Is This Anything To Worry About? (Pic)

[BigLiam]

I was driving to work yesterday and noticed this light on the dash.

Does anyone know why it's showing very faintly?

It shouldn't be the Battery as I've recently changed the key Battery as it happend once before a few weeks ago and thought that might have caused it.

[Soeley]

That only normally lights up when the car is locked and the alarm is set. Here are some pages from the owners manual:

Why is could be faintly whilst driving I have no idea?

[Raistlin]

Check the earth strap

[BigLiam]

Thanks for the replies.

By the earth strap, do you mean at the car Battery?

If I was to undo and clean the terminals, would anything reset? I'm guessing the radio doesn't have a code to re enter as there's no keypad?!

Some strange things have happened over the last few days:

Yesterday the car wouldn't lock with I arrived at work.

There was lots of beeping and a yellow !key! Light on dash.

Eventually had to use manual key to lock.

When I went back to it on my lunch break it was locking again.

Over the last week, the car seems to take a very long time to unlock.

It recognises I'm there because the interior light comes on and the start button illuminates. But when I hold my hand on the handle sensor and it takes about 10 secs to unlock rather than 1!

Also noticed the steering lock isn't working when I leave the car and the car beeps at me when I switch of the engine and leave the vehicle but was locking as normal this morning and last night.

Very strange.

Any advice would be much appreciated to try before taking it back to the Toyota garage I bought it from!

I'd rather try something simple than wait to be seen there as they're always so busy!

Thanks

Liam

I've narrowed it down to the car and not the key as I've used my wife's key today and still playing up.

[Raistlin]

It could also be a faulty Battery, I had a lot of weird symptoms and it was a faulty cell.

It was fine after a run then over the next few days same issue.

It might be worth going to somewhere like Halfords as they do a free Battery check.

[BigLiam]

Good idea, thanks.

I did leave my interior light on all night a few weeks ago and I only do short runs, so maybe it needs a good run to re charge?

[T-Spirit06]

I'd suggest the Battery in your key.

My Yaris took a while to unlock and lock, it didn't always start on first click of the button.

The yellow key on the dash indicates the car cant see the key, again, I had this with mine.

and also, the bleeping when you turn the car off, I had with mine!

It cost me a couple of pound and the issue was sorted.

No more lights or bleeps :)

[BigLiam]

I've already tried 2 new batteries in one of the keys and both the keys have the same effect, so I'm pretty sure it's the car itself, but thanks for your advice.

I'll take it for a longer drive than normal later with minimal electrics on and see if that helps.

[Raistlin]

I meant the car Battery, hence talking about a faulty cell.

[dash]

Our IQ2 does short journeys (almost exclusively) and has had a Battery replacement due to failed cell(s).

I now trickle charge once a week to ensure the Battery regularly reaches full charge.

I use a CTEK MXS 5.0 and have a plug-in connector permanently attached to the Battery for ease of use.

Mind you, I would have thought if your car was failing to 'see' the key (because of a compromised battery), that it would also be difficult to start (i.e. the starter motor would struggle to turn the engine...)

Dave

[BigLiam]

Raistlin - Thank you!

After a few weird days last week with the lights and aircon coming on randomly when I wasn't near the car and the alarm going off a few times, I finally had the motivation to go down the garden, into the shed and look for my 10mm spanner!

I disconnected the negative Battery terminal for a few minutes.

Put it back on, and hopefully that has cured things.

That was over a week ago now.

I haven't noticed any strange symptoms since.

Thanks again.

Liam

[BigLiam]

Hi all,

Annoyingly, the problem is still unsolved. 

After a few more days of the alarm randomly going off I decided enough was enough and bought a new car Battery from Toyota for about £60. 

This seemed to solve the problems temporarily but after a few days the alarm started sounding again. 

If I leave the car with all the auto lights, wipers, interior light, air con off, it seems to behave itself.

The alarm light on the dash seems to be affected by whether I have to lights or handbrake on. Very strange.

 

Anyway, I have a few questions for you - here goes,

 

Does anyone know what the voltage should be for a fully charged car Battery?

Mine tend to read around 12.7v

 

I've had my interior light modified, I would like to source a standard interior light for when I take it back to Toyota. As its still under warranty. 

Does anyone have one for sale or know how much they are new?

 

I have a fairly basic multimeter. Are there any tests I could do to find out any more info? I don't really know how to do much more than measure voltage.

 

Many thank

 

Liam