FMAN

Thanks, that make more sense. The flickering is probably caused by the switching of the pull up resistors in the body module when switch resistance has increased. Switches need a certain amount of current to clean themselves (depending on design/contact materials).The LED’s are not supplying this current so I suspect even after this modification the problem with return. I am not sure if the increased contact surface area will be better or worse as you have less current per square mm but more area to contact. To prevent the problem you need to increase the current. You could put a resistor in parallel to the LED but this would generate a lot of heat (similar to the bulb). Depending on how long the flickering takes to appear, you could refit the bulbs until the switch cleans itself. Are there any other Toyotas that use a similar switch with no door light and only a connection to the ECU? This might have different contact material. Sorry to cast doubt on your solution and not provide a helpful alternative

Do you know why this fixes the flickering? I thought the interior lights were driven by the Main Body ECU which gives a delay when the door is closed. This should isolated the lights from any minor door switch problem or are the LED lights wired directly to the door switches ?

My Atx doesn't have them, what were they fitted too?

If you are talking about the two 8 or 10mm bolts sticking out of the chassis rail, I would say don't worry about them. They look like they are for some extra that wasn't fitted to our cars. Anyone know what they are used for?

Yes, you can feel and hear the play in the inner ball joint. With the new rack no noise and better steering.

9 months on, the steering feels like it is connected to the wheels, the car feels great and there are no clonks. So has the rack problem gone away... of course not - rack No4 fitted today under warranty! If the rest of the Aurions are like this one, there are going to be a lot of cars failing the Rego check when they are 5 years old.

Before you get a new one, consider that the resistance gets lower when the temperature drops. (It is also colder at night). If one of the speaker circuits was low resistance it would cause the output stage of the radio to overheat and then if there is a protection system it would cut out. If you turn the volume up it will get hotter quicker. This would also link to the heater warming the radio up as well. I would check the resistance of each speaker circuit.

When you next get your wheels aligned, get them to check for play in the drivers side inner track rod joint. If this is worn you will never get a consistant wheel alignment.I'm on my third steering rack for this.

When I first got my Aurion about 18 months or so ago I noticed that the link between the steering wheel and the front wheels was somewhat vague and accompanied by various clunks. After a fair bit of discussion with the dealership the rack and the intermediate shaft were replaced. This transformed the car, the steering then felt a lot sharper with better feedback and no clunking noises. Now a year later I have noticed the vagueness has come back and when driving down a dirt road it sounds like something is loose near the front right wheel. If you turn the wheel back and forth with the engine off a clunk can be heard. The inner track rod ball joint makes this noise because it worn again. I talked to the dealer and he said that they checked other Aurions and found that they all do that. The car is also now out of warranty, but the part was replaced less than 12 months ago. The good news it that Toyota have just replaced the rack under parts warranty. My car does not make a clunking noise anymore! They might all make the noise but they shouldn’t! So to all of you that were feeling happy that your racks have been replaced now is time to check it again to see if it still OK. My car has only about 63k Km and this is rack no3. It seems that the part of the annual service will now be to replace the rack…..

Interesting approach, were the bars square or oval?

This picture was taken from just behind the driver front wheel. I believe this the pipe we are talking about.

Thanks for the reply. I have the rubber strip in the top slot but I wasn't very clear in saying it was the bottom slot that I put the tape over. There is aluminum in the middle third but open for the rest. Is there normally rubber in there as well?

I fixed the bottle noise by putting tape over the slot that runs the width of the bar. I will have a look for any other holes as suggested. These bars win the award for the nosiest bars I have encountered. Another quality Toyota product...

I have just fitted some 2nd hand Toyota roof bars and they create an impressive set of wind noises. At about 30kmh it sounds like someone blowing over the top of a bottle. At 60+kmh there is general wind noise and also the bottle blowing noise (but not consistently). To save me time experimenting, has someone else come across this and how did you fix it. Thanks Neil

It seems most people’s cars steam up when the air con first turns off as the condensation on the evaporator clears. If your car uniquely continues to steam up where is the moisture coming from? A few possibilities :- Is the drain for the air con system is blocked? Is there is a leak into the car. Do you ever find the condensation on the inside of the windows before you drive the car in the morning? Do you drive round with the heater on recirc? Have you tested this to see that it is opening to let fresh air in? Or maybe there is an issue with the Aurion and everyone else with an Aurion leaves the aircon on....?

Mine rattled on the passenger side when it was below about 18c. This could be stopped by pushing down in the speaker area. I had the clips done and now it has a lot more rattles everywhere else. If it doesn't really irritate you leave it alone.

Glad to hear it is fixed, hopefully you didn't have to pay for the alternator that they put on for a "wiring harness fault".

DJKOR thanks for doing the test work, it is good to understand what works and what doesn’t. Out of interest what was the resistor value in the AUX module?

Hi Shane, Thanks for the honest informative answer. I guessed this was why you suggested the resistor and I also wasn’t brave enough to say remove it. I did wonder if Toyota had specified a resistor to help with diagnostics. Have spent more than a decade or so designing vehicle electrical/electronic systems for car manufacturers , I have seen quite a few problems with resistances in grounds and tolerance stack ups. I suppose the general advice is that if you are not feeling brave try the 1k, if this doesn’t work try reducing the value until it does. The worst case will be with a cold alternator, fully charged battery, minimal electrical load and a cold environment. Regards Neil

It was this comment that provoked my question rather than answered it. The specification referred too expects to see a voltage of below 1V to recognize it as "low". Assuming the pull up resistor in the unit is a 1k2, the 1k resistor put the voltage at the pin way above 1V. If my assumptions are correct this means that the 1k resistor might work in some conditions/cars and not others depending on the tolerance stack up. You will also not have enough current for the connector to be reliable in the long term from what I can see of the connector system. I couldn’t see if the terminal was gold plated (required for very low currents). I asked the question because I am interested to either learn something new or raise a fault finding pointer if it doesn't work. Without seeing the HU internal circuit I don't think I would want to say don't fit a resistor...!

Great info. Out of interest why do you need the 1K resistor?

No but the car is still under warranty.

My local dealer did it before I got the letter and in between services with any problems.

At the risk of stating the obvious, but it sounds like you are not getting enough charge from the alternator. You might be getting enough charge that with no electrical loads switched on, it appears to the Toyota mechanic to be OK. This might be combined with an electrical load not switching off properly. The alternator might no charge properly for a number of reasons (assuming the actual alternator is OK). There could be a high resistance to ground/battery, the belt might be slipping (or the alternator clutch failing) or the battery warning light on the dash is not supplying enough current (does the light come on?). You need to take the car to an Auto Electrician as opposed to the mechanic with a volt meter, otherwise you will just pay for guess work. If you have charged your battery and got the car going again, keep everything unnecessary switched off, especially the Air conditioning.

It’s just been to the dealer for the Oil line and dash clips. They didn't know what the noise was and were going to ask Toyota, but then they said they hadn't come across the inner track rod issue either. It took about 2 months to get the intermediate shaft and rack replaced. I suppose the main question is does anybody else’s car make this noise because the dealer will probably come back and try to tell me it’s normal just like the rack! Thanks Neil