Kombi17

You can check here for some advice: https://www.gpspower.net/toyota-lexus.html

I think yours uses an SD card? Older models such as mine used DVD's and it was possible to download newer maps. You need to be careful what software you put in your car, worst case scenario is that the card/disc corrupts your sat nav altogether.

Several hundred dollars seems to be the going rate for maps these days. I purchased a 2017 Mazda for my son and Mazda charged $120 for a 1 time upgrade or $300 for 3 years.

Hi Alex

I use this in my Grande: https://goroav.com/pages/bolt

It wirelessly connects to my phone (Android) and plays via the AUX connection. When I start the car it all syncs up and it's like having a smart speaker in the car. I just say 'Hey Google, play music' and away it goes. 

You may need to do a bit of research to see it works with iphone or if there are other models out there that will work.

Are you still able to lock it manually? If you are able to lock it manually, it's likely the motor,

If you are not able to lock it at all, it could be just the door lock mechanism.

My driver's door locking stopped locking as the plastic parts inside broke. The motor would still try to lock and unlock the door but as the parts were broken it didn't work. The door lock and handle part was not expensive from Toyota and I installed it myself but it took a long time to get due to covid. The workaround for this while I waited was I used the door part from the back passenger door as it was the same part.

If you are still able to lock and unlock the door manually, then that suggests the locking mechanism is fine and your problem is elsewhere with the motor and that is something I don't know about. I hope this helps.

Hi Fiona, I have the same make and model as your car but have not experienced the same issue as you. These are some things I would try:

- Go to Nav settings and check it hasn't changed what state you live in i.e. Victoria and not some other state or even New Zealand.

- Take the Nav disc out, turn on and off the entertainment unit (soft reset). Re-insert the disc.

Hope you sort it out. 

On 1/7/2023 at 6:36 AM, Tony Prodigy said:

Did you just notice this now ? Do you think it came this way from the dealer or was it after the fact ?

I reckon it's repairable. Make sure the dealer gives you back the damaged one.

I was thinking that you can lightly sand any sharp edges and then inject some epoxy resin to the same level as the plastic, then lightly block the surface and buff. 

That's a $1000 chip. Ouch !

That chip would definitely annoy the ocd in me and that would be all I would see every time I saw it especially if it were that new.  

I agree with Tony that you could make the chip a whole lot less noticeable at a fraction of the cost and in time you may even forget about it as the car picked up other minor chips and scratches from normal daily use.

It sounds like you've already committed to replacing it which does seem a bit expensive for something that small. I remember getting one of my tyre rims re-done after my wife parked badly and scratched it. Soon after repairing it and having 4 shiny scratch-free tyres, I scratched another tyre. My car is much older now and although free from major damage, it does have a few small dings and chips which I accept. I think life's too short and I'm certainly not rich enough to keep a car in showroom condition. 

G'day Aero.

Apologies for the late post, I was on holidays and not sure if you have made the purchase or not. 

In my case I bought a 2nd hand 2011 Kluger and it has been very reliable in the 5 years I've owned it. The only time it 'broke down' in all that time was due to a flat battery. I've had the auto boot lifter and front lower control arms replaced but other that that, there were not other repairs that comes to mind. 

I am a bit concerned that there is no log book or service history with your potential purchase. I had mine serviced every 6 months for the first 4 years at a Toyota dealership and now at a local mechanic. If properly maintained these cars are fairly bullet proof. Mine has done about 180,000 km and is still very quiet and smooth to drive. I have no intention to replacing it as it still meets all my expectations. 

Hi Lancey, brakes and rotor was my first guess too. The only other obvious cause is your wheels need a balance and alignment? 

Ask a mechanic check the rest of the parts linked to the tyre as it's more than likely one of those parts. At my most recent service, my mechanic said the LCA (Lower Control Arm) was wearing out and once worn out, could affect handling.  

https://www.suspension.com/blog/symptoms-of-a-failing-control-arm/

I hope you find the cause and keep us posted with the cause and fix. 

Perhaps a mechanic in this forum can confirm but I think you just diagnosed the problem with your car which is the starter motor will need to be replaced. The established short term fix is to tap it each time but eventually this method will no longer work. It's probably best to get it checked out and fixed now while it's still running. 

--

Geez, just saw the age of your car. It seems a bit young to have starter motor issues but hopefully you resolve the issue and let us know what it was.

Hi Zed. 

I've owned a Rav 4 in the past and currently own a Kluger 7 seater. Both were/are very reliable if properly maintained, my 10 years old Kluger has only let me down once in the last 4 years and that was a dead battery.

Obviously the Kluger will give you more boot space as it is a larger car and the V6 is fantastic for getaways out of the city. The Kluger does not like city driving! 🙂

I do 50/50 between freeway and city driving and mileage is approx 12L per 100km. If you were doing mostly city start/stop driving, you could expect this figure to creep up to 13 to 14+ litres. The Rav 4's fuel economy is better but not spectacular as it is a 4 cyclinder engine trying to move an suv around. 

