Toyota GPS Question

[PradoProud Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close PradoProud]

Hello All

I have the standard Toyota (Denso) GPS fitted to my Grande. I've found it great - especially around the city. Recently, though, it lost the plot when we were driving around Lorne and the Great Ocean Road in Victoria. It showed our location as being way out to sea. I also noticed at that time the indicator showing that the GPS signal is being received was not on. The GPS seemed to struggle for the rest of the weekend.

The next week it was time for serivce and I got them to look at the GPS. They said that it was functioning normally and that they had recalibrated it (not to hard - you just push a button :!: ).

Since then I have noticed that the indicator showing receiving GPS signal is off for a fair bit of the time. I know in the shadow of buildings, trees, carparks etc that would be normal but this seems to happen a lot. I don't know what it used to be like because I had never paid any attention.

Can anyone tell me if their "GPS" indicator is normally on and how often you would expect it to be off? Although I normally travel with maps too (I'm a project manager and love to have a contingency) I would prefer to be able to rely on the GPS. I really want to know if I should take it back to Toyota again or if it is working as designed.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated.

Cheers...Paul

[Drew Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Drew]

G'day Paul,

I can't really comment on the specific unit as I'm not fortunate enough to have one myself, I wonder if the unit is getting a good enough view of the satellite constellation? I've noticed my GPSs sometimes go weird when they only have a small aperture view to the sky. Where is the antenna on the Denso model? (I could look in the factory service manual but I don't have it in front of me)

Hope you get it sorted,

Drew.

[Guest Close Guest]

Never noticed mine off except underground carparks and the like (tunnels) etc. Havent ever had an issue with it losing lock.

The ant is under the dash around centre (but a bit to the drivers side) check you havent blocked that area with anything. Have you had the unit out for anything (reverse camera?) Antenna may have simply come unplugged?

[PradoProud Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close PradoProud]

Thanks Drew and Team Piggy

The unit hasn't been removed for anything but I think the idea that the antenna might have come unplugged is probably it.

We were up around Corowa in NSW this weekend and "contact" with the GPS satellites was a bit hit and miss. Although driving home today all the way down the Hume and there was no issue at all.

Anyway I'll have a look and see if I can see up to the antenna connection or if that looks too hard I'll take it back to the dealer.

Cheers...Paul

[Guest Close Guest]

Take it back to the dealer, the antennas in them are excellent, it has better reception than some of my other GPS units, yours sounds like it has an issue.

GPS signal should only drop out under tin roof's (sometimes doesnt), or in very high walled (steep) valleys or tunnels/underground.
Concrete carparks and the likes.

GPS loss in trees is claimed but I am yet to see it so bad you lose lock.

[PradoProud Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close PradoProud]

If anyone is interested I thought I'd let you know what happened with GPS.

I took it back to Toyota Dealer. GPS technician seemed to really know what he was talking about (that's a good thing!). He could see the intermitent faults occuring. He didn't think it was the ariel connection because he checked that and still saw the fault occur. He thinks it is something inside the unit and so has organised for the entire unit to be replaced. The replacement has not occured yet - probably will not be until after Easter :cry: but at least they have acknowledge the fault!

Cheers...Paul

[Grandeman Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Grandeman]

Well done!

I had a similar problem with mine telling me I was out to sea on a couple of occasions.

Had the car back to the dealer about 6 times - told me all was OK.

Must admit that I have not had the problem for over 6 months (touch wood). Apart from this glitch, i think it is a great unit and certainly kills my Navman portable.

[Guest Close Guest]

1. Put your ignition key in "ACC" position
2. Turn your headlights to the OFF position if you have them on AUTO.
3. The Nav should display the Toyota banner and then wait at the disclaimer screen (blah bla bla "I AGREE"). While on this screen, press and hold down the "info" button on the Nav and at the same time flick your head lights on then off three times. Don't do this too quickly.

This should throw it into diagnostic mode and you can play around with the different things, in Navi setup and GPS mode you can see the different satelite strengths etc, this can be handy in looking at your problem.
On mine it was interesting to see a voice recognition mode and also a bluetooth telephone mode but they dont work (Obv software not activated)I think there is a document from memory over on Lcool about what all the different things mean.

[PradoProud Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close PradoProud]

Update on replacement GPS.

Brighton Toyota were sensational in getting the new unit and organising to have it installed before Easter.

It worked flawlessly for our entire trip to Sydney and around NSW. Even locks onto the sattelite as soon as I open the garage door.

Cheers...Paul

[Grandeman Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Grandeman]

I do like hearing (the admittedly infrequent) good Toyota service stories...

[archie400 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close archie400]

Still going walkabout - is there some way to force a "r

I see that others are having intermittent problems with the Toyota Denso-based satnavs where they go "walkabout".

We had a problem last weekend when we were driving from Newcastle back to Sydney and around the Gosford area we seemed to have lost the GPS signal. There doesn't seem to be any way to recover from this situation unless you recalibrate the system.

Has anyone figured out how to cause a reset while driving if possible (warm boot so that settings and memory aren't lost) or is this something to take back to Toyoto (again).

Problem is that, unless it's "faulting" then and there when the tech is looking at it, they say there's nothing wrong and send you on your merry way. (I've checked the GPS status screen and it looks like we're only "seeing" 2 - 3 satellites at best when this is happening but my partner's Tomtom shows 6-8 available at the same time.)

Any suggestions/hints would be appreciated. We're currently on V12 (or is it 13?) Would spending the money and getting the latest version actually upgrade any of the satnav's internal software or will that just give us the later maps and the same potential problems for signal loss?

Thanks in advance

[Squeaky Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Squeaky]

Sounds more like poor Sat reception. Unless the reception can be boosted by Toyota tweaking your system I would advise putting in an external arial.

[Guest Close Guest]

The toyota unit already has an external aerial.. :roll:

[archie400 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close archie400]

The toyota unit already has an external aerial.. :roll:

We took the Prado into Toyota yesterday because we lost GPS signals for a day and a half last week. We switched the unit into service mode and found it was only "seeing" two satellites. My partner has a Tomtom portable and, at the same time in the same car, was able to show that the Tomtom was seeing 6-8 satellites so it wasn't the satellites that seem to be the problem.

Of course, by the time we got to Toyota, the GPS "suddenly" started working again and there's no evidence of the satnav "forgetting" how to see the signals.

For your info, Toyota told us that the antenna is in the dashboard, just above the unit itself and its not an external antenna.

Also, has anyone seen if there is a "version 14" update available yet from Toyota? Where.com isn't showing any updates for the Denso system so far.

Thanks in advance for any info and feedback.