AZDiva

Yesterday while driving to work, my air stopped blowing LCD went blank. I pressed the bbutton on and off with no success.

I took it into a Japanese auto repair shop. The mechanic told me he replaced the fuse. I was told to turn the air off before turning the engine off, and waiting a moment of two after starting the engine before turning the air on.

Last night, while driving the fuse must have went out again. The mechanic had told me "Watch the fuse, if it goes out again you could have an electrical problem. Something must be shorting the fuse out. It's oossible your a/c may be leaing or it could be the wiring.

Have any of you had the problem or know any information as to what may be causing this? Would you agree with the mechanic?

By the way, he charged me $60 for the fuse and labor!

vredniykot

it most likely is an electrical problem, but $60 for changing a fuse? come on!!!
find a better mechanic
there could be few locations where it's shorting out, could be inside the unit itself, along the wiring somewhere, fuse box etc.
was any work done on it recently anywhere?

AZDiva

He had already replaced the fuse and done the work, so I just paid it. Had he told me what it was and the cost first, I would not have had him do the work, I would have either replaced the fuse or had a male friend do it for me.

I purchased the car in April 2005. I don't have any knowledge of work done on the a/c. But, I just recently had a starter replaced (by the same mechanic) last Saturday.

vredniykot

the best way (not the cheapest thou) would be taking it to a dealer to diagnose the problem but again their principal is - if it's broken dont fix it, replace it. and they might try to sell you the unit for $$$$$$$ or if you can find a used unit somewhere and try swap it out and see if it's the unit itself. i would be 50/50 on taking it to the dealer and trying to find a used unit to test it, cuz taking it to different mechanics and paying the m money for changing fuses will help you unless it's a reputable mechanic that has experience with lexus cars
i wouldnt think that replacing the starter has anything to do with it but you never know

CleanSC

You don't have any coins in the cig lighter, do ya? That would cause your symptoms.

vredniykot

yeah, why didnt i think of that?, i know i knew about this lol

SupraCoup3

haha did that happen to you too Jose? I swear, dimes blend right in -- you gotta look close for those suckers!

AZDiva

No. No coins in the cigarette lighter, but I have coins in the ashtray.

CleanSC

LOL no it's never happened to me. I keep my change in the change holders in the center console. I have read about it happening to others on CL.

Diva: If that's not your problem then I'm out of ideas. Good luck with the troubleshooting!

tjj13401

Throw my 2 cents in the coins in the lighter thing. What a relief to find that dime!

Dee_seal

I had a similar problem and brought it to the Lexus dealer , they changed the fuse and found out the short was being caused in the lighter plug, I would clean up that area if I were you that might be your problem