ip8587

Hey there,

I bought a used 98 LS400 in September 2014 with about 160k miles on it. It had its share of problems when I bought it, but chalked most of them up to being old. I will list the problems below. Anyways, came outside one morning to go to work and went to start the car and turned the key and got nothing. Called AAA, they came out, guy was having a hard time getting a reading on the battery and eventually just replaced it. After that, the car ran great for a few weeks.

Fast forward a couple of weeks later, and the car starts acting up again. First thing I noticed was while I was driving one night, every time or every other time I applied pressure to the brake, the radio would cut out for a brief second. Then I noticed turning the lights on/off would cause the radio to die also (just for a brief second). Well sure enough, a few days later, go out to start the car and get the same thing as before. The first signal the car was not going to start was when I put the key in the door to unlock the doors. The driver door unlocked manually, but none of the other doors unlocked. When I put the key in, no lights or anything came on (dome light, dash lights, etc.). Turned the key and nothing. And I mean nothing. Called AAA again. Told them it was a brand new battery. Guy from AAA tried to jump start the car, still nothing (no lights, now power, nothing). So got it towed to a mechanic.

Ended up replacing alternator and since they were already in there, replaced a part on the PS pump (in case there was any leakage). Took the car home and it drove fine. Started up each time I tried to start it. Then as I am leaving fiancee's place that night, it doesn't start again. Same symptoms as before.

To try not to make this too long, I found that when I unhooked the battery for a while (usually left it overnight - not sure if shorter times would have worked), I could get the car to crank easily. Then I would take it for a drive, come back and try to start, and again would get nothing.

So get it to start up, and take it back to the guys who replaced the alternator and PS. The guy looks at it more, and ends up getting a code pointing to the immobilizer. Does some more research and basically says I should take it Lexus because he doesn't do enough with their computuers to feel confident.

So I take it to the dealership and the service advisor right away blames all the problems on the aftermarket alternator. I leave the car for them to test. They can't replicate any problems over three days. Service advisor told me they ran tests on the battery and alternator and all check out fine. I let them hold onto it over the weekend. Service advisor calls back today and says they got it to act up. He says it is the alternator. Says after the car runs for a while, the voltage on the alternator drops.

And this brings me to these forums: wtf is wrong with this forsaken vehicle?!?

I'm really not confident that throwing another $700 at an OEM alternator is going to fix anything. As I mentioned earlier, when I bought the car it had a number of problems which at the time did not seem to be any cause for concern. But looking back now, perhaps they are all related?? I don't know, but here are the other issues I have identified with the car since owning it:

1. Speedometer will not work sometimes (not very often that it doesnt work and can usually reset by restarting the car).
2. I think the passenger side mirror had a function where it would move when you were reversing, but it only worked a few times for me and havent seen it work in a long time.
3. The lock on the driver's side back door wont work sometimes (locking or unlocking). Have to manually lock/unlock from inside.
4. The lights on the radio have been out since I owned the car and I understand this is common with Lexus (had the same problem in an old ES300).
5. Steering column moves in and out, but wont go up or down.

Sorry for writing so much. I am beside myself on what to do with this thing. Really don't trust the Lexus dealership saying it is just the alternator. But then again, I am no expert. If anyone has any ideas they would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

RA40

iTrader: (6)

With that much of the electrical system having issues there is a drain to hunt down. Just on a wild thought, any signs of water leaks? We've seen strange electrical issues attributed to rodents chewing on accessible parts of the harness.

The steering tilt extend fix:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc-...ng-repair.html

ip8587

RA40,

Thank you for the reply. I am not aware of any water leaks. Will have to pay more attention.

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

1. The speedo getting stuck is a common issue. Try slapping the top of the dash to release it.

2. The passenger mirror moves down when reversing and back up when in drive but you have to have the switch that controls the mirrors in the drivers side position. Not in the middle or to the passenger side.

3. The actuator for the rear door is probably bad which is another common issue even though it tends to happen to the drivers door most often.

4. You already mentioned the radio which is common also.

5. RA40 alrady linked you to the relevant repair for the steering wheel tilt.

You must have a pretty serious drain to be killing batteries like that and I would not let the dealership install another alternator until you find out what's going on.

Gene01

2. Don't have the car here to check, but I think that passenger side switch position also enables the mirror tilt-down in reverse gear.

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

The switch position needs to be on the drivers side for the auto tilt to work.

randal

You certainly got the "shotgun" treatment of parts replacement which usually indicates that the mechanic does not really know what he is doing. Hey, its not his money that's being burned, right? ;-) So, you are correct to be concerned.

I would be on the look out for a parasitic drain as RA40 mentioned. Some interior light being left on perhaps?

Now, there is one thing you said in your first post that makes me really concerned..."Guy from AAA tried to jump start the car, still nothing (no lights, now power, nothing). So got it towed to a mechanic."

If the AAA guy had good jumper cables and a good donor battery, your lights should have immediately come on due to the jump. I suppose the jumpers may have been bad but still, therein could be a clue.

What I am thinking is perhaps there is a bum (intermittent) fusible link or maybe a battery cable itself is going out. In other words, a bad connection somewhere, maybe even a ground. All speculation on my part based upon this jump outcome.

However, the biggest suspect at this point would be a parasitic drain on the battery. Do you know how to test for this?

ip8587

Thanks everyone for the responses.

I agree that the fact throwing jumper cables on the car did absolutely nothing is a clue. Just not sure what it means. Don't know how to test for parasitic drain; I can look it up, but feel free to post here if you like. Thanks for your help.

randal

Here is a link showing the basic steps. There are also YouTube videos.
http://www.wikihow.com/Find-a-Parasitic-Battery-Drain

dicer

You can either make or buy the proper tools to check for the drain. Either male flat blade terminals or the similar items at places like Matco or snapon tools. You simply remove the fuse for the circuit to be tested and plug in the terminals and hook an ammeter to the wires it will show if there is current flow in that circuit. With an ammeter you have to make sure your using the correct polarity for the meter.
Also a volt meter could be used, at that same point. If the circuit is closed you would read voltage across the terms. If open volts would be zero.

ip8587

Update:

Called the dealership yesterday afternoon prepared to tell them to go ahead and replace the alternator with an OEM alternator. However, I asked the service advisor to provide some assurance this would take care of the problem and that if it didn't they would not make me pay for installing a new alternator. He went on about how they would take care of it if they misdiagnosed it, but that the car had a variety of other problems they couldn't be responsible for. He must have opened up the file for my car and was going down the list and said something about a PS leak. That caught both of us off guard. He flat out said he didn't know why that was buried in the notes. So he did some research and called me back. When he called back he said the mechanic said there was PS fluid in the bottom of the alternator which was replaced not more than a few weeks ago. As I stated earlier, the guy who replaced the alternator also replaced a valve on the PS pump at the same time. So at this point I have no clue what to do.

randal

I think what they might be saying is that the first mechanic who worked on the PS pump did not really fix the leak because the dealership mechanic found PS fluid on the replaced alternator. So, first order of business is to get the PS leak fixed then alternator replaced if bad.