Help! Locked Out! Avensis 2001 Vvti

[Parva]

Just been out to car and attempted to unlock doors via remote key and got

nothing. Tried spare key, same. Tried to unlock via key and turning key in

clockwise direction gives a quiet clunk everytime I do it but doors still

locked. Alarm / immobiliser led still flashing on dash as normal.

I'm beginning to think this could be a flat Battery. Had to lug a 32" telly

in the boot for my dad last night and am wondering now whether I left the

boot light on, if so it's been on nearly 24 hours though I can't see any

light emitting from it now (parcel shelf is out so I can see it) and as I

said, LED is still flashing on dash as normal.

Could this be because Battery power is just sufficient enough to sustain the

alarm but too low for the central locking? Fortunately I have breakdown

cover and will call them in the morning but how are they likely to get into

the car as it's deadlocked? Stumped how they're gonna fix this one and

whether it really is the Battery at fault or something worse. Not had a hint

of trouble till now. :(

[Ray99]

Hey Parva Unlock is anticlockwise- that will get you in. The alarm will sound for 30-40 seconds then stop. Pop the bonnet and hook up jump leads then press your remote, that will disarm it. Jump start as normal.

[Parva]

Hey Parva Unlock is anticlockwise- that will get you in. The alarm will sound for 30-40 seconds then stop. Pop the bonnet and hook up jump leads then press your remote, that will disarm it. Jump start as normal.

Unfortunately, turning the key anti-clockwise isn't doing anything at all. :( No noise and no unlock. :( Cheers anyway.

[Ray99]

Hi Dave try the passenger door or the tailgate. I'll research it tomorrow at work for the emegency access procedure. Are you sure the doors are deadlocked?

[Parva]

Hi Dave try the passenger door or the tailgate. I'll research it tomorrow at work for the emegency access procedure. Are you sure the doors are deadlocked?

There is no key access on passanger door. However, I have again tried to open drivers door with key and it opened! Maybe I wasn't turning it to the left vigorously enough? Of course that got me in but set alarm off. Just waiting for breakdown man now to discover why I can't disarm it with the remote. Thanks for all the help.

[Parva]

Well breakdown man came and put his charger on my car Battery and within a few seconds I was able to use the remote again. The alternator was charging the Battery just fine and no sign of any interior lights left on or anything. Took car to Motorsave to get Battery tested and they said while it wasn't in peak condition it certainly didn't warrant changing. Car has been fine since (so far) so I'm absolutely stumped what caused it and worse still, I'm now wondering when it will happen again. :(

[Ray99]

Hi Dave, I did the research and in the hand book it says that even with the deadlocks set the key will unlock the driver's door, as you have discovered. I can't think of a way the Battery could have been discharged without anything obviously left on. Is it possible that the boot light was left on, and by the time you came to check it there wasn't enough Battery power to light the lamp? The alarm will sound using its back up Battery, even if there is virtually no power left in the main battery. Let us know how you get on Cheers Ray

[Parva]

Hi Dave, I did the research and in the hand book it says that even with the deadlocks set the key will unlock the driver's door, as you have discovered. I can't think of a way the battery could have been discharged without anything obviously left on. Is it possible that the boot light was left on, and by the time you came to check it there wasn't enough battery power to light the lamp? The alarm will sound using its back up battery, even if there is virtually no power left in the main battery. Let us know how you get on Cheers Ray

Thanks for checking Ray. It now seems that I have a problem with the remote receiver. Have had problems locking and unlocking the car tonight so in the end I've left the alarm disabled and simply locked the car with the key. Hopefully that will enable me to unlock with key and use car and not worry about being stranded but leaving it un-alarmed isn't ideal and this is only a short term solution. Guess I'll have to remove the drivers door panel and start playing with wires! :(

[Ray99]

Don't bother taking off the driver's door panel as the wireless door lock ECU is behind the instrument cluster. If your problem is common to both remotes then I would guess the car is faulty, if only one remote is playing up, try a new key Battery first. BTW, just because the wireless doorlock control is unreliable, it doesn't necessarily mean that the receiver is at fault. There is an integration relay inivolved too. Failure of this relay is much more common. Let us know how you get on Cheers Ray

[Parva]

Don't bother taking off the driver's door panel as the wireless door lock ECU is behind the instrument cluster. If your problem is common to both remotes then I would guess the car is faulty, if only one remote is playing up, try a new key battery first. BTW, just because the wireless doorlock control is unreliable, it doesn't necessarily mean that the receiver is at fault. There is an integration relay inivolved too. Failure of this relay is much more common. Let us know how you get on Cheers Ray

You are a saviour Ray! :) Saved me ripping door apart unneseccarily anyway. :P I have now discovered that sometimes I can lock / unlock the car with the remote and sometimes the remote does nothing.

I have resorted to locking the car with the key as this locks all doors but doesn't arm the alarm / immobiliser. I would say that on 60% of occassions I can unlock the doors with the remote. For this very reason I am reluctant to lock the doors with the remote as the immobiliser and alarm will be activated. There are often times that I simply cannot unlock the doors with the remote no matter how much I try. I do have a spare key also, same result. The car seems to suddenly stop receiving the signal.

