Riptideeee

Hello, hopefully I don't get dogged on for not finding the previous posts from 2008 about my car,
but I am having an issue a lot of other owners haven't ran into and some that have.
One day I'm driving home from Fort Lauderdale FL to Tallahassee and I heard a ticking, looked and didn't see anything wrong under the hood at a glance. Not inspecting the car due to my father (a 35 year Honda Master Tech) doing a tune up on my car for me earlier that week because I had covid. He did my valve cover gasket, oil change, trans fluid change (i know...), and my spark plugs.
As I'm on my 300+ mile journey up the Florida coast the car is great I'm doing 100 smooth up 75, then I hear ticking as previously mentioned and glanced under my hood, saw no issues. I get home park the car for a day, and wake up at 9AM to go to the pawn shop with my boy the next day. I dropped him off and went back home.
On the way home the spark-plug de-threaded and my ignition coil broke off cyl 4 and was slapping my throttle body. Luckily I was down the street so I parked it and instantly started taking it all apart seeing that my last three spark-plugs were loose/hand tight, and cyl 4 was the one that popped out and de-threaded so we reseated a insert and put a new plug in.
After that the car started up and would die out after a few seconds until it stopped cranking all together.
While I was walking 6 miles to school, I was also trying to figure out what was wrong, so I did new coils & wires with plugs, and tested my OEM starter and it all checked out to be good. My key turns and all my electrics work but the car does not crank. I have talked to multiple people and they say it is my immobilizer and that a locksmith can help with my issue. anyone have advise? I love my car and I really want it back as my daily.

dwoods801

The immobilizer prevents it from running but it will still crank just like normal. If iit doesn’t crank, it’s a starter or battery power issue. Your pops won’t work on a Lexus?

Riptideeee

“The immobilizer prevents” reply



yeh, the starter had tested good, changed the amp and starter fuses, it has new wires for the coils and all that’s new down to the spark plugs. it has zero crank the dash lights up.
my key is in two portions though, I had to hold the key to the column before. if I didn’t it wouldn’t crank.
my battery is good, good negative grounds, new alternator, good timing
no my father who owns a grand national and used to drag race who is also a master tech at Honda doesn’t want to work on it because it’s Japanese **** to him (he literally works at Honda) , sucks because he’s the person who got me into cars and for him to not support my journey has been hard.

DundukovEM

I think the previous post was correct in stating that it should crank regardless of your immobilizer status. Cases of failure of the contact block of the ignition lock switch are not so rare. So, I would proceed to check the contacts of the ignition switch, and from there - the ECU starter circuits, fuses and relays.

OFF-TOP: Lexus (especially this generation of GS / LS) is much better made than any Honda.
I've worked on both of them so much and I'm speaking from my own experience.
On any given day, I'm better work at real Japanese Toyotas / Lexuses than American Hondas.

DundukovEM

Riptideeee, don't give up on one opinion, even if it's your loved one. If you need more troubleshooting help, send me a PM.
I know this car like the back of my hand, and I have all factory service manuals and wiring diagrams.

Riptideeee

Its been a while later, after moving the car from Tallahassee to Tampa by trailer, turns out my starter relay was bad and so was my (I think it was) AM2, & 15 AMP fuse under my hood. The car starts now, however I think the fuel pumps gone bad now because it does not stay running it dies out with-in like 5-10 seconds. My fuel light is flashing but I know I got gas in it, so that's next on the chopping block. happy it cranks and isn't ECU related. Probably going to also redo as much of my harness I think as I can, or get one pre-done but still deciding.

LexLova

The car stalled
I’m having a similar issue every time I turn the ignition on I blow the AM2 fuse. Missing most of the lights on the dash etc.
I did get it to start 2 times afterwards randomly

I’m wondering if my ignition switch is bad since

Riptideeee

Yo, so I ended up taking apart everything to my head, disconnecting wires and making sure everything was clean and perfect from all the grounds to cleaning surfaces I didn't need to. I made sure every bolt was bolted and tight as hell. Then replaced my starter fuse (taking out the fuse box to reach the bolts) Also changing the other fuse that's there. I think its that AM2 fuse. I went through all the fuses from interior to exterior. For me it was wires on my harness touching, I had to go through and tape up my current harness with electrical tape (any better idea's please reply) I also ended up needing a whole new fuel pump (from another car) and she finally started running after 6 months. (this forum really helped thank u all)
It isn't perfect still, but she's running and can move again.

Riptideeee

So it was the fuel pump itself. Got a new one off a junked car & now my coolant gauge, trans identifier lights, and gas gauge are all not working. MPH & RPM are fine. Its also not reading outside temp (if that has anything to do with it) Hazards & blinkers work so it isn't that fuse. Confused Maybe a bad float on the new pump? but IDK why it'd also mess up my other gauges in that 3rd cluster.