R3z

So I know there was an option for a phone in the 1st gen es300s, but the people who bought mine (wisely, I think) didn't get it. Curious about two things - 1, was the phone in any way integrated with the soundsystem, and 2, would the wiring still be there even without the phone having been installed?

xsohaib

I have the answer to the first question, unfortunately not the second. Well, I have the phone in my car and it has a hands free kit with the mic on the steerind wheel. When you place a call and get connected, the audio automatically mutes and when you hang up the audio un mutes. As long as I was in the states, it was not economical to get the phone activated due to tge fact that it is analog. However, a few months ago I moved to the carribbean, and shipped my car there too. They have prepaid analog service here (most of the foreigners here use prepaid anyways since incoming is free and prices aren't all that different, and I am getting it activated in the next couple of weeks). I think that since this phone was a dealer installed option, all cars would not be prewired for it. I think the lexus phone kit, is similar to the Cark-XYZ kits offered by nokia for their phones.

Hope this helps

flipside909

1) No
2) No

The Lexus phone unit for that car was a handset that was located in the center console armrest if I recall last.

Kansas

I could be wrong but I thought the ES300's might have been prewired for the Lexus phone like my 90 and 00 LS was.

Is there a small removable plastic panel on the steering wheel hub opposite of the cruise control. If so, pop it off and see if there is a small (probably female) connector where the phone "command module" would plug in and screw holes for attaching the command module. If this is the case it would appear that your car is pre-wired for a phone and that there would be one or more additional connections under the center console.

I've never had a Lexus phone but wired my Nokia CARK-91H to the factory installed phone harness mute terminal in my 00 LS so that the radio/tape/CD automatically mutes when a phone call is made or received.

amf1932

When I bought my '94ES I was told by the dealer that the car WAS prewired from the factory for a cellular phone. I chose not to use the Lexus hookup though.......it was much too expensive......over $1200!

R3z

cool, so i'm hearing i do have the wiring in place - anyone have any schematics or knowledge of how to work with the connectors?

Kansas

Having the phone pre-wiring is one thing but using it for a non-Lexus phone is another matter. I've been following this issue closely on this and other Lexus and phone forums and have yet to find anyone who has been successful in interfacing a non-Lexus phone with the Lexus pre-wiring and steering wheel command module. The main thing most people seem to be looking for is how to hook up a non-Lexus phone kit - either wired or Bluetooth - so that it mutes the radio when a call is in progress. This turned out to be easy to do in both our 00 LS and 98 Camry. All phone kits I've seen ground the mute wire when a call is in progress.

On the 00 LS, the easiest mute point to reach is the center front pin on the 6-pin male connector under the center console which was originally for the Lexus Portable Plus phone. There was also a mute point in the trunk and on the Nakamichi head unit. On our Camry, a mute point is one of the pins on 9-pin "data port" where the CD player connects - don't remember which pin without checking. If your ES has a connector for a Portable Plus phone, one of the pins will probably be a mute point like on the LS. The easiest way to find it would be to turn on the radio and then probe the pins with a grounded test light until the radio mutes. If there is no Portable Plus connector, you would likely find a mute point in the trunk on the connectors that would plug into the Lexus phone transceiver.

R3z

hmm. lets try this - anyone have any pictures of the phone componants (preferably installed..)?