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Challenging Issues, 95 Lexus GS300

Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: General Discussion
Forum Discription: General Mobile Electronics Questions and Answers
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=144416
Printed Date: March 29, 2024 at 5:42 AM


Topic: Challenging Issues, 95 Lexus GS300

Posted By: deaner_gs300
Subject: Challenging Issues, 95 Lexus GS300
Date Posted: May 02, 2018 at 12:18 AM

Guys, I'm dying here trying to figure out what is going on with this car I'm driving. I picked it up recently because the motor is in great condition and has lots of good miles left. 1995 Lexus GS300. I come to this forum seeking help because after chasing electrical issues during my lunch break and on rare "smoke breaks" during my way too busy work schedule I thought about an old friend... Mike Elrod was an auto electronics specialist from Memphis and we were very close for a long time. During college and about 10 years after we played music together in various bands and were inseperable. What brought him to mind was tgat i kniw he could answer this problem. I know that you seasoned 12 volt specialists can help me because you've probably already seen this issue. I'm not only talking to you guys who were installing when these cars were new I'm challenging everyone here to help me fix this. Ask me whatever you need to find a conclusion. Here is my issue:
95 Lexus GS300 everything on one circuit in the kick panel fuse box seems to be inoperative, and then some. The circuit is the one containing all the accessory lights in the vehicle. That includes the map light, locking courtesy trunk switch, step lights, the vanity lights in the visors, the rear pillar interior lights, the switched dome light, trunk light, basically every accessory light in the car except the dash illumination. Also the door lock switch which is what made me think of installers and audio/alarm specialists. I remembered one day looking through the trunk and in the spare tire compartment was 2 things that had been removed from the car or one like it anyway. An ecm and a module with text on it that made me think it was an alarm module. I've found schematics on the car stereo system. Which just happens to also be inoperable. But i can't seem to figure out what it takes to get this all back in order. Another electrical issue is the tilt and telescopic electric steering wheel adjustment as well as both front seats forward abd backward adjustment. The other seat adjustmemts work just not the one to move the seats forward and back along the rails. I realize that not all of these issues are necessarily related to the main issues. I do think the bulk of them are connected to each other. Now I'm going to pose this question... If someone was to take out the module that runs the security system what would the resulting issues be? Please help me. This is an issue someone, possibly one of the forums' members has run into personally. To a smart member who is more electrically inclined than myself this is a good math problem.... To me it's the twilight zone i live in every day. From home to work from work to home. The car came with no key fob and ive never seen the security light illuminated. Im nit certain that tge security system was even from this car but it was likely that because it was definitely a toyota piece of the corrext time period. Im not even certain where the module fits when it's installed. I just asked this question because things just smelled funny when i saw that module and then when testing fuses the main fusebox under the hood has 0 volts at the accessory fuses. And when testing the map lights and switched door lights, they had a tiny amount of voltage when turned on or the door open with the switch in the "door" position. Like 0.4 volts when on and 0.0 volts when they were off. Please tell me what I'm dealing with. If you have questions I'll be happy to answer any that i can and if you need something tested i have a multimeter and I'll be glad to go out as fast as possible and check whatever might help you solve this. Thank you in advance for trying to help me. Between 50 to 60 hours of work and just now getting out of a wheelchair after an accident in November where i broke my hip and right wrist. Again thank you for even reading and/or trying to solve this issue.

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Alpine CDE172BT - Infinity PR6500CS 6.5's - Zapco ST2X SQ - SSA Evil-6.5's Mid-bass - Zapco ST2X SQ - Sundown SD3 12" D4 - VFL Comp 2K... 1995 Lexus GS300 - The Frankenstein build & it changes weekly.



Replies:

Posted By: eguru
Date Posted: May 02, 2018 at 7:34 AM
You might get better responses if you itemize (with numbers/bullets) the issues and what you have checked so far.
Way too long a paragraph to read without a break.

I certainly appreciate posts like yours that use proper grammar and spelling though.




Posted By: geepherder
Date Posted: May 02, 2018 at 9:37 AM
*Not a seasoned veteran- just a former installer/hobbyist*

Here's a link Ween posted a while back for looking up factory diagrams:
https://www.bbbind.com/free-tsb/

interior lighting has multiple fuses and an integration relay:
https://www.revbase.com/BBBMotor/Wd/DownloadPdf?id=84914

power seats could be a switch, wiring and/or motor issue:
https://www.revbase.com/BBBMotor/Wd/DownloadPdf?id=84921

tilt/telescopic steering:
https://www.revbase.com/BBBMotor/Wd/DownloadPdf?id=84922

You mentioned your accessory fuse was dead. Did you test it while the key was turned?

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My ex once told me I have a perfect face for radio.




