Mods, please delete

 

I dont know much either other than it is an old school analog phone. Very powerful, prob .6watts, the max power allowed. I dont suppose there are any newer plug-and-play replacement solutions out there? I used to have mine activated and it worked pretty well with the car audio

 

Mods, please delete

 

what did you want to know? I think Zack Morris had an older version of the phone.

 

Mods, please delete

 

I don't have one of the old Lexus phones but I'm pretty sure that the U.S. ones were analog -- both analog and TDMA will be useless about two years from now. I think you could dial around thirty numbers using the phone's command model on the left side of the steering wheel. The audio system muted and the HVAC fan speed lowered a bit while a call was in progress. I think you would have a very difficult time getting service for an old Lexus phone.

There are no "plug and play" replacements available -- I must have done hundreds of hours of research over the past few years.

It is fairly easy to install a phone kit - either hard wired or bluetooth - so it mutes your audio system when you make or receive a call. There is a mute terminal in the plug under the back of the console on the driver side -- there are other mute connections in the trunk and on the radio or amp but the one under the console is far and away the easiest to use.

There is also a coax antenna connection under the rear of the console. Your rear window has a cell phone antenna imprinted on it. I don't know what band widths the antenna supports but the one on my 00 LS seems to work OK with my GSM/TDMA/analog phone.

I recommended completely removing (unplugging) the handset and the phone ECU in the trunk before installing a phone kit or probing for a mute terminal. Others have blown fuses and worse by not deinstalling the Lexus phone before installing an aftermarket phone kit. One plugs the two large male and female connectors together after removing the inlike phone ECU in the trunk.

Blake918 on lexusownersclub.com published detailed instructions on how he installed a phone kit in his 95 LS and hooked up the phone kits mute wire. The following thread has some of my information on finding the mute point and installing a phone kit in a 00 LS: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...ighlight=phone

The driver side connector that has the mute point is in the same location in the 96 LS as in the 00 LS. The connector configuration is somewhat different though.