Herbie

I very much doubt it to be honest.

Hyundai battery recall for 82,000 cars

I don't know what an RTX alternator is or who makes them, but my first thought is to get it back and claim under warranty as it should last much longer than 6 or 7 months. Lucas are the 'Grandaddy' of autoelectrical components and have been around for many decades. As long as it physically fits and has the right connections you won't need to worry about it for a long, long time.

I don't think it's any secret, it's just the way technology is going. My interest in 'spannering' came from helping my dad maintain his old Austin Cambridge A60 and it had an engine bay that you could almost stand in, there was so much room. You could see quite a bit of the road surface if you look down. Engine bays have filled up since those days and now you can hardly pass a sheet of paper between some of the gaps. Even so, it's still been possible to do a lot of work as a DIY or hobbyist mechanic, but as more ECUs appear and cars become more computerised, it's less spanner work and more electrical/electronic, with the required test gear and cables costing far more than a DIY mechanic can justify spending. For the same reason, a lot of local garages will find themselves unable to buy test gear and associated cables and connectors for each make of car. !t just won't be financially feasible, ergo the only place we can go to is the main dealers. This has been on the cards for many years and won't (shouldn't) be a shock or surprise to anyone.

Fair enough Steve, just thought I'd ask. On the second day of my apprenticeship I was introduced to the guy who would be my mentor for the next four years of my life and one of the first things he said to me was, "There's no such thing as a silly question. The only silly questions are the ones not asked." Here we are, 46 years later, and I've never forgotten that advice.

I know it's extremely unlikely to be as simple as this but surely it has to be worth a try. As I said earlier my power back door is working alright so I can't test this on my own car, so would someone with the problem care to try it and let us know how you go on?

I know it's extremely unlikely to be as simple as this but surely it has to be worth a try. As I said earlier my power back door is working alright so I can't test this on my own car, so would someone with the problem care to try it and let us know how you go on?

One of them is: Dodgsons of Preston 143-155 Fylde Rd, Preston PR1 2XP Tel: 01772 257337 Unfortunately they don't have a website but they are very helpful on the phone. The other is: Well, the other one I was thinking of was Andrew Page, but while just looking for contact details I've just discovered that AP has been bought out be EuroCarParts. We do have other motor factors around here but Dodgsons and Andrew Page are/were the two I dealt with most.

Then he's very lucky and must be the exception that proves the rule. I would think it's very unusual for a 12V battery to hold its charge that long when unused, but excellent that it did.

Thanks Ben, glad it's sorted.

For various reasons we've not been able to get abroad for the last three years, but for the 20 or 21 years previous to that we've driven from here in Preston, Lancashire, to Poland, Czech, Hungary and others. I've only ever had a UK driving licence, not an IDL, and I've never had a spare wheel because I used to run LPG cars and the LPG tank was always located in the spare wheel well. Of course, Brexit is now complicating things and that may have a bearing on the situation. All I can say is that up to three years ago that I know of, there was never a legal requirement for either an IDL or spare wheel but things may now have changed, I don't know, but we're going to leave it until next year before venturing abroad again.

Brilliant, thank you.

I have to disagree, unless it's a part that only Lexus can provide. We have a couple of motor factors here in Preston who supply parts to the trade, Far cheaper than main dealer but a supply chain that can be traced and you know you're getting good quality components. Both of them have been in business for decades - if they were supplying dodgy stuff they wouldn't have built up such good reputations.

Great news,I hope it works out well for you Kate. When you fit the new part I wonder if you may be willing to let someone on here have your old one to strip down and see if we can find a cause?

Can you take the first photo again please Victor, it's too small to see any proper detail - or at least it is for my 63 year old eyes. Same settings as the second photo would be great. It looks like some form of fuse box to me (at the moment) but whether it's factory-fitted or added in by a previous owner, I don't know.

Yes, £59 as a stand-alone item.

Just sent it to you now by PM Jean-Christophe.

Have a look on eBay or any breakers yards local to you. Just found this one on eBay

Might be worth an email to Lexus head office in your country to confirm. It's definitely 15 years here.

Complete guess - maybe it's a subscription for live traffic announcements or speed camera locations, maybe even for map updates. I haven't got that system so I'm afraid I can't help but just thought I'd have a guess

Just sent by PM now Chris

Yes please, that would be very helpful. This is where I'm skeptical. One motor failure, ok; two, maybe - but more than half a dozen? I really don't know. Of course, it could be right but why are they failing and what's the correlation to the luggage area lights not working?

Kate, did your diagnostics expert give you any more detail about what led him to his conclusion? Specifically, did he give you any diagnostic trouble code that he'd found? There's one person so far who has the DTC U0230 and I want to see how many others, if any, also have that code.

Hang fire a bit Kate and look in the other topics dealing with this. There must be at least half a dozen people, if not more, who are having the exact same problem so we're trying to find a common cause. Have a read of this topic: EDIT: I see that you're already participating in it. Well, from other topics, Lithuania is the best place to get replacements unless you want to go for brand new. Good luck and please continue to participate and let us know if you manage to make any progress.

There certainly seems to be some weird cosmic thing going on with all these tailgates going faulty in the samw way and at the same time. There has to be something common to all of them. So far, @Vadim has got most insight into the problem by using Techstream to see what's going on. He discovered that he has a DTC (Diagnostic Trouble Code) of U0230 - Lost Communication With Rear Gate Module. The workshop manual does give quite a lot of information on troubleshooting this code but we could really do with other people to use Techstream to see if others have the same U0230 code or if they have something else. Certainly, the symptoms all seem to correlate and that makes me think that it can't be a broken or damaged wire, or something physical in that sense. Surely half a dozen or more cars can't all have broken wires or faulty connectors all at the same time? Unlikely, to say the least. However, something that does seem to be affecting lots of us at the same time is failed or failing (lower than normal voltage) 12V batteries and also the wet/cold weather. The workshop manual states: So, first thing to do is check the standing battery voltage at the battery terminals. While you're in there I'd also suggest checking the luggage area fuses as per this page. and also check for water ingress/dampness around the power back door lock/latch/motor assembly (have a look at Vadim's photos earlier in this topic) and also around the tailgate lift motor and ECU, both of which I think are situated under the headlining on the left-hand side. I don't want to tempt fate but my tailgate is working as normal so I can't do anything here to further the cause. I really think that the most useful thing though is for more results from Techstream so please, if you have it or are willing to get it, please post your results in here so that we can see if a pattern emerges. And finally, no one died and made me boss, so if you have any better ideas or think I'm talking rubbish, please shout out and let's see what we can do to beat this thing.