LC 100 series - door open / key in ignition beep/chime/buzzer removal completed.
So I finished up at work early today and decided to get in deep with this today. This thing had stumped me too many times. Today it would die.
I started with a downloaded sound meter app for my android phone plugged in a probe microphone. I've used this technique before to identify the magnitude and location of noises.
I started by tracking the beeping to the upper center area of the dash. I started removing things, the plastic skirt and the heat shield. This allowed me to determine that the noise was coming from someplace behind the instrument panel. I removed the panel and the beeping stopped. It made sense to me at this point, since I couldn't see anything in the area that would house a speaker, that the device was probably inside the panel itself.
I have to admit that I was starting to feel a little like the three stooges episode where they took the Generals car apart looking for the squeak.
I pulled the back of the instrument panel off and the speaker was easy to identify.
I noticed a bunch electrical connections leading to this module and thought best to disable the sound making part of the speaker rather than trying to remove it completely from the board.
Using a pair of dikes, I cut away the plastic cover, exposing the metal speaker cone.
Then with a small flat head screw driver, I removed the metal cone, leaving the mechanical 'motor' part of the speaker intact.
Then put the back cover on the instrument panel and reinstall it. Success.
For sure the hardest part of this job was figuring out where the speaker was. All total it took me about 2.5 hours. The rest was dead easy. Removing and reinstalling the instrument panel was very easy. Props to the Toyota engineers for making that part easy. I would say if I were to do it again, it could be accomplished in less than an hour.
Cheers