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Various LS400 issues: #1 lose power when I hit brakes

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Old Jun 18, 2006 | 02:26 PM
  #1  
sahtt's Avatar
sahtt
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Default Various LS400 issues: #1 lose power when I hit brakes

This car has been little more than constant work. Luckily I have other transportation. I just replaced the fuel pump and wanted to drive it around for 10 mins, let it sit for 30, then restart it to see if my warm-start problem has finally $$$ been solved.

As soon as I leave the driveway, the entire rearend begins groaning anytime I turn. It got slightly better since the car had not been moved in 30 days, but there are definetely some issues/bushings there. I think the trailing arm ones. The front left suspension rattles, I forgot the term for the part, ball joint I think, but it was replaced 10k miles ago.

More importantly, 1/2 through the drive I'm enjoying the radio and coming up to a stop sign and the radio cuts off for a second. The next stop sign it does the same thing. It does it for the next 20-30 stops, then does not do it, then starts back up again. The rear view mirror and gauge cluster also flicker when this occurs.

Battery and alternator tested, it's obviously some electrical problem. I despise electrical issues. Any easy steps I can take to try to figure this out? What grounds to check?

I've been wanting to sell the car for 2 months and have put 500 miles on it during that time. But everytime I manage to fix something another issue pops up instantly.

Also, I thought I fixed my alarm problem in which it goes off everytime you open the driver's side door when it's locked. It was solved for over a month and just today started acting up again. Big let down. Does anyone have DETAILED information regarding fixing this? It's supposedly pretty simple, but I couldn't figure out what 'cap' they were talking about and ended up just unplugging the alarm, which magically works again now.

Any advice is much appreciated.
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Old Jun 19, 2006 | 08:44 PM
  #2  
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There is a very common electrical problem on some of the mid-90's LS models. It involves a broken wire in the wiring harness attached to the driver's side trunk hinge. I had the problem several years ago on my 93 LS.

The wire involved is a ground wire. As I recall, it is white with a black stripe. You need to pull the harness away from the hinge, remove some of the tape around it, and look for a broken wire. If you find one, splice a new piece of wire into it, and return the harness to its location. It appears that this problem occurs because this particular wire is too short. The opening and closing of the trunk lid stresses the wire and eventually breaks it.

Strange electrical problems occur when this wire is broken. My remote trunk lid opener would not work, I had strange lighting patterns on the instrument panel (the R on the transmission gear indicator would illuminate when I applied the brakes), and I felt a strange sensation in the brake pedal when I applied the brakes.

This problem has been discussed several times over the years, but I don't recall seeing anything recently. You might try a search on "trunk hinge wiring harness" or something similar to this.
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