure they get the part number, address and other details correct.

 

[Vadim]

A few members have had the same "sudden recovery" experience. It would be very helpful to find out how reliable such "back from the dead" units are.

Any feedback?

[royoftherovers]

Just now, Vadim said:

A few members have had the same "sudden recovery" experience. It would be very helpful to find out how reliable such "back from the dead" units are.

Any feedback?

It appears as if it is a manifestation of the well known,but not documented blip Vlad ,often called Lazarusitis.😊

[granadaman]

Mine came back from dead feb 2020 and has worked ever since

[Tedo]

Lucky you, do you think your failure problem was caused  by water or temperature ?

[Vadim]

17 minutes ago, Tedo said:

Lucky you, do you think your failure problem was caused  by water or temperature ?

It does not seem so, because the average day/night temperatures changed a few times back and forth since mine stopped working. There is no way for water to get to the PBD electronics from raining or washing, it is well positioned and protected. Might be humidity or sunlight (the PBD circuit board is located very close to the roof surface with no thermal insulation between them).

The only thing that actually changed recently was that I hand washed the car last weekend. Cars, you know, love attention ) 

[Tedo]

Re: Power Back Door (Tailgate) not working on 2010 (Series 3) RX450h

Edward Oubridge

Sun 28/03/2021 20:07



To:

•  Lexus Owners Club

 

I have noticed  water under the 12v  Battery it seems to be dripping  from the tailgate door hinge housing. On investigation the external gully at the top of the tailgate is clogged  with leaf debris. I cleared it and found  that the join of the roof body panel on both sides to the rear panel weren't welded. water is clearly entering the car at that area. This in my mind looks  like a manufacturing  error. My car is a rx 450h 2012 model. I am looking to buy a 2017 model and I notice the roof body weld is now present and the body panel overlap is facing  outward and away  from the flow  of water.

Has anybody noticed the same?

I have been unable to dry the area as yet.

My trade in price is reduced by c £1200 the cost of a new PBD this seems unfair.

 

Regards

Tedo

 

On 28 Mar 2021 18:09, Lexus Owners Club <no_reply@lexusownersclub.co.uk> wrote

[Tedo]

Forget the welding. I think the leak is coming from the PBD gear fixing bolt, which is hidden under the black plastic moulding. 

Regards Ted 

[Vadim]

Update on the tailgate PBU: two weeks since it resuscitated and still working. I never imagined it could be so exciting to see the tailgate working.

[Phil xxkr]

43 minutes ago, Vadim said:

Update on the tailgate PBU: two weeks since it resuscitated and still working. I never imagined it could be so exciting to see the tailgate working.

Crikey Vadim, have medical professionals on hand for when you realise your car works as well🥳🥳🥳

[Patrick 450]

So after about 2 months of my pbd not working, like several other people on here, it has started operating again. It now opens and closes from the key, the boot button and the dash button. I cannot really attribute it to anything in particular although the car is being used more than it had been for the last year. It's probably doing about 100 miles a week now rather than 30 in lock-down (lots of very short journeys).

When it was not working I tried disconnecting the Battery, I tried the hairdryer trick and even took the motor unit out " tapped" it and put it back in but none of these things worked. I was not able to use a techsteam on it but my OBD2 showed no fault. I had charged the Battery a few times and bought a multimeter which showed it was in good condition.

 Thank you for all the suggestions and help from everyone, in particular Herbie and good luck to the others who still have issue. Maybe they just need to be driven more but who knows why?

 

 

[GSLV6]

Thought I'd update this thread since self diagnosing the issue and finding Lexus service team were wrong to quote me for a new Power module and ECU for the rear door.

For anyone suffering similar issues, the culprit all along is likely to be the auxiliary Battery.  Unless its charged on recover mode at 4 amps or less, it'll not properly recover, and permanent damage is likely of it dips to under 50% capacity/charge.  Trouble is, most Battery chargers just tell you it's charged so you have to buy a Battery checker (mine coast me £30) which tells you the charge capacity as well.  No expensive parts replacement needed.

It transpires that the Battery needed a full week on trickle using the agm mode on my CTEK.  Lexus supposedly checked it but obviously not the current charge capacity!  Once recovered, the tailgate and rear power module worked absolutely fine....oh, up until today when I went to start the car and got nothing as the Battery finally died on me (which I was expecting).  Anyone know of a drop in agm replacement 220long x 180 wide x 180 to 200 tall?  I can't find one for love nor money!