Curt

These two things are on my 1990 LS400. Thing 1 is a little **** that is close to the driver's right knee. Thing 2 looks like a phone cord hanging down from the rear-view mirror. I am attaching a pic of Thing 1 and Thing 2. So who knows what these are?
Curt

ivesGS400

My car (98 GS 400) had a "Thing 1" that no one knew what was. Come to find out, it was the control **** for radar detector! So I got one of these built in to the car without knowing. The **** closest to the dash has 3 settings, city mode/ off / highway mode. The **** closest to you controls the volume. At least that's what it was on my car and it looks EXACTLY like that.

Sorry, my car didn't have a "Thing 2".

Let me know if that's what it is. I suppose the actual radar unit could have been removed and they may have left the switch?

Curt

Boy, you guys are fast! I checked the **** and sure enough, the outer **** can click to three positions, and the inner **** turns freely. I'll bet that's what it is. So Thing 2 might be something related, or maybe it's for an old 1990 car phone.

I feel better already.

Curt

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

#2 looks like a hardwire cord for a Valentine One radar detector.

Here's a pic of it in my GS



When I bought my GS, the original owner had installed a K40 stealth radar detector (the valentine is much better, why I have that hardwire pictured above), but it has a click **** and little LEDs that you might also notice... thought I'd post these just in case.

SharpLS-96

If that was installed in 1990 when the car was new by Lexus (which it looks like it has been) then I am pretty sure you have the K40 UN700 in dash radar detector. It's such an old model that you will not even find it on there website. www.k40.com
Call them at 1-800-323-6768
and they will either mail or fax you over the operating manuals for free if you want them.

Curt

Again I say, "boy, you guys are fast," and thorough, too.

I think we now know that Thing 1 and Thing 2 are both for a radar detector. As far as I know I do not have the radar detector itself in the car.

I've never had much interest in radar detectors, because I rarely drive fast enough to need one. I've been driving about 25 years, and in all that time I've only had one speeding ticket. That was on a straight, flat, wide open country road, where I was going about 10 mph over the limit. Maybe the officer was having a bad day. In exchange for paying the ticket and taking one day of driver safety class, I got it off my record.

I bought my LS400 for safety and reliability, not for luxury or speed.

But all this talk has my interest. Do radar detectors really work? I know they detect radar, but do they really keep you from getting tickets?

Curt

SharpLS-96

I highly doubt photo 2 was for a radar detector. It's not the standard 12 volt cord a radar detector would use even if it was hard wired to the electrical system. That cord was for a phone the owner probably used in the car in my opinion. Why he had the cord run there is a good question though.

As far as knowing if you presently still have the K40 installed and operational , when you turn the bigger/fatter **** to the right to turn it on (the one closer to the carpet) does it beep as if it's going through a self test mode? Also, does your red LED light flash on your dash? If it goes through a self test mode then it's still operational.
You might not think you still have the K40 because you don't see the main brain simply because it's mounted behind the bumper in the front of your car hidden from view.

As far as radar detector's preventing tickets, they are only as good as the driver using them for the most part so they do work as long as you slow down. But, if law enforcment is using any of the following radar such as LASER/LIDAR or VASCAR then there is not much you can do in preventing a ticket from being issued.

VASCAR RADAR- http://www.wake.tec.nc.us/math/Proje...rol/Vascar.htm
LASER/LIDAR RADAR- http://www.videoht.hu/angol/lezera.htm