Ferdi

Hi guys

My Lexus 93 ES300(I bought second hand) needs a lot of attention. I have replaced the engine etc...

I bought the car with an OKI phone fitted, I assume it was factory fitted since OKI phones are not available in South Africa. The problem is that I can not find where to fit the sim card and since I have no owners manual, I am lost.

I have found the main unit and opened it up but no place for a sim card. On the side of the unit is an opening which gas three copper connectors in,...is it possible that there is a part of the unit missing...?

I will try and post a few pics if anyone can assist me.


Thanx

Ferdi Kruger
South Africa

j2tha0e

i'm sorry dood, but being both a lexus fanatic and a AT&T Wireless associate, the cellular phone you have in your 93 es300 is of Analog format. the little card that you wanna use is of the GSM standard. it's not gonna work. if you wanna actually put to use that phone, you need to establish an analog acount with your local cellular provider. REPEAT. the phone in your car is just ANALOG.

Ferdi

Thanx for the info...

I guess it will be easier to just install a new hands free


Regards

Ferdi Kruger

EGainer

I do not think that the phone was factory. Lexus did not offer the Cellular phone option back in 93, and if it was put on later, probably not done by Lexus. But that doesn't mean it won't work. Chances are that since they had it in there and had it working, You can too.

mcelligott

I think that option WAS available in 93 -- my 92 brochure has info on the cell phone option.

EGainer

It was an option? well maybe you can change the service provider to something around your local area.

meZoom!

i dunno about south africa but just about anywhere else has analog cell service available. available doesn't mean it's the most popular format tho.

EGainer

how's the phone service searching going there ferdi?

Ferdi

Hi Guys

Thanx for the great response. Today is Mayday and I haven't had a chance to follow up on the phone. I did however speak to an installer who said that I should bring my car around and he will have a look. He claims to be one of the original "car phone guys" and it is possible that he might have worked on this phone...he just doesn't remember the Lexus ....makes me wonder.

meZoom....You are right about the analogue system...the cellular providers agree but they insist that there has to be a socket to fit the sim in. Thanx for the info.




Regards


Ferdi Kruger

PS Eric...did you find any info on those eyelids you spoke about in another thread.

j2tha0e

i'm just curious, but whar else have you had to do on your car?

Ferdi

Hi Whuzzup

When I bought the car there were a number of problems such as

Overheating....I later had the radiator redone.

Engine had 150 000 miles on.... but still running fine.

The LED's on the needles were not functioning. This is how I overheated and blew the engine... . I replaced the engine as well as of the knock censors which were not working.

I also replaced the air filter intake and some of the vacuum hosing on the intake.
Currently I am replacing the LED's and sorting out a few other
minor electrical problems. (and incl the phone)

The truth is that the car has cost me more than the book value but I estimate that there are less than fifty in the country and that justifies the cost.

My biggest problem is then cost...The South African rand to the dollar is terrible. Currently a dollar costs about eleven rand. It does however mean that if you come here on holiday it should cost you at least 50% less than going on holiday in the US....

Hey...come to think of it ...wouldn't it be cheaper for CL members to develop a kitt for the es300 here and export it back to the US...should cost 50% less....

Regards

Ferdi Kruger

EGainer

no, i have not checked up on the eyelids. i am sure though as soon as i get around to it, when i go to the place i know, they will do it no problem. sounds like the phone is working better. how did you manage to come across the car that was owned by a president of a neighboring country

Ferdi

Hi Eric

The history of the car is as follows:-

The car was brought in for the president (as you know). He has, from what I was told, one of the largest collections of cars on the African continent. At certain times he disposes of some of the vehicles and a South African guy bought this car from him. Thsi guy double financed the car with two banks(illegal). His then got into financial trouble and skipped the country. The first bank repod the car and it was sold to friend of mine. Not long after he got the car, the second bank wanted to lay claim on the car. He loved this car and decided to fight for the car using his legal reps. The legal case took over three years before they came to a settlement. At this point in time the car had lost its lustre for him and he just wanted to get rid of it. Being a left hand drive...their value is automatically depreciated by 15%... he could not recover any of his costs.

He then offered it to me almost as a gift since he felt he would rather give the car away than sell it at a loss to someone who could not appreciate such a fine piece of engineering.

The problem was that in the time the legal battle was going on....he refused to put any money into maintaining the car. When I got the car many of the parts had been stripped (e.g windshield blades...possibly parts of the phone...and some other minor damage.

Although my brother lives in Canada and I could get most of the parts...the problem is cost. In another thread I mentioned that a dollar costs us about 11 rand. With 11 rand you by a Big MacMeal....How many McMeals do you buy for a dollar.


Regards


Ferdi Kruger

EGainer

Whoa man! costs me 3$ for a BigMac meal. Long history line, well it's cool you got a lex though. i bet your friends are jealous