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This is in the right side of my trunk under the carpet just laying there. Anyone know what it's for?

Edit forgot to mention it's a 97

 

looks like telephone/mayday pre-wire antenna. The rest of the parts are discontinued.

 

Yes, the coax cable you found leads to the phone antenna imprinted on the inside of the rear window. I'm still using the similar coax cable and imprinted antenna which my aging Nokia CARK-91H phone kit in my 2000 LS400 which was the basis for the 2003 LS430 dealer installed Lexus phone system.

If you look behind the trunk trim, you might find another coax antenna cable that leads to the front center console where a dealer installed Lexus phone would have been installed. Connecting the two coax connectors in the trunk completes the circuit allowing a phone cradle in the center console to use the imprinted antenna. And attached to the bottom of the tool kit receptacle are connectors that would have been plugged into a dealer installed Lexus phone ECU.

The factory phone pre-wire harness in older Lexus cars is largely unusable -- except that the drivers side phone connector under the center console of the 1995-2000 LS400 contains an audio system mute pin which can be used with an aftermarket Bluetooth phone kit to mute the audio system when your phone rings and while a call is in progress or placed.

 

thanks guys i was worried it was something important.

 

do you guys think we can utilize this cable for the radio antenna instead of the motorized mast unit. i really dislike the look of the stock radio antenna as it ruins the lines of the car. having it integrated in the glass like the 98 up cars would be proper!

 

I suppose you could try using the phone antenna for your radio, but there are hidden antennas you could buy that are made for use with radios. I've used the rear window phone antenna of my 00 LS400 with a variety of cell phone protocol types over the years including analog, TDMA and my current GSM phone. The imprinted antenna worked well with all of them so it must cover a wide range of frequencies.

By the way, the 98-up LS400 sold in the U.K., Europe and other parts of the world continued to have external radio antennas on the driver side rear fender.

 

No need for that anymore...phone wire

 

so i ran an extension cable from the antenna to the phone wire, electrical taped them together, and BAM i have full reception without the retractable antenna! now i need to find a cover for the hole now.

 

If you're gonna do it, you might as well do it right. I'm sure if you went to any radio install shop they could make up some kind of adapter for it. Customized of course.

 

or ebay...these cars use standard motorola antenna connectors for the radio and coax i believe for the cell antenna.