Central Locking / Alarm Issue On Rav 4.1

[Worlds End Stu]

Hi All,

My 1995 RAV (3 door) has just developed a problem with the alarm/central locking.

I'd noticed in recent days that I had to get quite close to the RAV before the remote central locking would work and assumed the remote fob Battery was on the way out.

Yesterday I returned home from a journey and attempted to lock the car with the fob and it did nothing (though red light still illuminates on the fob), so i'm thinking the fob Battery has had it.

However.... I locked the drivers door manually with the key ok and all doors centrally locked but when I tried to unlock it this morning it wouldn't open.

There was a slight click sound like it was trying to unlock, but nothing actually happened.

The passenger door and taligate individually opened ok with the key, just the drivers door causing the problem and not centrally unlocking.

I'll see about getting a new fob Battery this weekend, but i'm a little worried that the drivers door locks with the key but doesn't unlock.

To be honest i've never used the key to manually lock/unlock the door before so this may have always been an unnoticed problem. Though I don't understand how it would have seemingly worked ok in the past with the fob, Or maybe this is just co-incidence and I have fob and drivers door lock failure at the same time.

Anyone seen anything like this before or a good guess at what's happening?

Cheers!

[bothwell_buyer]

ah - the wonderful alarm system of the 4.1s!

My alarm system on both cars went haywire. We removed one system from one car and disabled the immobilser part on the other.

On one car, I only lock with the key. The other locks with the fob...albeit the fob is a bit different to the other cars.

You shouldn't have a problem as such, but just check that the doors are locked each time.

Check that the car Battery is not getting weak. It might just be a bad contact at the drivers door.... see what happens when you put a new fob Battery in. PM me if you still have trouble in case I miss any follow up.

[Worlds End Stu]

Ah.. I think I see what's happening...

I think the Battery in the key fob is on the way out, hence the initial problem. I'll get a new Battery and fingers crossed that'll all start working again.

The issue with the door is an existing problem with the lock that I was unaware of as I never use the key to lock/unlock it and as the car is new to me I didn't appreciate what should be happening as a normal function.

I now realise that with the key I can centrally lock all the doors by locking the drivers door (turn clockwise), but something is stopping the key to move anti-clockwise to unlock the door.

Are the locks much of a faff to service or fix?

If a new Battery for the fob gets it working again with the remote I might just temporarily ignore it. :-)

FYI - The actual car battery seems good.

[mabozar]

Ah.. I think I see what's happening...

I think the battery in the key fob is on the way out, hence the initial problem. I'll get a new battery and fingers crossed that'll all start working again.

The issue with the door is an existing problem with the lock that I was unaware of as I never use the key to lock/unlock it and as the car is new to me I didn't appreciate what should be happening as a normal function.

I now realise that with the key I can centrally lock all the doors by locking the drivers door (turn clockwise), but something is stopping the key to move anti-clockwise to unlock the door.

Are the locks much of a faff to service or fix?

If a new battery for the fob gets it working again with the remote I might just temporarily ignore it. :-)

FYI - The actual car battery seems good.

I have a 2001 plate my remote key fobs the two of them they unlock the car but will not lock it I changed the batteries still didn't work,I now use the key in drivers door which locks it I then press the button to lock the doors and all doors lock,strange eh,I took the car for service last week not to a Mr. T. garage now the electric windows will not open and I cant lock the car from inside yesterday I opened back door and couldn't get it closed again don't know what the hell is going on,need my rear brake discs done but don't want to take it back there.

[bothwell_buyer]

Ah.. I think I see what's happening...

I think the battery in the key fob is on the way out, hence the initial problem. I'll get a new battery and fingers crossed that'll all start working again.

The issue with the door is an existing problem with the lock that I was unaware of as I never use the key to lock/unlock it and as the car is new to me I didn't appreciate what should be happening as a normal function.

I now realise that with the key I can centrally lock all the doors by locking the drivers door (turn clockwise), but something is stopping the key to move anti-clockwise to unlock the door.

Are the locks much of a faff to service or fix?

If a new battery for the fob gets it working again with the remote I might just temporarily ignore it. :-)

FYI - The actual car battery seems good.

stiff lock - wd40 job first of all and then see from there.

[Ady-Rav4]

Just thought I'd chuck my 2p's worth in. Bare this in mind Stu, We had a keyfob problem with our 4.1 not too long ago. Our Battery was fading, the red light will still light up but if you keep the fob pressed, it will start to flash, it's then saying "I've about shot it, change me now please." It eventually stops working. We had to use the key to manualy unlock the doors for a day before I got a replacement Battery fitted. Now I don't know if you know this, but if you replace your keyfob Battery, it might act dead because it will need to be re-set. If you have to do this, unlock your RAV with the fob as you normally do, but press both buttons together for 2 seconds. This should get it working normally again.

[mabozar]

Just thought I'd chuck my 2p's worth in. Bare this in mind Stu, We had a keyfob problem with our 4.1 not too long ago. Our battery was fading, the red light will still light up but if you keep the fob pressed, it will start to flash, it's then saying "I've about shot it, change me now please." It eventually stops working. We had to use the key to manualy unlock the doors for a day before I got a replacement battery fitted. Now I don't know if you know this, but if you replace your keyfob battery, it might act dead because it will need to be re-set. If you have to do this, unlock your RAV with the fob as you normally do, but press both buttons together for 2 seconds. This should get it working normally again.

I tried that Ady with my fobs but it didnt make any difference

[Ady-Rav4]

"I tried that Ady with my fobs but it didnt make any difference "

Ok, sorry to hear that :(

[Ady-Rav4]

11 days later............Hey Stu, just checking up, have you managed to get your problem fixed?

[Worlds End Stu]

2 1/2 years later I think it's time to reply :-)

Yes!

A new Battery did the trick.

However the same problem has occurred again.

The RAV really only gets used in the colder weather and is my kids "playhouse" the rest of the time and the interior lights got left on and drained the Battery.

When I put it back on charge it triggered the alarm and I haven't been able to sort it out since.

Alarm is no longer sounding and the alarm status light on dash is constant red but key fob no longer centrally unlocks the doors.

Will try a new Battery and see if that fixes it again......

[bothwell_buyer]

best to disconnect the Battery and trickle charge it now and again, or leave a trickle charger on it - lots of posts in the past about this.

[Worlds End Stu]

I just simply couldn't get the damn thing to work again.

Doors would not unlock via the remote and car was imobilised.

Followed the instructions in the owners manual to re-sync the alarm with the fob but no joy.

In the end I disconnected the Battery then reconnected it again. The alarm went off but it did then all work ok with the remote.fob.

Weird.

[anchorman]

Have you tried these flow charts?

Alarm 1.pdf

There are loads of them on Toyota techdocs;

http://www.toyota-tech.eu/Aim/Aim.aspx