Posted By: mgoetz74
Date Posted: May 02, 2018 at 10:22 AM
to me it really sounds like you have either a blown fuse under the hood or a bad wire going from the battery to the fuse box, maybe there was a rat or something that chewed through a wire. You need to start at the battery and check power (with a multimeter) on the wire coming from the battery. If that's good start with the ignition on and test EVERY fuse, you don't know how many time I hear " my radio doesn't work and I test the radio fuses" just to find another fuse blown and everything magically works. Or eve a loose fuse in the fuse box, had a cobalt a couple years ago that the fuse tested good when I put my meter on it but when I took it off it didn't make connection and the car wouldn't start. lost two days of installs trying to figure that one out just to come down to a fuse not making contact. This maybe one of those trouble shoots that hard to pin point with out the car in front of us

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33 years as a installer now just a retired old guy. Favorite thing to install/topic are remote starts/car alarms. Stop using test lights!!!




Posted By: deaner_gs300
Date Posted: May 02, 2018 at 7:24 PM
Lol.. Thanks eguru for the compliment, i think, and you're so right i would have used a better format had i known it was going to be so long. Now that you point it out I'm almost embarrassed. I can take constructive criticism though. I figure we all should be able to considering we're gonna be criticized either way, right? Especially on the web.
So you think i should edit the post? I think I should edit the post. The whole time I was doing it I was copying it to my clipboard so i wouldn't have to do it again. I do appreciate it though. I'm just glad somebody looked at it.

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Alpine CDE172BT - Infinity PR6500CS 6.5's - Zapco ST2X SQ - SSA Evil-6.5's Mid-bass - Zapco ST2X SQ - Sundown SD3 12" D4 - VFL Comp 2K... 1995 Lexus GS300 - The Frankenstein build & it changes weekly.




Posted By: deaner_gs300
Date Posted: May 02, 2018 at 7:33 PM
I understand and totally relate to what you're saying. I can say that i did check the fuses. And i actually started checking the voltage at the fuse box while the car was running so that too i know was a yes. Again I apologize for the long rambling post. I knew it was long but not until just now when i scrolled through it did I realize how long it really was.

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Alpine CDE172BT - Infinity PR6500CS 6.5's - Zapco ST2X SQ - SSA Evil-6.5's Mid-bass - Zapco ST2X SQ - Sundown SD3 12" D4 - VFL Comp 2K... 1995 Lexus GS300 - The Frankenstein build & it changes weekly.




Posted By: deaner_gs300
Date Posted: May 02, 2018 at 7:43 PM
geepherder wrote:

*Not a seasoned veteran- just a former installer/hobbyist*

Here's a link Ween posted a while back for looking up factory diagrams:
https://www.bbbind.com/free-tsb/



Do i know you? posted_image
Thanks for reading my long arse post guys. I'm surprised I got so much attention. Now I'm going to see if I might get somewhere new or different. And the module I found looked just like the security module i guess but i think it's actually an ABS module. Lol
But the thing led me here and I realized that this is where somebody with some sense might see it. How ever did I not think about car audio and video installers and hobbyists? Must not have been thinking. P.s. New Hope sucks.
Thanks guys.


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Alpine CDE172BT - Infinity PR6500CS 6.5's - Zapco ST2X SQ - SSA Evil-6.5's Mid-bass - Zapco ST2X SQ - Sundown SD3 12" D4 - VFL Comp 2K... 1995 Lexus GS300 - The Frankenstein build & it changes weekly.




Posted By: deaner_gs300
Date Posted: May 02, 2018 at 7:55 PM
mgoetz74 wrote:

to me it really sounds like you have either a blown fuse under the hood or a bad wire going from the battery to the fuse box, maybe there was a rat or something that chewed through a wire. You need to start at the battery and check power (with a multimeter) on the wire coming from the battery. If that's good start with the ignition on and test EVERY fuse, you don't know how many time I hear " my radio doesn't work and I test the radio fuses" just to find another fuse blown and everything magically works. Or eve a loose fuse in the fuse box, had a cobalt a couple years ago that the fuse tested good when I put my meter on it but when I took it off it didn't make connection and the car wouldn't start. lost two days of installs trying to figure that one out just to come down to a fuse not making contact. This maybe one of those trouble shoots that hard to pin point with out the car in front of us


Sorry senor goetz74... I thought when i replied to your message up above it would fall under yours. So the reply above was to you. And again thanks for even reading the thing. I'm at the end of my rope and the car is the last of it. I barely have time to even think about it, but before i leave whirl everyday i go onto the ALLDATA website and pour over more data on the car. Hoping something jumps out. Sadly I haven't had as much time diagnosing because i can't move and get as precariously perched under the dash as I'd like considering my recent accident and broken.... Stuff.. Thanks mgoetz74

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Alpine CDE172BT - Infinity PR6500CS 6.5's - Zapco ST2X SQ - SSA Evil-6.5's Mid-bass - Zapco ST2X SQ - Sundown SD3 12" D4 - VFL Comp 2K... 1995 Lexus GS300 - The Frankenstein build & it changes weekly.




