Remote / Keyless Unlocking Issue

[Rigsby]

This week my 2021 Dynamic has started playing up when unlocking the car either by the remote or keyless.

Previously as soon as I touched the handle or pressed the unlock button the door would instantly unlock and the door mirrors would swing open, however now there is a delay of 4 or 5 seconds, lots of clicking noises before it unlocks.

II changed the Battery in the remote to rule that out and it has made no difference.

Just wondering if anyone else has had this problem.

[forkingabout]

Sounds like the 12 volt auxiliary Battery is about to fail.

[philip42h]

1 hour ago, forkingabout said:

Sounds like the 12 volt auxiliary battery is about to fail.

... which you could check by putting the Battery on charge. Even a failing 12V Battery should manage for a few hours.

Also, do you have any problems getting into Ready mode? A failing 12V should give you problems there also.

[Rigsby]

14 minutes ago, philip42h said:

... which you could check by putting the battery on charge. Even a failing 12V battery should manage for a few hours.

Also, do you have any problems getting into Ready mode? A failing 12V should give you problems there also.

No Philip, never had a problem getting into ready mode, just the unlocking bit, unlocks eventually (4 or 5 seconds) 

Ive just ordered a NOCO Boost Plus Jump Starter to carry with me, I’ve also got a CTEK charger so may try that.

Is the 12 volt Battery covered under the initial 3 year warranty or is it classed as consumables ?

[philip42h]

1 minute ago, Rigsby said:

No Philip, never had a problem getting into ready mode, just the unlocking bit, unlocks eventually (4 or 5 seconds) 

Ive just ordered a NOCO Boost Plus Jump Starter to carry with me, I’ve also got a CTEK charger so may try that.

Is the 12 volt battery covered under the initial 3 year warranty or is it classed as consumables ?

The 12V Battery is classed as a consumable - though you may be able to persuade your dealer to replace it if it proves to be faulty. Try the CTEK next ...

When you attempt to unlock the car electronically, the signal tells the electronics in the car to fire a number of relays and things to release the mechanical locks - those are the clicks and whirrs that you can here as it struggles to do just that. It could be that the Battery isn't delivering the necessary voltage (check the 12V battery); equally, it could be that one of the relays / motors is dirty, sticky or failing. Simpler to check the 12V Battery first, and then just take it to the dealer - the other parts would be covered under warranty ... 😉

[Rigsby]

11 minutes ago, philip42h said:

The 12V battery is classed as a consumable - though you may be able to persuade your dealer to replace it if it proves to be faulty. Try the CTEK next ...

When you attempt to unlock the car electronically, the signal tells the electronics in the car to fire a number of relays and things to release the mechanical locks - those are the clicks and whirrs that you can here as it struggles to do just that. It could be that the battery isn't delivering the necessary voltage (check the 12V battery); equally, it could be that one of the relays / motors is dirty, sticky or failing. Simpler to check the 12V battery first, and then just take it to the dealer - the other parts would be covered under warranty ... 😉

Thanks, I’ll stick the CTEK on it now.

It’s in the dealers week after next for a service, so I’ll pop in before then, the radio keeps turning off as well, not sure if it’s all connected.

Is it best to connect the CTEK to the terminals under the bonnet 

[Roy124]

Don't automatically assume a 12v Battery problem and then buy all the goodies.

Check and record the Battery voltage.  Try and do it at the same time everyday.  If the car is not in use for a couple of days you might prove a rapid drop.

[Roy124]

2 minutes ago, Rigsby said:

 

Is it best to connect the CTEK to the terminals under the bonnet 

Yes

[philip42h]

8 minutes ago, Rigsby said:

Is it best to connect the CTEK to the terminals under the bonnet 

That's what I do - 'cos it's easy ... 😉

[Rigsby]

10 minutes ago, philip42h said:

That's what I do - 'cos it's easy ... 😉

That’s what I thought 👍

My previous car was a Jaguar R-Sport and the Battery was under the spare wheel and a nightmare to get to, especially when the boot was loaded up, so I fitted a CTEK panel socket, which made things much easier.

[Nick72]

4 hours ago, forkingabout said:

Sounds like the 12 volt auxiliary battery is about to fail.

Spot on. Exactly the same issues I had until the DCM software update last year.

[Nick72]

5 hours ago, Rigsby said:

This week my 2021 Dynamic has started playing up when unlocking the car either by the remote or keyless.

Previously as soon as I touched the handle or pressed the unlock button the door would instantly unlock and the door mirrors would swing open, however now there is a delay of 4 or 5 seconds, lots of clicking noises before it unlocks.

II changed the battery in the remote to rule that out and it has made no difference.

Just wondering if anyone else has had this problem.

Have you ever had the DCM software update? Had exactly the same sorts of issues which eventually progressed to failing to enter ready mode. Mainly delay opening doors, laboured wing mirrors.

