2011 Highlander Homelink Programming

[PSUfan]

Saw LOTS of talk on this subject, and suggestions which didn't seem to work, on How To Program 2011 Toyota Highlander Garage Door Opener. If you've followed the instructions in the owners manual for a non-rolling garage door opener, and it did not work, try this:

1 - Press and hold buttons 1 and 3 simultaneously for about 20 seconds, until the indicaor light blinks rapidly
2- Release buttons 1 and 3 (light goes off)
3 - With the garage opener near the garage door opener buttons, press the desired button to program on the vehicle simultaneously with the button on the garage door opener.
4 - A slow blink will turn to a fast blink after several seconds (up to 20?)
5 - Release both buttons.
Viola!

[TrailDust]

Moved to the 2nd Gen Highlander forum. If your solution works well for members I'll put the info in the DIY sticky.

[thestrangebrew]

Not sure if I should post a question on this thread or start a new one as I have a 2010 but here goes:

Just got a 2010 limited highlander and I can't setup the homelink. I don't have a remote for the garage door opener as the house I recently bought didn't have one (it was a foreclosure). Anyways, I tried clearing homelink, then pressing the learn button on my chamberlain liftmaster professional then pressed the button I wanted to use for the opener. I tried both ways, using the canadian two second press as well as just holding the button down but to no avail. I've tried both inside and outside of the garage, with the door open and close and the car on and off and nothing. Any suggestions? About the only thing I haven't tried yet is to hold the learn button while my wife tries to hold one of the homelink buttons simultaneously and see what happens. I'm at a loss with this one. And yes I've checked both homelink and liftmasters websites on how to program this thing. TIA.

[subvet]

Originally Posted by thestrangebrew

Not sure if I should post a question on this thread or start a new one as I have a 2010 but here goes:

Just got a 2010 limited highlander and I can't setup the homelink. I don't have a remote for the garage door opener as the house I recently bought didn't have one (it was a foreclosure). Anyways, I tried clearing homelink, then pressing the learn button on my chamberlain liftmaster professional then pressed the button I wanted to use for the opener. I tried both ways, using the canadian two second press as well as just holding the button down but to no avail. I've tried both inside and outside of the garage, with the door open and close and the car on and off and nothing. Any suggestions? About the only thing I haven't tried yet is to hold the learn button while my wife tries to hold one of the homelink buttons simultaneously and see what happens. I'm at a loss with this one. And yes I've checked both homelink and liftmasters websites on how to program this thing. TIA.

looks like you're following the instructions for a garage door opener w. rolling codes. If that's really the situation with your Liftmaster, you don't need the remote. I am having the same problem though....Homelink (apparently) not synching up w. the opener.

I have a 2011. The initial setup worked until I tried to program the 2nd garage door on one of the other Homelink buttons....had both doors going up/down with a press of 1 Homelink button. I erased the setup, and it hasn't worked since.
Reading your post and me having a similar experience makes me think it has something to do with the fact the setup was erased and now the Homelink won't wake up.

Unless anyone has figured this out, and can post a solution here, the next step is to talk to Toyota to see if there is some trick or secret

[thestrangebrew]

I think I'm going to throw in the towel & just buy another remote & go through the entire programming process. It's prob a good idea to have one anyways. Thanks for the quick reply, I'll update tonight when I get home.

[thestrangebrew]

Update: I bought a remote for the opener, programmed it, then followed the instructions to program homelink. After the initial steps, it didn't work, so I continued with the security rollover steps and it finally worked. I think I read on a forum that you need to follow all the steps to get it officially working properly, and it seemed to be the case for me. The good thing is that I didn't even have to open the remote, just programmed it through the plastic and I can probably return it (although having a spare remote for my corolla isn't a bad idea right now).

[subvet]

Originally Posted by thestrangebrew

Update: I bought a remote for the opener, programmed it, then followed the instructions to program homelink. After the initial steps, it didn't work, so I continued with the security rollover steps and it finally worked. I think I read on a forum that you need to follow all the steps to get it officially working properly, and it seemed to be the case for me. The good thing is that I didn't even have to open the remote, just programmed it through the plastic and I can probably return it (although having a spare remote for my corolla isn't a bad idea right now).

I got mine working as well. I didn't realize that after erasing codes in Homelink, it had to be "re-taught" using the garage door opener remote. I was looking at the instructions in the Toyota manual for non-rolling code and rolling code openers as completely unrelated processes.

I called Toyota. They referred me to the Homelink website...instructions there are the same as the Toyota manual but Homelink's made more sense just due to the way they are written.

