Roody’s 2018 Lexus GX460 Build, Adventure, and Hooniverse Podcast

Last weekend I installed the Accessorides remote start kit. Pleased to report, the GX now has remote start and the kit works flawlessly. An exceptionally great thing to have given the recent frigid temperatures.



Lexus tied the GX460’s remote start capability into its 3G service for a stretch, a service it has since retired. The remedy for this is to add a module to the Lexus’ brain. Doing so basically hard-wires the capability and ties remote directly to the key fob.



Accessorides’ solution basically piggybacks off the computer between the start button and the BCM. This is as subtle a solution as they come. The best benefit of doing it this way is that instead of remote start requiring an extra key fob, pressing the OEM fob three times activates the remote starter.

The kit is 100% plug-and-play. Included in the box are the module, instructions, extra components necessary for vehicles with other electronic fun going on, and two trim removal tools. You’ll need to grab a phillips head screwdriver and 10mm socket from your own toolbox. And a beer to place inside the Accessorides-branded gift koozie that they send with the kit.



Even for an only-moderately-capable guy like myself when it comes to things like these, installation was fairly straightforward. Here’s the long and the short of it:

• Slide the driver seat as far back as you can
  
  
• Remove the floor mats and anything in the way of driver the footwell
  
  
• Use a trim removal tool to pull the driver-side center tunnel panel off
  
  
• Lift off the kick panel that lives along the door sill
  
  
• Pull away the trim that lives below the dashboard. Pop open the small screw cover at the bottom right, remove the screw, remove the screw that holds the black shroud underneath the center of the panel below the steering wheel, and remove the screw underneath the steering column. Pry the black piece of plastic off from under the panel.
  
  
• Use the trim removal tool to pull back the kick panel left of the emergency brake and remove the screw that sits behind it
  
  
• Turn the ignition on to accessory mode, so the steering wheel extends out, and move it to its furthest outward position
  
  
• Crank the steering wheel left, then right, and remove the two screws behind the wheel that keeps the shroud in place. Remove the top and bottom steering column covers, being careful to not hit the electric adjuster on the left side.
  
  
• Pull the bottom portion of the dashboard away from its mounts, being careful to not disrupt any of the wiring behind it
  
  
• Locate the black seven-pin connector behind and to the right of the steering column. Unplug this, and plug the Accessorides connector in.
  
  
• Run the Accessorides wiring and module behind the metal bars in the dash
  
  
• Locate the BCM to the left of the steering wheel area. On the right side of the two connection points, unplug the middle unit. Connect it to the Accessorides module, and connect the Accessorides plug to the BCM.
  
  
• Test the connection. Turn the ignition on (if it isn't already), and look at the LED light on the newly-added module. If it turns green then goes out, you're golden.
  
  
• Test the system. Close all doors, lock the vehicle, wait thirty seconds, and then hit the lock button three times in a row. The horn will sound twice, and after a few seconds it will turn on.
  
  
• Cable tie the module and wiring so it stays in place.
  
  
• Reinstall all of the interior panels
  
  
• Revel in the glory

Misc. Notes:

• The vehicle shuts off when you open the door, which is a built-in Toyota/Lexus safety precaution
  
• Between the need for the ignition to stay on so the steering wheel remains extended and the open driver door, the two can easily drain the vehicle’s main battery. I found this out the hard way. Fun fact: A 2023 Land Rover Defender 130 P400 didn’t provide the GX460 with enough juice to turn over, but my wife’s Mazda CX-5 did. Go figure.
• Make sure you reconnect all of the items you unplugged. The following week, amid freezing temperatures, I stopped to fill the Lexus’ gas tank at a local station. I pushed the gas door release button, and… nothing. Forgetting to plug it back in meant fighting with wires and the dash in the gas station lot in cold weather. Less than fun, but my own doing.

Accessorides has helped made installing this piece of tech on the Lexus GX460 (and other vehicles) inexpensive and easy enough to be done that yours truly was able to do so in a small portion of an afternoon. The kit retails for $299 but is on sale for $199. It’s well worth the price given the ease of install and how well it integrates (as if it were OEM) into the vehicle.