Further to this, operating the interior central locking button locks and unlocks all doors and the key in the door locks all doors also so no suspect door locking problems. I've never ever had a moments bother with this car until my first post above and now I'm frightened to death of pressing the 'Lock' button on the remote!

It's definitely the receiver or relay that's causing problems here, can you tell me how to proceed? Easiest to get to would be the obvious answer :) I'm no expert on cars but I have removed gearboxes, changed clutches and alsorts of other things so am no novice. I just know that taking this into my Toyota dealer will sort of totally break my limited bank! It cost £12 just for a plastic washer jet the other week for gods sake! Not to mention the £170 for an extra remote key! Anyway, I digress....

Thanks for any help.

[Chris Dance]

Parva, This may be a stupid answer to your problem but I have been locked out of my Avensis as well. It was in Essex when I was visiting a friend. I managed to get the car open and then like you I only used the key for the rest of the week end. I came home and there was no problem the remote worked fine only at my mates house was there a problem. He investigated and found others in the village were having similar problems. The village had a radio mast and the radio mast company had suddenly increased its output. This gave problems to owners of certain cars the Avensis being one of them. Last time I went to visit my mate the villagers had ben assured the output from the mast would be lowered and never again increased. Have you got such a mast or masts in your area? Does your remote fail in all locations?

[Ray99]

Hi Parva

I think Chris may have something there. In my town there is one particular street that has a "dead area" where Toyota remotes won't work. Haven't discovered the reason yet. BTW is that a picture of your car? Is it the old shape Avensis? If it is, then the integration relays can play up quite randomly. Never the same symptom twice, and no pattern either. The only test is by substitution with a known good one. The system works like this:- the receiver gets a signal from your remote and sends the unlock command to the integration relay. This, in turn, sends the unlock signal to all the door locks, in the same way the driver's door lock switch does. The relay then flashes your hazards as confirmation. And vice versa for locking. The relay lives in the driver's footwell, behind the kick panel on the right A post. It looks like a black box about 10cm square and 2cm thick. It may have a multi-block connector on the top edge, too. It's all solid state electronics, apart from the door lock relays, so there's no repairing it. Let us know how you get on. PS it's worth trying new batteries in your remotes first!

[Parva]

Hi Parva

I think Chris may have something there. In my town there is one particular street that has a "dead area" where Toyota remotes won't work. Haven't discovered the reason yet. BTW is that a picture of your car? Is it the old shape Avensis? If it is, then the integration relays can play up quite randomly. Never the same symptom twice, and no pattern either. The only test is by substitution with a known good one. The system works like this:- the receiver gets a signal from your remote and sends the unlock command to the integration relay. This, in turn, sends the unlock signal to all the door locks, in the same way the driver's door lock switch does. The relay then flashes your hazards as confirmation. And vice versa for locking. The relay lives in the driver's footwell, behind the kick panel on the right A post. It looks like a black box about 10cm square and 2cm thick. It may have a multi-block connector on the top edge, too. It's all solid state electronics, apart from the door lock relays, so there's no repairing it. Let us know how you get on. PS it's worth trying new batteries in your remotes first!

Thanks for yours and Chris' reply. I'm looking into both options at the moment. As far as radio-waves are concerned there are no new masts or anything that I can pin-point as intefering with the remote. I can also confirm that the Battery is extremely good in key one and a little weak but still operative in key 2.

I'll bet a pound to a penny that the remote will work faultlessly untill it fails again. :( Hmmm, bit of a dumb statement that! I guess I'll just have to lock it via remote until it fails again and see if I can figure out why it won't work. :(

I've used the unlock function faultlessly all weekend but I've been away from home. Will see how it goes. Thanks for all the help.

Edit: Yes Ray, that is the car :)

[Ray99]

Hi Parva

Just found out today that when your Battery goes dead, the wireless doorlock control looses it's synchronisation with the key. Basically it won't unlock, but will lock every time. Don't understand the process, but here's the solution. You need to remind the receiver of your key code, done like this.

1) Start with driver's door open, key out of ignition.

2) Insert key into ignition, then remove (DO NOT TURN ON THE IGNITION)

3) Close driver's door twice (from open-shut-open-shut-open- leave open)

4) Insert key into ignition, then remove (DO NOT TURN ON THE IGNITION)

5) Close driver's door three times (from open-shut-open-shut-open-shut-leave shut)

6) Insert key into ignition, from lock to on and back to lock

7) Remove the key. As soon as the key is removed, the door locks will lock/unlock once. This indicates that the receiver is ready to be reminded of your key code.

8) On your key, hold down the lock button continuously, then press the unlock button 5 times, Release both buttons, then press both lock and unlock together. The door locks will lock/unlock to indicate the receiver's accepting the key.

9) Open the driver's door. This tells the system you've finished.

Sorry it's a bit long winded but that's the Toyo way!!!!!!!