Electric Nightmare.. Any ideas???
Thread Starter
Driver School Candidate
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 9
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From: CT
Electric Nightmare.. Any ideas???
Hey everyone.. this is my first post on CL..I have 98 GS400 with a few major electrical issues.. all happened within 2 weeks, before everything was running fine..
1. side mirrors, seat controls presets and steering wheel all went on the fritz..i can still adjust the steering wheel manually but it will not come in or out on key insert/take out anymore..
2. auto locks wont work anymore/ window controls can only be done from each window/door... so the main panel is shot..
3. alarm goes off when i pop the hood and there is NOWAY i can turn it off unless i remove the batt terminal and THEN when i reconnect the alarm goes off again for its 3 minute cycle..
4. AC unit flipped from F to C and now only 2 dashes -- appear and i have no AC or heat or anything..
so thats about it.. any ideas would be great.. imma try going home today and reset the ECU by taking the neg cable off for about an hour.. i have no clue.. my morning drive to work was a bad one and i havent gotten anything done for the fact ive been surfing the forums for the past 6 hours..
1. side mirrors, seat controls presets and steering wheel all went on the fritz..i can still adjust the steering wheel manually but it will not come in or out on key insert/take out anymore..
2. auto locks wont work anymore/ window controls can only be done from each window/door... so the main panel is shot..
3. alarm goes off when i pop the hood and there is NOWAY i can turn it off unless i remove the batt terminal and THEN when i reconnect the alarm goes off again for its 3 minute cycle..
4. AC unit flipped from F to C and now only 2 dashes -- appear and i have no AC or heat or anything..
so thats about it.. any ideas would be great.. imma try going home today and reset the ECU by taking the neg cable off for about an hour.. i have no clue.. my morning drive to work was a bad one and i havent gotten anything done for the fact ive been surfing the forums for the past 6 hours..
Welcome to CL, and I had a similar problem with another car and it was just that the battery terminals were corroded, just cleaned them up and everything was back to normal.
Have you checked that?
Have you checked that?
Thread Starter
Driver School Candidate
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 9
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From: CT
P.S. you guys are pretty friggin fast with your responce time..
Thread Starter
Driver School Candidate
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 9
Likes: 0
From: CT
it holds a charge for about 3 days.. always had that problem.. just put a new batt in about 4 months ago. worked perfect untill i went on vacation and came back to a dead batt.. so jumped it worked untill i went away for a weekend and came back to a dead batt.. went to get a optima yellow and the guy at autozone said they dont make em for the GS400.. but after searchin through this forum i saw a couple of guys that said they have the optima.. whats the deal with that??? 
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Thread Starter
Driver School Candidate
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 9
Likes: 0
From: CT
Just got home.. batt terminals are clean.. have the neg terminal off now.. hopefully that works..
got a ticket on the way home for not having my seatbelt on.. the cop complemented my car and told me he couldnt belive it was 11 years old.
just adds to the day.
more problems that i forgot with the electric.. gas light blinks all the time, have to hold open switch to fully open sunroof, when i put in Manual shift no numbers on the dash show, as well as the little LED on the P-R-N-1-2 panel. it has to be an ECU problem.. right??
got a ticket on the way home for not having my seatbelt on.. the cop complemented my car and told me he couldnt belive it was 11 years old.
just adds to the day. more problems that i forgot with the electric.. gas light blinks all the time, have to hold open switch to fully open sunroof, when i put in Manual shift no numbers on the dash show, as well as the little LED on the P-R-N-1-2 panel. it has to be an ECU problem.. right??
Rookie
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 56
Likes: 3
From: New Zealand
Sound like a fried body ecu
You have two #1 driver side behind fuse box and #2 similar location passenger side
Driver side is # 1 body systems & door locks
Passenger side # 2 alarm & key & air con
First check all fuses then take her to a shop get your codes scanned
You have two #1 driver side behind fuse box and #2 similar location passenger side
Driver side is # 1 body systems & door locks
Passenger side # 2 alarm & key & air con
First check all fuses then take her to a shop get your codes scanned
Thread Starter
Driver School Candidate
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 9
Likes: 0
From: CT
yeah.. i think your right. i just tryed resetting the ECU and the alarm started blasting in my face when i reconnected the terminal..
Is there anyway to disarm the alarm so everytime i pop the hood it doesnt go off?? or do i need earplugs handy??
Is there anyway to disarm the alarm so everytime i pop the hood it doesnt go off?? or do i need earplugs handy??
If it's an aftermarket alarm that keeps going off, you just have to have the key fog in hand or flip the kill switch. The factory alarm shouldn't be going off when you reconnect the battery.
Thread Starter
Driver School Candidate
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 9
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From: CT
its the factory alarm im 110% sure.. my lex key doesnt do crap when i hit the panic or open door buttons.. and the alarm only stops after its cycle.. say i pop the hood.. alarm goes off and then i start my car.. it still goes off untill its done with the cycle.. it has to be the most annoying thing ever.. disconnect batt and reconnect, alarm goes off.. WTF!!
Ive come to the conclusion that its a burned out ECU 1 & 2.. i just wanna disable the alarm untill i get the money to get the new ECUs.. it drives like a im racing on a cloud, its just all my electrical is freaking out!!!
Ive come to the conclusion that its a burned out ECU 1 & 2.. i just wanna disable the alarm untill i get the money to get the new ECUs.. it drives like a im racing on a cloud, its just all my electrical is freaking out!!!
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1,254
Likes: 22
From: Western Australia (Australia)
You mentioned before that you jumped the car. Was this after the battery had died and the problems started? Did you ensure that you jumped the correct way? If not you may have fried the ECU when the car was jumped.