Pros:

• Easy install
• Inexpensive
• Retains OEM key fob remote start functionality

Cons:

• Lackluster instructions that necessitated me going to YouTube for a few tidbits

Summary:

• A simple and low-cost way to add remote start to a GX460

 

I think we need more details on that Defender in the background

Nice write up. I personally don’t care for the remote start when the vehicle turns off after opening a door. But I get the appeal.

 

Awesome and super detailed write up. I’m happy mine had factory installed remote start but this looks manageable if it didn’t. I don’t use the app. Just the key fob.

I don’t love that part but for a night like last week when it was negative 10, the remote start was great.

 

Would definitely be nice if it stayed on when the door is opened, but it's having it this way than not at all...

The Land Rover in the background is a 2023 Defender 130 SE, a press vehicle I was loaned for a week for review purposes. Not particularly pretty, but it drives just like the 110, which is a good thing. I like these a lot, and if I won the lottery a V8 110 would be in my driveway (parked next to a 200 Series Heritage Edition, of course).

Definitely manageable for anyone who's done basic vehicle-related work in the past. I'm no pro by any means, and that I did it in a couple hours including documenting and such speaks to how simple it really is compared to other projects in the automotive space.

You keep that -10 up in MA, I'm fine with it being even slightly warmer all the way down here in CT

 

That defender is the most trail limo looking thing I've seen to date hahaha.
Oh and speaking of Heritage series 200s...

 

Oh yeah, short of a *real* fullsize rig like the Suburban that my podcast co-host adventures with, the 130 has a lot of length and not particularly in the right place haha

Whose 200 HE??

 

Client of ours, ill tell you more about him in person one of these days...but he's got one of these, a unimog, a heavily modified Tahoe he did a cannonball run in, an lfa, a rally'd out s4 avant... and I'm definitely forgetting a huge chunk of this list lol

 

Holy hell, that's a fleet... LFA??? Man, the Heritage Edition is a special thing, but that V10 makes the best sound any engine has ever made. There's a chance I know who this person is based on a couple of their vehicles, we'll discuss at the next meetup or wheeling trip

 

Dude I by chance saw him driving it up and down Comm Ave during lunch one day and that noise....is something other worldly. Rang out down the entire corridor

 

If every engine sounded like that the world would be a better place

 

No kidding dude hahaha

 

I have texted you

 

LC HE… hmm, cool car, will be a classic.
Unimog… this guy sounds fun.
LFA?!… clearly I am doing life wrong

 

Catching up on posting some recent Off the Road Again Podcast shows


Doug DeMuro!
https://youtu.be/cw4PPfp4KBI


Kurt Williams of Cruiser Outfitters, Expedition Overland, etc



Andy (of Warn Winches) & Mercedes Lilienthal



Jeff Glucker of Hooniverse, Autotrader, MotorTrend, etc

 

Most recent press vehicles...

2023 GMC Yukon Denali Ultimate




2023 Ram 2500 Rebel


Takes a lot to make the GX look tiny...

 

Pics aren't showing but I'd be interested in a 2500 Rebel though I'd prefer a power wagon but it has less payload.

 

Crap. Rookie mistake.

Yukon Denali Ultimate




Ram 2500 Rebel



Best benefits of the 2500 Rebel over the Power Wagon are a) payload and b) available Cummins diesel. Though I'm having trouble seeing the benefit of the Rebel package in the 2500. Maybe if towing a trailer up a loose surface is a regular worry and the rear locker is needed, but otherwise there's a clear, huge divide between the character of the 6.4 PW with the front/rear lockers and the 2500 Rebel optioned with the 6.7L turbo diesel and Aisin trans. My biggest question is is why get a 6.4-powered 2500 Rebel, though I suppose payload is the answer. Did I mention I love the Cummins engine? Holy hell, do I love the Cummins engine.

 

Yup they couldn't do the power wagon with the Cummins because of crash tests with winch

 

Got bored and swapped the yellow/amber filters on the Lightforce lights for the clear ones

 

After the dead battery debacle I decided to finally buck up and buy a portable jump starter. Better have it and not need it than need it and not have it...




Even comes with a nice little carrying case


This will live in the toolbox in the back of the truck. It's something I hope to never need to use, but the peace of mind is worth the relatively small financial outlay (~$70).