Prairieboy

Hey folks, we had a beautiful baby girl March 8th and now the RX330 I bought for our family vehicle is dead in the back yard. I've searched for answers on the forum/web but couldn't find what I needed so am posting here for help from you knowledgable owners Sorry if I've overlooked something in my search and am reposting.

ANYWAYS, my girlfriend went to leave a couple days ago while I was at work and the vehicle was dead. No interior lights, no starter click upon trying to start, just dead. I figured battery so I hooked a trickle charger up and charged it after work. When I went out later in the night it seems as the alarm was trying to go off, the lights were flashing in unison with the horn going off every couple seconds. I opened the door and tried to start (interior/dash lights lit up) but couldn't turn the engine over or anything.

I figured the battery had packed it in so I unhooked the charger and shut the hood/doors and was going to buy a new battery the next day, which brings me here for advice...the doors are locked, the key won't unlock the door and I can't unlatch the hood. As well our car seat is locked in so I can't even use that in my WRX in the mean time...we're stranded at home until I get this sorted which makes things quite difficult.

Is there a way to get the door unlocked manually so I can try to replace the battery? And from what I've read it seems a lot of Lexus owners complain of dead batteries after the vehicle sits unused for a short time, is this common?? No idea on the age of the battery so maybe it is just at the end of it's life.

Any help would be muchly appreciated as I've only got one more day off and then back to work for another week...

Thanks!

RX330inFL

The key will not unlock the door even when inserted into the lock of the driver's door? Wow...

Prairieboy

No, it won't.

mandyfig

The key will unlock the door, it is mechanical, am I wrong?

tfischer

Using the key in the driver's door (the only keyhole on most cars today) is strictly a mechanical operation, and if that is not working, the reason would have nothing to do with the dead battery. That does not solve your problem, but you might want to play with the key some more, as it may be that you were expecting it to work with no or with little resistance. Also, you might try some of the spray lock lubricants to get things moving inside the door.
Good luck.

draco

Have you got some sort of road side assistance to have the doors opened? I would have thought that the door lock in the driver's would allow you to open the car irrespective of the battery state, it should just be purely mechanical. The only alternative outside of any of these options, might be the break the window and replace the glass afterwards. I know that's drastic but when push comes to shove...........

thomas1

try graphite powder on the key for the drivers door. the tumblers may be stuck....

Prairieboy

Well I finally got the door open after monkeying with the key for a good ten minutes. I was just about to walk away and that final twist barely unlocked the door. I tried locking it from the inside manually and can't even do that, so something is wrong with the lock...

I'm going to buy a new battery and some graphite powder, hopefully that'll fix the problem. Thanks for your advice, I'll let you know the end result later today.

Cheers!

Carver

Be aware you will probably lose some settings, moonroof, power windows, rear deck, maybe none, just don't get upset if something doesn't work as it used to, it can all be reset.

Prairieboy

Well got a new battery hooked up and everything is good to go. The locks are functioning perfectly again, I don't understand how the battery would interfere with the locking mechanism in the door. But thankfully it worked out without a tow truck charge/broken window.

Had to reset the seat/steering wheel/radio stations/moonroof but I figured that from the beginning. The old battery had less than one cranking amp! Not too bad of a fix, plus I have a shiny new Fat Max mechanics set on sale at Partsource (69$, regular 189$) and a cold case of beer to assist in my install.

Thanks for your advice everyone.

RX330inFL

An example of why I hate all these new electronics. When things go bad, they can go goofy very quick.

jfelbab

There is always this:
Not sure this works an all cars. Do you have a false sense of security?

dc78

Hi, we were unfortunately faced with this issue this very weekend.

The battery had died and we were unable to access the car to be able to jump it as the key wouldn't open the driver's door. Not sure if this was a problem with the key, the lock or the electrics but for whatever reason we were totally stuck.

A lot of advice online and even from some garages was that the only way to get in was to smash a window. Even the small rear triangular window was being priced at £80 + fitting from Lexus so this would have been an expensive solution.

Anyway after a lot of phoning around we found someone who came out and with the aid of a mini crowbar and inflatable rubber pad he was able to prise the door open enough to get a hook in to unlock the driver's door. From here it was simply a case of a jump start. Total cost £20!

Now to investigate what's going on with this key/lock.....