I've never owned a Prado or proper 4wd but it seems like overkill if I were driving in the city 90% of the time.

11 hours ago, Blairgarry said:

Thanks for that. Will give it a go. Because they have individual motors for each strut, do both normally go at the same time?

Sorry I wouldn't know that answer as I originally thought there was only 1 hidden motor doing the lifting and the gas suspension struts are there to support the tailgate only. Your model may have a different auto tailgate set to my older 2011 version. 

If you do have a dual motor set up and one is failing, depending on who you go to, they may just recommend you replace both at the same time or you'll have a new motor doing more of the lifting than the old motor and you may eventually be back to square 1 when one of the motors starts to fail again. 

On 11/23/2021 at 8:19 PM, Blairgarry said:

Went to automatically shut tailgate but too much in boot and it wouldn’t shut. Tried to open it again using the button on the tailgate as well as the button on key ring and next to ignition but no luck. Just does one very long beep. Have had to pull it open manually and shut manually.

I’ve checked button in glove box and it is on. When I try to open it after unlocking the car, I can hear it release but it won’t automatically lift open. When I key lock car I can hear it lock. Haven’t had any problems with it until now.
 

Hi Blair. There's a few posts on this forum regarding the tailgate and it appears they seem to go wrong after 6 years.

If you're lucky, maybe the tailgate is just 'out of sync', I would manually fully open and try to get it auto-close, then manually close and try to get get it to auto-open. Try it a few times till it hopefully syncs up again.

Otherwise it may be bad news. Mine failed after 6 years and there's another person with issues with his 2014 kluger. If it's the struts that's causing the issue, they cost $300 to replace, if it's the motor that will cost $3000.

Hi Con, I have a 2011 grande and had tailgate issues a few years back. If you're lucky and it's the struts, they will cost about $300 from Toyota. If it's the motor, it will be $3000. Mine was the motor and fortunately I had extended warranty to replace both just to be sure. Hopefully it's just the struts and if they are generic parts, you may be able to find them cheaper elsewhere, otherwise it's either an expensive fix or live with a manual tailgate. 

23 hours ago, Tony Prodigy said:

I wonder how much just the motor would cost new from Toyota. Surely not 3k as mentioned. I would've thought this would include labour and potentially some programming. Even so I cannot see how they could justify that amount. It's just an actuator motor.

I think it was around 2k for the motor, a few hundred for struts and the rest on labour. If I didn't have warranty, I wouldn't have bothered.  I checked the receipt and it didn't show the cost of just the motor. 

https://parts.toyota.com/p/Toyota_2009_Highlander/Tailgate-Pull-Down-Motor/69353984/8500709005.html shows it as 1500usd which is about 1900aud..

Maybe worth trying some local wreckers and seeing if you could buy a second hand tailgate motor. If you could score a used motor for a few hundred, it's a lot reasonable than a few thousand. 

On 5/4/2021 at 10:37 AM, Gil said:

I have a 2011 Kluger and had very similar issues as you a few years back. The tailgate worked fine, started playing up and eventually stopped working. The good news was it was fixed by Toyota by replacing the motor that raises the the tailgate and the struts for safe measure and it's been working fine since. Luckily it was covered by extended warranty. The bad news is if you have to pay for this fix, Toyota will charge $3200. To me, it sounds like the motor is has reached the end of it's life span and will only get worse.

On 5/4/2021 at 10:37 AM, Gil said:

Hello,

My 2009 Kluger Grande GSU45R powered tailgate was functioning with no issues (opening & closing) in the past few years. A month ago I tried to close the tailgate but it beeped, started closing and jumped right back, the behaviour is like the system detects a resistance of some kind. I have no issue when the door is shut and I open the powered tailgate, it opens all the way up, the issue is only when I try to close it.

I took off the gas struts and got them tested by a professional and the reading came out good, meaning that the issue is not from the gas struts.

I tried to hold the close button (found some instructions on Google) to try and reset the system but it didn't work.

Has anyone experienced such an issue and if so, how did you get it fixed?

 

Thanks in advance

Gil

I have a 2011 Kluger Grande and I hear a similar sound if the engine is running, the car is idling and the music is off. It does seem to come from right of the steering wheel and sound like something faintly getting switched on intermittently. I barely notice it unless I'm listening for it. To me, it seems like normal car noises and once I'm driving and/or have the music on, it can't be heard. 

On 1/20/2021 at 4:06 PM, LordBug said:

Probably a bit late now but the Grande model definitely has a multi cd player and DVD based gps. If you press 'Open' on the console, the screen will slide open you could load up to 4 cds/mp3/wma and a newer sat nav disc if you want.

When I looked at possibly upgrading my aurion's  head unit a long time ago, the technician recommended against it as the new unit would not work with the controls on the steering wheel. 

 

 

 

It's been a while since I replaced my headunit, but from memory the disc slot is behind the screen, so when you choose to eject/insert the screen folds down and reveals the secretive slot 🙂

Removal steps, youtube helped me out at the time, this is one of the videos I leaned on heavily to guide me through the process:

 

Had a quick look online, this is what I could find.

https://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/omms-s/T-MMS-12Highlander/pdf/2012_Toyota_Highlander_WMG_lr.pdf

Page 62. 85,000 miles for a 6 cylinder.

