Two unrelated questions: I recently discovered that my cigarette lighter isn't working, which is a problem now that I want to be able to use that power source for other things. (I wish I had found this out when the car was under warranty...I bet it hasn't worked since I got the car three years ago). Is this a common problem? The Lexus dealer said that it was probably a blown fuse, but on further inspection the fuse in the fuse box is fine. Is there another inline fuse to the cig lighter, or something like that? Also, FWIW, where can I go to get instructions on removing the pieces needed to check the ligher, and other dash equipment. I'd like tobe able to work on that myself (can't see myself paying what I'll guessi s going to be a couple hundred dollars to someone before trying to do a cursory examiniation myself).

Also, I've learned that there is now way to replace the dildomatic with the 98 and up transmission lever. Has anyone tried replacing the stock 97 and earlier gear shift with something else? (And, what else? And are you happy with it?)

--sw

 

I recall seeing a pre 98 sc300 on Ebay that had the exact shifter conversion that you are describing. For a short while, it received a lot of attention from SC owners here on clublexus. Then we found out that it costs over $5K to do the conversion and several other parts (such as the dash instrument cluster) had to be swapped also. In short, not worth the money or effort. Other folks have bought an aftermarket shifter. I think its called Levoc. Opinions may differ, but the pics Ive seen don't look all that great and the huge majority of people who actually installed this shifter said they were not happy with it overall.

 

The subject line gave me a much different impression of what this post could be about... eg "Does the lighter supply enough current for my dildomatic?"

First thing I would check is that the lighter is plugged in.. on mine it's a blue plug underneath there that was unplugged from someone taking the console out and forgetting to plug it back in.

First you take the shifter off - the base slips down to reveal 2 screws. Then you pop up the thing with PRND2L on it. Unplug that. Pull out the cupholder. Undo a bunch of screws. Whole thing should come up.

 

The Levoc shifter does not work well in the SC's. The mounting screws will need to be retightened every couple days. If you want it to look smooth at the base, you will need to fab up a cover to replace the stock one as well. The people who had them in their SC's have since taken them out. Yes the "dildomatic" is ugly but I'm not sure if it's worth all that.

 

That sounds really promising. I had XM radio installed a few months ago. I wouldn't be surprised if they fogot to plug it back in then.

Byt the base slipping down, do you mean the brown piece of plastic that is just below the leather grip? How do I get it to slip down?

Also, "PRND2L"? --sw

 

PRND2L - you know, the thing with the gears written on it?? About 8"x6" immediately surrounding the dildomatic hole....

Just grab the thing under the shifter and push it down. Takes a little force but it goes down. Yeah, right under the leather.

 

Go to www.carstereohelp.com. They tell you, as well as show you, how to remove the dash area for replacing the factory headunit, but I'm sure it isn't much if any different than the cig lighter.