1990 LS400 - Electrical Short
05-01-12, 09:02 PM
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1990 LS400 - Electrical Short
Hoping to get some credible feedback from the knowledgeable collective of the Lexus community on what could be a very thorny electrical issue. 3rd owner of a 1990 ls400 with only 150k. Car drives beautifully and has aged gracefully....with the exception of the following....
what follows is a two part general explanation of the symptoms......Part1: Noticed a peculiar anomaly with the electrical when, somewhat randomly, at the time of startup (turn the key), all electric goes dead. Conditions included: clock goes blank, no lights, no dash, trip computer resets, no starter motor - not a click, click, but instead - simply dead.....local mechanic(chicago area) isolated a short with the ignition and put a new ignition mechanism that did not require new keys....problem seemed to be solved.
3 weeks after repair - the problem apparently resurfaced as the car is in the driveway and will not turn over (all electrical out).....
Additional observations: even before the repair, I would sometimes hear a little 'pop' on the radio while driving and touching the brake pedal. I've also stopped using the auto-steering column adjuster because it seemed to be inducing some type of short as well.
before writing this post I conducted a bunch of searches and did not find any similar scenarios (the blown fuse posts don't seem to fit the situation)
My conclusion is that a short exists somewhere behind the dash and/or in the driver's door. I'm hoping that someone knowledgeable with the wiring of a 1990 LS would be able to validate my very non-technical conclusion.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!
what follows is a two part general explanation of the symptoms......Part1: Noticed a peculiar anomaly with the electrical when, somewhat randomly, at the time of startup (turn the key), all electric goes dead. Conditions included: clock goes blank, no lights, no dash, trip computer resets, no starter motor - not a click, click, but instead - simply dead.....local mechanic(chicago area) isolated a short with the ignition and put a new ignition mechanism that did not require new keys....problem seemed to be solved.
3 weeks after repair - the problem apparently resurfaced as the car is in the driveway and will not turn over (all electrical out).....
Additional observations: even before the repair, I would sometimes hear a little 'pop' on the radio while driving and touching the brake pedal. I've also stopped using the auto-steering column adjuster because it seemed to be inducing some type of short as well.
before writing this post I conducted a bunch of searches and did not find any similar scenarios (the blown fuse posts don't seem to fit the situation)
My conclusion is that a short exists somewhere behind the dash and/or in the driver's door. I'm hoping that someone knowledgeable with the wiring of a 1990 LS would be able to validate my very non-technical conclusion.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!
05-07-12, 07:15 AM
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Yes, thank you for the replies. appears to be battery post related (i even read the any "1LS electrical issue=" post prior to submitting my post having concluded it had to be something more serious).....
thanks again.
thanks again.
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1990, 1990 ls 400, 1999, 400, anomalies, common, dash, dead, electrical, electrical issue, eletrical, es300, issues, lexus, ls, ls400, short, won't start