It's the DCM flattening the 12V Battery because it wasn't switching off properly on power down. I don't believe the dealers rolled out the update but rather I had to specifically request it because of the problems I was having. Despite a lot of driving mileage the Battery would still be heading towards flat after about a day or two on non use of the car. Now I can leave it for 3 or 4 weeks without driving and without any problems, all post DCM software update. 

[Rigsby]

35 minutes ago, Nick72 said:

Have you ever had the DCM software update? Had exactly the same sorts of issues which eventually progressed to failing to enter ready mode. Mainly delay opening doors, laboured wing mirrors.

It's the DCM flattening the 12V battery because it wasn't switching off properly on power down. I don't believe the dealers rolled out the update but rather I had to specifically request it because of the problems I was having. Despite a lot of driving mileage the battery would still be heading towards flat after about a day or two on non use of the car. Now I can leave it for 3 or 4 weeks without driving and without any problems, all post DCM software update. 

Yes, I had it done at the time, well at least that’s what it went in for, whether it was actually done who knows.

As I said, it’s in soon for a service, I will ask them to test the Battery and check that the DCM software update was done as well as investigating the unlocking issue 

[Nick72]

5 hours ago, Rigsby said:

Yes, I had it done at the time, well at least that’s what it went in for, whether it was actually done who knows.

As I said, it’s in soon for a service, I will ask them to test the battery and check that the DCM software update was done as well as investigating the unlocking issue 

Worth a shot.

So on mine, I never had a problem with the 12v Battery despite not driving the car for weeks at a time. Then it had a service and some other 'update'. After that I had 2 months of trouble starting literally within a week. Could barely leave the car two days without getting my Noco loco booster out. The update it was in for didn't go well because "Leroy wasn't in". So my suspicion was they had cocked things up and rolled things back somehow. Later I got the DCM update done which I may already have had previously. But who knows. No trouble after that whatsoever.

Software. They don't know what they're doing. 🤷😅

[Rigsby]

11 minutes ago, Nick72 said:

Worth a shot.

So on mine, I never had a problem with the 12v battery despite not driving the car for weeks at a time. Then it had a service and some other 'update'. After that I had 2 months of trouble starting literally within a week. Could barely leave the car two days without getting my Noco loco booster out. The update it was in for didn't go well because "Leroy wasn't in". So my suspicion was they had cocked things up and rolled things back somehow. Later I got the DCM update done which I may already have had previously. But who knows. No trouble after that whatsoever.

Software. They don't know what they're doing. 🤷😅

I’ll certainly ask them to check if it’s been done, I had the CTEK connected for about 8 hours this afternoon  / evening, went to open the the car and it took about 5 seconds, so maybe not the Battery.

[Nick72]

On 6/1/2024 at 8:38 PM, Rigsby said:

I’ll certainly ask them to check if it’s been done, I had the CTEK connected for about 8 hours this afternoon  / evening, went to open the the car and it took about 5 seconds, so maybe not the battery.

How did you get on?

[Rigsby]

8 minutes ago, Nick72 said:

How did you get on?

Had to reschedule, it’s in on Monday.

Its been hit and miss this week.

[Terry10]

On 6/1/2024 at 8:48 AM, Rigsby said:

This week my 2021 Dynamic has started playing up when unlocking the car either by the remote or keyless.

Previously as soon as I touched the handle or pressed the unlock button the door would instantly unlock and the door mirrors would swing open, however now there is a delay of 4 or 5 seconds, lots of clicking noises before it unlocks.

II changed the battery in the remote to rule that out and it has made no difference.

Just wondering if anyone else has had this problem.

Hello, had a similar problem a couple of months back th ahead bee going on for about 3 months previously. Grab the handle to enter and even though the car would unlock there was a lot of clicking noises plus the indicator lights would flash about 10 times before things went quiet.Whilst this was all going on I could actually get into the car and put my seat belt on.The dealers were mystified by all this and had never come across this before. They consulted with Toyota and eventually replaced one wireless door handle and a slave unit to the ECU. ( all their words not mine.)

As an aside question. Have you put in led indicator bulbs?? It has been suggested to me that these bulbs can confuse the system and cause problems like this. I subsequently removed mine but don't honestly know if this is true or not.

Would love for someone to tell me that that is a load of rubbish as I really did like the L E D bulbs in my Rav.

Terry

 

[Rigsby]

22 minutes ago, Terry10 said:

Hello, had a similar problem a couple of months back th ahead bee going on for about 3 months previously. Grab the handle to enter and even though the car would unlock there was a lot of clicking noises plus the indicator lights would flash about 10 times before things went quiet.Whilst this was all going on I could actually get into the car and put my seat belt on.The dealers were mystified by all this and had never come across this before. They consulted with Toyota and eventually replaced one wireless door handle and a slave unit to the ECU. ( all their words not mine.)