Posted By: deaner_gs300
Date Posted: May 02, 2018 at 8:18 PM
OHHH DIP!! I just realized that I posted this as FROM a seasoned installer.. It's SUPPOSED to say FOR A SEASONED INSTALLER! I'm certainly not a seasoned installer. I was once a salesman at AutoRadio in Memphis but not a seasoned installer. I did my own car audio but not for anyone else. PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR THIS MISTAKE. I have a ton of respect for you guys, and girls (in case you didn't understand that my 'guys' is universal) I came here specifically to pose this problem to you as a group... And I've already gotten info i didn't have before. If anyone has anything to add please do. I apologize, I thought I could edit my post... Really sorry it's such a novel.

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Alpine CDE172BT - Infinity PR6500CS 6.5's - Zapco ST2X SQ - SSA Evil-6.5's Mid-bass - Zapco ST2X SQ - Sundown SD3 12" D4 - VFL Comp 2K... 1995 Lexus GS300 - The Frankenstein build & it changes weekly.




Posted By: eguru
Date Posted: May 02, 2018 at 9:43 PM
Have you checked any of your non-working items for a proper ground by measuring the resistance from the item's "ground side" terminal to battery negative?




Posted By: eguru
Date Posted: May 06, 2018 at 10:57 AM
Can you report what you found to solve your issue so that others might learn from your experience?




Posted By: deaner_gs300
Date Posted: May 06, 2018 at 12:45 PM
I absolutely will. I appreciate the eye's I've reached here at the12volt it's currently an ongoing issue but when im ceetain of what the cause or at least what the solution is i will posr it. I'm pretty sure I'm not the first or the last to deal with this particular issue. Thanks a ton guys. Still open to ideas.

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Alpine CDE172BT - Infinity PR6500CS 6.5's - Zapco ST2X SQ - SSA Evil-6.5's Mid-bass - Zapco ST2X SQ - Sundown SD3 12" D4 - VFL Comp 2K... 1995 Lexus GS300 - The Frankenstein build & it changes weekly.




Posted By: deaner_gs300
Date Posted: May 06, 2018 at 12:49 PM
eguru] wrote:

Have you checked any of your non-working items for a proper ground by measuring the resistance from the item's "ground side" terminal to battery negative?

No eguru i have not and i haven't even thought of that. Thank you. I'll let you know what i find when i am able to check it.

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Alpine CDE172BT - Infinity PR6500CS 6.5's - Zapco ST2X SQ - SSA Evil-6.5's Mid-bass - Zapco ST2X SQ - Sundown SD3 12" D4 - VFL Comp 2K... 1995 Lexus GS300 - The Frankenstein build & it changes weekly.




Posted By: deaner_gs300
Date Posted: December 27, 2018 at 7:51 AM
mgoetz74 wrote:

to me it really sounds like you have either a blown fuse under the hood or a bad wire going from the battery to the fuse box, maybe there was a rat or something that chewed through a wire.



I JUST WANTED TO WIND THIS LOTTERY UP AND SAY: "mgoetz74 you are the winner! A couple months ago (after almost totally giving up on all of the interior doodie on the car I was taking the dash apart to wire up a new Alpine CD player and I had a friend working with me since I'm kinda handicapped currently (hoping this isn't a forever issue... More on that another day) So I had my friend down running a wire from a constant at the fuse box (and also fusing it again between the radio and the fuse box, probably overkill but I don't want to lose my car to a senseless fire) I asked him to run a quick little jumper from this wire I was running (before I got it to the radio) over to the output side of the tilt and telescopic steering wheel "brain" knowing that the brain was new but guessing that it wasn't powering up correctly. Well immediately the steering wheel starts whirring and moves into it's "key off" position. So then I started testing other things like the interior lights and they all worked. The clock now worked. The personal lights and the vanity lights all worked. The only thing that didn't and still doesn't work is the power locks. Which I'm waiting to find another junkyard GS300 so I can get the switches out of the door since I know that my driver's side has a burned leg on the little board that it's secured to.

So I don't necessarily know what wire the theoretical or more likely prospect totally real rat chewed through but it was most definitely something along those lines. I was so hoping it was a fuse myself too! Thanks for even putting in your two cents mgoetz74! I appreciate even the wishings of good will!

Thanks T12V! I love this place.


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Alpine CDE172BT - Infinity PR6500CS 6.5's - Zapco ST2X SQ - SSA Evil-6.5's Mid-bass - Zapco ST2X SQ - Sundown SD3 12" D4 - VFL Comp 2K... 1995 Lexus GS300 - The Frankenstein build & it changes weekly.





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