I was hoping to take a photo of my service book for that particular service but the page was already removed when mine was serviced. 

6 hours ago, Podge said:

Hello everyone:) Just wondering if there is anyone out there who has had an issue with their stereo unit seizing up after a flat battery. We have a message which is frozen on the screen which says... No dvd, please insert map dvd. We have done this and the dvd is not re`setting the stereo unit. We can`t operate our radio/cd player, reverse camera is not functioning either. We have been told by one of the Toyota dealers that we may need to fork out 4-5k to completely replace the head unit:( Not keen on paying that expense just because we had a flat battery and our head unit has seized up. Any help would be much appreciated. TIA.

Hey Podge, sorry to hear of your bad luck. Toyota can charge some ridiculous prices sometimes too for parts...

Not sure what model you have but I have a 2011 kluger grande. There is a factory reset option on my multimedia unit, have you tried pressing that?

I would then try disconnecting the battery and reconnecting it again and seeing if that works.

Failing all that and if the stereo unit is really broken, I would find a replacement unit at the wreckers as 4-5k is ridiculous. I remember I had to find a replacement boot cover for my kluger and Toyota was going to charge about a grand for it, I found one at the wreckers for 200.

23 hours ago, Bigmike62 said:

Kombi17....

Good to hear that Penrite 5W40 has been going well in your Aurion and Kluger. It's been a hard choice with s o many allegedly good full synthetic oils out there. Buying Australian was important to me, even though there were cheaper alternatives. I look forward to driving the car with this new oil.

Cheers 

Yep, that's exactly the one I use, I buy the 6 litres one. I am not mechanically minded at all but I can change the oil at least.

In between 6 monthly servicing at the dealership, I change the oil myself (but not the filter). This means my Kluger (which uses the same engine as the Aurion) gets it's engine oil changed every 3 months and oil filter changed every 6 months. Needless to say, I've never had oil sludge issues and it may be just my imagination but I do feel the engine is a bit smoother when I change to this oil. 

Yes, it is overkill to change the oil 4 times a year but I only buy it when it is on special and I think it's a much more cost effective way to look after the engine than some other methods such buying premium unleaded petrol which I don't do anymore. 

Hi everyone. I've been using Penrite HPR 5 Engine Oil - 5W-40 6 Litre https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/search?q=Penrite+HPR+5+Engine+Oil+&lang=en_AU for many years now, first in my Aurion and now in my Kluger. It was recommended by the shop staff and to be honest, it does the trick for me. I don't know much about oils but to me, the car seems to idle/drive smoother when I change to this oil.

It's a little expensive at full retail but you can often pick it up on special for $45 - $50 and I think it's the most cost effective way of maintaining the Aurion's engine. 

It looks like the 2012 model still uses a DVD based sat nav. If so, you can buy the latest version here for $295

 https://navshop.com.au/collections/toyota/products/toyota-aurion-2001-to-2011-v24

Or you may be able to find some versions to download and test from here

https://www.gpspower.net/toyota-lexus.html

If your sat nav is dvd based, it is straightforward to update the maps. Find the option to Eject the DVD sat nav disc and replace it with the newer version. The sat nav disc has it's own slot below the CD changer.

2 hours ago, Howdoi said:

Yes, same issue here, appears to be common on highlander forums. While I haven't cured it, i have found that if i relock the seat my moving it the rattle stops for a while. I think it is only the single left hand seat and only makes a noise when it is empty.

Yep, 100% the same as Howdoi in terms of issue and short term fix. It is a completely mysterious rattle that can not seem to  be resolved! I have tried to find it on and off over the years and each time when I thought I resolved it, the rattle would eventually come back. I have even been on the car's foot well while been driven around and I can't seem to pin point the source of the rattle. It seems to emanate from the passenger side, middle row door area. It's possibly from the bottom of the seat but there's is nothing that obvious to the cause. 

I have tried the following:

- Adding insulation to the left door stopper.

- Adding insulation/sound dampeners to left seat lever, underneath the rail for sliding seat forward.

- Wedging items between left seat and middle to minimise any movement.

- Insulating items around and behind the seat such as the cargo cover.

None have worked long term. It is just an annoying rattle which I have resigned to putting up with and generally don't notice as it is not too loud and masked by music. 

https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=Plastic+Frame+Euro+License+Bracket&_sacat=0&LH_PrefLoc=2    ?

Sorry to hear of your issues. I had similar issues with my 2011 Grande a year or so ago. First the tailgate started to close slowly, then work intermittently and not work at all in the end. It wasn't a battery issue as it was relatively new. 

Luckily I had insurance as to replace the motor and struts cost 3K at Toyota! 

If it is not the battery, it may be just the struts which have lost their 'strength' in working with the motor to lift that heavy tailgate. If it's not the struts, then you may need to change it to a manual tailgate as replacing the motor and struts is not cheap.