Toyota GPS signal only in the morning

[Roman Mosshammer Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Roman Mosshammer]

Hello all,
I have a 2006 Grande diesel. The only thing I dont love about it is that when i need the GPS the most it lets me down.
After about 9am the GPS symbol goes out and then slowly the unit looses its way. It seems to find its way with out the signal
when in town but when out of the burbs its like boobs on a bull. Recently on Fraser Island, I realy would have found it handy,
I had to get old world and get the wife to start map reading...........not good....has any one experienced this with the built in unit
in the Grande. Regards Romano

[adamrye Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close adamrye]

Re: Toyota GPS signal only in the morning

Hi
The drop out could be caused by satellite geometry. As a surveyor we also have problems with the number satellites at different times of the day during the year. I have attached an image of the satellite prediction for the 3 Feb 2009 in Brisbane[attachment=0:2gvgbi9a]030209.TIF[/attachment:2gvgbi9a]. As you can see there are not to many sats that day. You may want to monitor the days and times you have issues and I can check the number of sats for you. I hope this helps. Cheers Adam

[Roman Mosshammer Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Roman Mosshammer]

Re: Toyota GPS signal only in the morning

Thanks Adam, that is most kind of you. I understand that the sat cover varies from time to time as does the accuracy. At the times I have been having trouble others have had coverage. I have been through all the common sense things like not covering the receiver which I believe is at the back of the unit and also have had the windows and sun roof open to ensure the window tinting does not effect it as is mentioned in the manual. It is the same every day. It works for a few hour then gives up. I am going to take it to toyota in Mackay for them to investigate under warranty but I am not convinced they will fix it so I thought I would post it to see if others had seen this before. Regards Romano

[archie400 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close archie400]

Re: Toyota GPS signal only in the morning

One question I would ask is what level of maps and software do you have in the GPS? If it's the Toyota DESNO mapping software, there seemed to be a problem with the version 12 software and maps. We'd be out and about in various places and the satnav would go walkabout for no obvious reason.

For example, we were travelling from Newcastle to Sydney on the F3 and, for no obvious reason, the satnav had us around 20-30KM due east of the road and, according to the maps being displayed, we were doing an awful lot of surfing and scuba diving offshore.

This happened several times in various places (Victoria, NSW, ACT) and so we took it back to Toyota and raised the concern with them. The SAT NAV just wouldn't readjust it self back to a reasonable location and, even after calibrating it back to where we were and the directions we were heading, it still would get lost.

Toyota spend a good part of the day running diagnostics and the like and, eventually, upgraded the box to Version 13 (even though 14 was now available, they weren't willing to upgrade to the latest maps for free).

Regardless, since the upgrade to V13, we haven't had the problems we had with Version 12. The Prado doesn't go walkabout any longer (unless, of course, it really doesn't know the roads or the mapping data isn't accurate such as in smaller towns outside of New South Wales. (For example, if you happen to be near Goulburn and head towards Parkesbourne, the "trail" being followed has no road and the indicated line is about 50-100 meters from where you're driving.)

Anyway, if you find that it's losing the satellites and you're still on V12 or earlier (that was the level our 2006 Grande came with), you might want to ask Toyota to look at it if its still under warranty.

[Roman Mosshammer Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Roman Mosshammer]

Re: Toyota GPS signal only in the morning

Thanks Archie,
Yes we were doing quite a bit of ocean cruising also. The problem ended up being with the receiver. It is a magnetic base type of arraingment and had moved to the side of the plate it sits on and not on top as intended. Toyota were happy to rectify this and all is good and have not lost the signal since this has been rectified. Now I have no complaints about the Prado at all........if my wife would stop driving it maybe I could have a go. Sorry this reply took some time. Romano