Today I finished putting a salvage transmission in my 93 SC400... Got it all buttoned up and... NO CRANK! Battery was disconnected during replacement... And seems strong. Dash, locks and other controls seem to work fine. It's as though the starter isn't even getting power... Lights don't dim or anything when key is turned to start position.

Please anyone? Just baffled...

 

Make sure all the wiring is hooked up tightly. ESPECIALLY the grounding wire for the engine/ transmission. I had a lose ground cable on my other car before on the transmission. Lost for weeks, bought two starters, my labor, bunch of ???.... just for one bolt that mount the ground wire from the trans to the chassis.

 

Thank you very much for your fast reply/help. i do remember the ground wire on the lower driver's side of the transmission looking rather "chewed up" when I put it back on the bell housing bolt. I'll double check that today. Any other grounds down there you can remember ? Where was your bad wire? This is my first Lexus and I'm not familiar with its wiring yet.

 

You Deff have a ground loose or a wire loosely connected, I would go back over what you do on the wireing part and I bet you find it !

 

Thanks. I'm sure hoping that's all it is. I'll start checking...

 

If your lights aren't dimming with the key turned to start, that means you are probably correct about ground issues/ starter not getting power. If the starter was locked up, or the the flex plate wasn't turning, your lights would be dimming like crazy from all that amperage draw.

 

Well, went all through wiring, and even ran additional ground STRAIGHT to BATT neg. STILL NO START... UNLESS i pull cover off starter relay and push contacts together. Then, starts like new.
Why would a starter relay act up after a tranny swap???
And another issue as well now... Once it starts, it goes into ALL gears, PULLS HARD LIKE a MONSTER... for about 5 minutes or so, then, it's like the tranny starts shuddering... and BOOM like I'm in neutral! Won't pull in ANY gear... UNTIL i shut it off, jump relay to restart... then again, tranny pulls like new, for about another five minutes!
And NO tranny codes stored! OD light blinks twice every second when i test it, just like it's supposed to.

ANYONE have any ideas about all this strangeness? First Lexus SC here... VERY confused!