As an aside question. Have you put in led indicator bulbs?? It has been suggested to me that these bulbs can confuse the system and cause problems like this. I subsequently removed mine but don't honestly know if this is true or not.

Would love for someone to tell me that that is a load of rubbish as I really did like the L E D bulbs in my Rav.

Terry

 

Thanks for that information, very interesting.

No, I haven’t changed any bulbs

[Nick72]

4 hours ago, Terry10 said:

Hello, had a similar problem a couple of months back th ahead bee going on for about 3 months previously. Grab the handle to enter and even though the car would unlock there was a lot of clicking noises plus the indicator lights would flash about 10 times before things went quiet.Whilst this was all going on I could actually get into the car and put my seat belt on.The dealers were mystified by all this and had never come across this before. They consulted with Toyota and eventually replaced one wireless door handle and a slave unit to the ECU. ( all their words not mine.)

As an aside question. Have you put in led indicator bulbs?? It has been suggested to me that these bulbs can confuse the system and cause problems like this. I subsequently removed mine but don't honestly know if this is true or not.

Would love for someone to tell me that that is a load of rubbish as I really did like the L E D bulbs in my Rav.

Terry

 

Heard similar about LEDs somehow upsetting the canbus. I don't understand how other than either some weird capacitance effect or switching noise.

[Terry10]

🤷🏻🤷🏻🤷🏻🤷🏻 well I took mine out and now I am afraid to put them back again. I did have a casual chat with a guy in the dealership when I collected my car and said that I wanted to put LED bulbs in 🙄🙄🙄 and what did he think. He said that he wasn't that up/ informed on Toyota models as he had only just started with this dealership .However in a previous job with a different manufacturer's brand they had had a car with similar issues to mine that had been causing a lot of head scratching. It turned out to be the LED bulbs!!!!!  He obviously recommended that I didn't fit them.Not the reply I wanted to hear.

Terry

 

 

[Rigsby]

Service done, MOT done (no advisories), DCM update already applied but could not get the unlocking problem to happen, hence they couldn’t find any issues and no fault codes registered.

The asked me where the Dashcam was connected into and noticed that I had a power bank for charging my mobile phone out of the car, they said that this could possibly interfere with the system.

I have had the camera fitted for nearly 3 years and have also always carried the power bank in the centre console and never had a problem before last week.

[Rigsby]

Bit of an update, the unlocking issue persists (intermittently) I have recently been in hospital and the car hadn’t been unlocked for a week, opened normally first time, and into “Ready” mode, so I’m beginning to doubt that the Battery is the problem.

Car is in the dealership today, and of course it’s unlocking normally, so I’ve sent them a video I took showing the problem, the clicking noise seems to be coming from the rear driver’s side door, fingers crossed 🤞 that they can get to the bottom of it.

[Rigsby]

Another update, the car was in the dealership all day Monday, just got it back at 3 pm today, they can’t find anything wrong with it.

They said the 12v Battery was low (never had a problem with it going into Ready mode) so they fully charged the Battery, got in the car at the dealers, opened first time, stopped at the shop on the way home, came out and problem still there.

Phoned the dealer, they said it showed no fault codes, and operated normally while in their workshop and basically have no idea what the issue is, I asked if they had checked for a faulty / sticking actuator, they replied “there’s no fault codes and we can’t just replace parts Willy Nilly”

[Nick72]

1 hour ago, Rigsby said:

Another update, the car was in the dealership all day Monday, just got it back at 3 pm today, they can’t find anything wrong with it.

They said the 12v battery was low (never had a problem with it going into Ready mode) so they fully charged the battery, got in the car at the dealers, opened first time, stopped at the shop on the way home, came out and problem still there.

Phoned the dealer, they said it showed no fault codes, and operated normally while in their workshop and basically have no idea what the issue is, I asked if they had checked for a faulty / sticking actuator, they replied “there’s no fault codes and we can’t just replace parts Willy Nilly”

That is massively disappointing. You've got evidence. They need to find and fix the problem. Letter to dealership exec manager and copied to Toyota Head Office job. They need to do a proper investigation. I doubt a sticky actuator (which sounds like it could be the cause) probably doesn't even have an associated fault code. It's really annoying lazy behaviour from the dealer. I feel for you. Been there with Peugeot. It takes up a lot of your time, causes a lot of anxiety, and you just want reasonable levels of reliability, and in this case from what should be a reliable car.

Remind me, just to totally rule out 12V Battery issues, did you have the DCM software update to help it shut down properly and are you 100% sure they've done it? And have you disconnected everything that draws power from the 12V. Even unattached USB cables. 

It could be a very slightly misaligned actuator (solenoid?) which needs extra oomph from a full 12V Battery?

🙏🤞❤️

If no further joy I'd be tempted to get tky tap a few things with a hammer. Slight misalignment might be detected and fixed this way but only if you're sure where you think the issue is. Alternatively, try WD40?