SKS non-responsive for a few minutes

I've had a few run ins with the local dealer here but overall the experience has been positive. I stopped by there about half and hour ago to inquire. Setup an appt, and within a 30 minute session they 'theoretically' can do a full dump of diagnostic info along with frequency scanning of the car and the fobs to see if one or the other isn't working.

I hate to think along a component of the car going nuts, but with both fobs showing signs of working but only recognized at certain times, it almost seems like the car is turning off the sensing unit.

This might be a non relevant idea, but maybe the on/off SKS button could have something wrong. Anyone come across this as a possibility?

With the holidays I can't afford the time right now so I'll have to put this off until next week.

 

If this possibly comes down to the fobs being out of sync or in some way needing to be replaced, has anyone used the chinese techstream cable/software combo that is going on ebay for ~$25?
The one I see here http://r.ebay.com/EHZyxD has quite a few people on the sale list so I'm assuming it works to a certain degree. I've seen some of the posts on $400-500 easily for a new fob to bought and synced.

 

An update for this:
Last week I had the car in 3 times for the master tech to look at it. They witnessed the issues I was describing but all their diagnostic equipment shows nothing wrong. I've already put $400+ into this with a new battery and new key fob but on the good side the toyota shop didn't charge me for all the time when they couldn't actually fix anything. Although the car does work, it's at a 90% working since when I lock the doors the car refuses to recognize the key fob for 10-15 minutes. Makes it fairly hard to get back into the car in a hurry, especially with the nice winter weather here in WI.

The only option it seems is for this to be escalated to the regional uber master guy and see what he can suggest.

But, if anyone has any other possible options to consider, I'm all ears.

Thanks for everyone's help on this so far. Hopefully a solution will come along before the bill gets too high!

 

Still waiting to see when the uber tech is swinging by.

But in the mean time, I have another question on the fob.
The new one I got in is direct from Toyota, no aftermarket or used items, silver logo and it matches the FCC info.
But... when trying to see if I can disable the SKS system under the steering wheel and see if that provides a bit of temporary relief, the car won't recognize the new key at all. If the button is in the extended/on position, the car sees (still sporadically) the new fob and I can use it.
I brought out one of the original 2 fobs and with the SKS off, the car recognized the old remote just fine when inserted in the slot.

Any ideas what may cause this with an extra fob being added?

 

Wanted to ask about ECM issues so I have ammo if/when toyota or the uber tech actually contact my local shop.

After the diagnostics and key fob replacement the possibility of an ECM issue was mentioned, but given how complex the car is and how many things are controlled from that one unit, what other symptoms would I most likely see?

So far it seems straightforward something in the car isn't responding. Today was particularly horrendous as the car would refuse to start far longer than the delays experienced in the past month or so. The interesting thing is the indicator on the dash lights up showing it senses the key, but when I try and start the car it flashes the yellow indicator saying the key isn't present. Rather ironic when the timed flash of the key present indicator flashes the same time as the key missing indicator.

I'm wondering by this behavior though, if all the sensors are working correctly, but the 'green light' of whatever system isn't being given to open or start the car.

Overall I am hoping to get a nice list of possible symptoms or systems that could be effected by an ECM issue so I can monitor more closely. If the tech guys point to that as the most likely option, I want to have lots of details on what is or isn't related to that component failing.

Thanks

 

I wouldn't say this is an intermittent issue as I tally up the overall 2 months or so this is happening. As bizarre as it might be, all the craziness only happens for the 10-15-20 minutes after the vehicle is shutoff. After that time I can sit at the kitchen door and lock/unlock the car to my heart's content with the remote.

The master tech initially ran through the diagnostics on the car and didn’t see anything wrong. But, considering how complex this car is, I can’t imagine there isn’t a way to drill down to a diagnostic of a particular part or subsystem of the car. Maybe that is a function usually above the master tech level, but heck I’d get the dang Chinese cheap cable+software package to troubleshoot this myself! Although I probably wouldn’t know what the software is saying!

I do want to ask another question though. I don't want to jump to conclusions since the master tech hasn't received any word from their higher support options. But, if this does go south, would anybody know the best way to press this issue to the grinding wheel above and beyond the local dealership?
I did contact Toyota customer service, but since they aren't the technical side, they could only document my call and recommend escalating to the dealer customer service lead. At the moment, I would be able to say the car is more or less halfway functional due to whatever is happening. Considering we all depend immensely on our vehicles to get to work and other errands, if no advice comes back from Toyota, this would leave me in a considerable bind.
I’m not trying to go overboard on devil’s advocate, but I’ll put up as much of a fight as I can I just need to know what direction I would need to go in.