Thrifty917

I just bought a 93 LS400 and I'm trying to deal with the darn power steering issue first and foremost (fixed the idle control valve and its no longer smoking, but the PS fluid is still leaking), but the car has some other issues I need to figure out too.

For one thing, the front seatbelts don't work. They are stuck out and won't retract at all. I moved my seatbelt up to the highest setting to take up the extra slack (even though I am short) and it fits me snugly enough like that to keep me alive in an accident, but its not ideal. The passenger side seatbelt is retracted a bit more and fits my husband but its too tight to go around my mother so I need to fix this ASAP. Do the front seatbelts use electricity? The reason why I ask if that a lot of electric stuff doesn't work (the door locks, the seat adjustment buttons on both sides, the buttons to open the gas tank and the hood, the lighter, and maybe a few other things). My husband is going to try replacing fuses to see if that fixes anything, but I have no clue what is up with the seatbelts.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

This forum is great! I was able to figure out the idle control valve problem within 5 minutes of coming across this site!

LScowboyLS

he just needs to check the fuses, not replace them, unless they are bad - he needs a fuse tester, this is the one I use, the Cornwell TE-27

after clamping the fuse test light ground clamp to a suitable good ground (such as an unpainted screw under the dash or in the door area), he just needs to turn the ignition on and go right down the line and check both sides of each fuse while they are mounted in the car, via the tiny check slits on each corner of each fuse.

if the light doesn't come on at either side of a given fuse, that's OK, and if the light comes on at both sides of the fuse that's OK too, but one side lighting up only is a bad fuse

the visual method of just looking at a fuse is very hit and miss - many defective fuses look just fine!


seatbelt issues are a much bigger pain in the butt than this fuse checking deal, it is a 2 minute job, if that!

PK_Celsior

iTrader: (18)

I would look through all the fuses and figure out why all the items in your car are not working. Maybe there is a shortage somewhere. Yes the belts do use a little bit of electricity to retract and lock up. If fuse pop once you put them in certain spots i would check out those area of the car and see if anything is getting grounded and etc.

DonCorleone

iTrader: (6)

Seatbelts tensioners are probably too worn to retract all the way now. I see it on a lot of LS400s including mine. I was able to find a matching working passenger one at the salvage yards, but it's proving difficult to find a working/matching/not frayed drivers' side in tan. Or you could spring for new?

PK_Celsior

iTrader: (18)

i heard its been hard trying to find the tan seatbelts xD. people have gone to the dealership and was only able to purchase black ones. I got lucky on mine with all the ls400 part outs in the classified!

Thrifty917

The interior and seatbelts of mine are navy blue, not tan. Is that less common?
I think black seatbelts would match better than tan. I'll have to check the junkyard for some working seatbelts first before I spring for new ones.

Are there any other cars besides the Lexus LS400 that have the exact same seatbelts? Like for example, with cars I've had in the past (all Fords, Chevys, and Dodges) there's also been some other make with almost an identical car that you could salvage parts from. Is there perhaps a Toyota model that uses the same ones?

Thanks