Sometimes I miss the obvious

[WilliamJ]

Originally Posted by PSUfan

Saw LOTS of talk on this subject, and suggestions which didn't seem to work, on How To Program 2011 Toyota Highlander Garage Door Opener. If you've followed the instructions in the owners manual for a non-rolling garage door opener, and it did not work, try this:

1 - Press and hold buttons 1 and 3 simultaneously for about 20 seconds, until the indicaor light blinks rapidly
2- Release buttons 1 and 3 (light goes off)
3 - With the garage opener near the garage door opener buttons, press the desired button to program on the vehicle simultaneously with the button on the garage door opener.
4 - A slow blink will turn to a fast blink after several seconds (up to 20?)
5 - Release both buttons.
Viola!

I just bought a 2011 HL LTD and went round and round with this. Finally got it working. In addition to the steps noted by PSUfan, the trick for me was to hold the remote control the required 2-3 inches away from the homelink buttons on the HL. If you hold it any further way, it won't program the homelink in the car. Make sure the slow blink turns to fast blink. I had the rolling code type opener so there was the 2nd step of learning the code of the remote to the opener once I had the remote code loaded into the homelink (gotta be quick on your feet if doing this step by yourself).

[sk8n]

Just thought I would add a few comments to this thread.
1. Programming homelink may not work if battery in remote is weak. I was having problems and replaced the battery in the remote and programming homelink worked within 10 seconds. The remote operated the garage door without any problem but must have been too weak to program the homelink button.
2. Some (maybe all?) garage door openers can only "learn" a limited amount of remotes. My Genie can only remember 7 and I reached this limit. I programmed the homelink in the HL but the homelink in a second car stopped working. I reprogrammed the second car and the HL homelink stopped working. I have a third vehicle and the homelink worked without issue during this. I ended up clearing the memory for the opener and reprogrammed homelink in all three vehicles and everything works perfectly. Note, I only needed to follow the final step for rollover codes in all three vehicles.
Just thought I would post this if anyone had similar issues.
Edit: Mine's a 2012 btw.

[TOYR]

My wife's 2012 Highlander and the Homelink have given me fits. Finally got her garage door to work- wasn't sure exactly how it happened, but it DID.

Today, I was working on remote controllers for doors on an out building, and got all the doors "confused"- I was too! After many attempts, I think I have the Theory of Operation down.
First, hold down Buttons 1 & 3 in the Highlander. Hold for 30 seconds or until the light flashes. This clears all codes in the Highlander.

Next, using the garage door remote control- Push the Highlander's Button (1,2, or 3) and the hand held remote control button at the same time. Hold a few inches apart until the light blinks fast (about 20 seconds). The Highlander's Button (1,2, or 3) has just "Learned" what code to use. (This is all in the owners manual, but I didn't think this step was necessary since I had the Rolling Code System!)

Now, push the Learn button on the garage door's motor control unit and the Learn Light will glow. You have 30 seconds to push the Button you just selected in the Highlander. The Door Control Light will blink if you are successful.

Repeat for other Highlander Buttons using other door remotes and matching door opener control units.
PS-
Be sure you are close to the garage door units when setting up the systems.
When everything else fails! - Always read and follow manufacturers instructions.

[jgeary]

We have a 2012 Highlander Limited. I've programmed the homelink to our Allister door opener. It takes the code OK but it will only open the door when sitting directly under the opener. As soon as I back the vehicle out of the garage, the Homelink has no effect. Any ideas?

[TOYR]

Originally Posted by jgeary

We have a 2012 Highlander Limited. I've programmed the homelink to our Allister door opener. It takes the code OK but it will only open the door when sitting directly under the opener. As soon as I back the vehicle out of the garage, the Homelink has no effect. Any ideas?

My highlander does not have the range of my garage doors remote, but works OK for me. I solved this problem with another door by adding a piece of copper wire to the garage door control unit's dangling wire. I guess this is the antenna for lack of the correct term!

[jgeary]

Thanks; I'll give that a try. I thought about doing that but I assumed that since the Homelink on our new Tacoma truck works OK, that would not be the problem. But the Homelink setup on these two Toyotas may be slightly different. So, I'll lengthen the antenna wire and see if that solves the problem.

[TrailDust]

I'm just throwing this out, but sometimes electronic units have their own idiosyncrasies that just can't be worked around. As an example, I have two garage door openers that open the same door opener, one in my Highlander and one in my Avalon. The one I keep in my Avalon will open the door from about three houses down the street (over 150 feet) while the one I keep in my Highlander won't open the door till I'm 20 feet away from the door at the base of my driveway. Doesn't matter if batteries are fresh, whether I'm standing outside the vehicles, nothing, they both function at the same distances. I've taken them apart and put them together again, extended my receiving antenna in the garage unit, again nothing changes. My ultimate point is that with Homelink or any similar device there will always be variation in range, etc., among owners' units based on the idiosyncrasies of each electronic unit.

[jgeary]

Well, I lengthened the antenna of the garage door opener and it didn't help. So, I'm out of ideas. Guess we'll just have to use the hand held opener for this Highlander. The Homelink on our 2012 Tacoma works perfectly- go figure!