Superduner

John, If ever you are down this way, you are very welcome to drop in and sample the local grape juice. If I can remember to buy some.

I'm old. I'm knackered. I'll forget to turn the lights on every time I get in the car (and off when I get out). With headlights on, French drivers flash you all the time. I live in the country, with narrow roads, so I need something to make my dark blue car a bit more visible. Yadda yadda yadda.......

Any chance of a link to the UK companies, please?

Well, I did what I should have done first. Checked where Philips bar type drls could be fitted on the car...and they can't. The slots on the grill are too small for the led units, and too far from the edge of the car to be legal (>400mm) The only option seems to be to find a combined foglight/dr (other than the turn signal mod)l, and there seem to be plenty out there (mainly Chinese, unfortunately), but none that are listed as fitting my car. Back to the drawing board.

Useful, thanks

To those clever people who understand electricity and the black smoke that lives in electrical cables waiting for a wiring mistake to be made to be released: Which fuse would be the best to take a low current ignition controlled switching feed to a drl control box. Preferably under bonnet, as it's easier! Something that is live all the time the car is moving.

Actually the Philips V2000 was the best quality, but it got nowhere against the Japanese players

A cage for people who do read their manuals?

My last car was a Navara to which I fitted DRLs from Philips. They worked by sensing the voltage drop from the battery on startup. They are supposed to work with stop start and hybrid systems as well-but do they? I'd like to fit DRLs on my RX400H for safety reasons, so does anybody know a system that actually works? Preferably something that does not need extensive wiring mods?

It looks good. And with a better touch screen than my RX400H with a Vline installed. Go for it!

Is it in the manual? I didn't look. 😄

Don't think so. My Rx is 2007 and it's still every 2 years. Anything deemed to be "commercial" like my old Navara has to have a pollution check in the intervening year. Motor bikes don't have an MOT at all.

MOTs on private cars in France are every other year, FYI.

Or maybe a 'pushing out', in some cases

I'm a slow starter.

Give me a break 🙂 It's early and I haven't had a coffee yet...... Now edited away.

Maybe this is a commonly known "thing", and maybe not. Sometimes after you disconnect the battery for any reason, the window buttons on the driver's door do not operate one or more of the other windows. Turn the ignition on, go to the non operating window and open it with the button on that door. After it is fully open, keep holding the button for a couple of seconds. Then close the window and after it fully closes, keep holding the button for a couple of seconds. You might have to do that a couple of times, but usually the buttons on the drivers door will work again. I hope that helps someone.

Makes sense. Thanks.

Ok, back from local dealer, and I'm half way to getting it sorted. The good half. He used a grey box called "Intelligent Tester" which took about 10 minutes to programme both the immobiliser bit and the buttons. We tried it and everything worked fine. When I got home half an hour later, the buttons did not work, but at least the car will start now without setting off the alarm. The car will be back in there in 2 weeks for the timing belt change, so I'll get them to redo the button part of the work. Quick question to the experts: how near to the car does the immobiliser chip have to be for it to able to a) get in, and b) start it? In essence, if my original working key is sitting on a post 3 meters away, will it allow the new key to get in/start? Edit: The battery does not really sit well in the fob, and it had lost contact. A bit of tweaking (bending) and all is well.

As I understand it, fobs work on one of 2 frequencies. You will need a 433.92 (or 434) whereas N.A. cars use 315. Try Car Keys Online. That's where I got mine. Tomorrow is the day when my local French dealer tries to programme my key/fob (60€ and 30 minutes work) I'll report back on the outcome.

Hmm, so I decided to get the light clusters off this morning and am not having much luck I can see 2x10mm nuts that look to be the only ones holding the cluster, but loosening them and trying gently to prise off the cluster is not working. Am I missing another fastening, or are the clusters likely to be held on with sealant? Edited to add that I'd missed the obvious one on the edge of the tailgate. Job done, so just have to wait until tonight to see how good they are.

What can a Lexus dealer do/alter/adjust with Techstream? How clever is it? For example, can he change the whole system from imperial to metric?

I don't really care how he does it, to be honest.

To clarify, mine worked for a bit and then started sounding the alarm. I'm going back to the locksmith next week to get a refund on what he did

Look at my post elsewhere in the forum. I bought a key from Car Keys Online for about £50 and had it cut in a locksmith here in France. The same locksmith changed the chip for his own version which could be cloned from my old key. That did not work. It just set off the alarm and would not allow the engine to start. I then tried every head/tummy rub routine I could find to programme the buttons, but with no luck whatsoever. So it's going in to Toyota on Monday for the official programming using Techstream. About £60, I'm told, and 30 minutes.