Hey guys,

I'm new to this forum and new to Lexus. I've forever wanted to be inside an LS400 cockpit and finally I have that pleasure. Bought a 1997 coach black+tan interior with 108K miles on it. Clean car, smooth ride and everything felt wonderful until last night... (after less than a week of ownership :-/ ) Just thought I would tell you experts the symptoms and see if you have any suggestions on what could be wrong.

I get in the car last night, put the key in ignition and the steering comes down to greet me, the gauges all light up, everything seems normal until I try to fire the engine up. At that point, everything just go dead - the gauges, all the lights, engine doesnt start.
I take the key out, the steering doesn't move. I open the door and I see that the interior light came on as well as the one in the door. But they slowly start fading/dimming which seems to suggest its a battery? Dunno.. Even the remote lock doesn't work.
I try starting up the car a couple times that night, no success.
Today morning, I try the same thing and everything worked .. even the engine started up like normal.. although, it seemed to be that there was a slight glitch, delay of some sort before the gauges and the engines came on.. which makes me wonder if it really is the battery..
Now during the day everything seems normal.
I talked to a local lexus mechanic and he was pretty sure it was the idle control valve. Do you guys have any clues on what might be wrong?
I live in San Diego. Are there any recommended independent lexus mechanics around here?

Oh.. and I am not sure if the timing belt was replaced at around 90K (no maintenance records after 40K :-/ ). Is there a way the mechanic was determine if it was replaced or if it needs replacement soon?

Been reading this forum for a while now (before and after I got the car) Great quality site.

Thanks a bunch.

 

i cant help you since u got the 97 but try searching about the ICV and maybe you'll find something. pretty sure someone else with 2gen knowledge will chime in and help u.

 

WTF, ICV? That's for a car that has idle problems, his car has problems cranking, the ICV is involved in no way.



It's the battery or the battery connections, no question about it. Maybe the terminals are loose.

 

hah. I had talked to a mechanic before the guy who said it was the ICV. The first one actually said exactly what you said - battery or battery connections. But he didn't seem very sure about it. Said he needs to check it out. The second guy owns a much larger shop and I guess I just fell for the confident way in which he said its the ICV. Its interesting how the first guy said he can do a mechanical inspection for free while the second one quoted $XX for it. Maybe I should actually take it to the first guy.

 

You don't need to take it to any mechanic, really, you can just pry off the terminal caps and check the terminals for corrosion and tightness, it's the easiest part of car maintenance

I just moved here from San Diego, too bad. I would have checked it out and fixed it for you free

 

Darn.. come back to SD. Think about the sunny beaches, the .. erm . not-so-warm waters and the wonderful climate :-)

 

My '01 Tacoma did something very similar last year. Put the key in and everything lit up like normal, when I hit start it all went dead except for the dome light which was very dim.

A new battery fixed it.

 

It's the battery.. mine does the same. The battery goes dead, when you try to start it you hear "click click click click"... doesn't start.

You came back in the morning when the battery had time to recharge itself a bit, car starts.

Charge the battery and see if you have these problems any time soon. If they come back a bit later, replace the battery.

 

Thanks for the feedback guys. I checked the battery after getting back from work. There is a ton of corrosion on the battery. Gotta get that stuff cleaned up. So like you guys said, thats probably what it is.

 

yep just buy some of the wire brushes and start scrubbing!

 

what shops were they in SD that told u each diagnosis?

ive heard good things about TLC but i live like 200+mi away so what do i know

 

Thermactor,

Welcome to KY.

Jun

 

Definately sound like a battery problem or a loose connection to me as well. The fact that when you pried to cable loose and saw a ton of corrosion on the terminals could have been the actual culprit; cant spark if it cant get thru the crud. Clean the terminals, and start to think along the lines of a new battery, sounds like the one you have is pretty old. Make sure the cables are tight as well. Witht the car running, might want to stick a olt meter on ther terminals to see if the car is losing any voltage, and how quickly. Should be 12 volts at least constantly,, anything under that and not showing signs of recharging(numbers going up instead of down) might want to have alternator checked as well. But like everyone else has said,,, suspect battery.

 

Welcome to Club Lexus! It's nice to see another fellow San Diegan up in here

 

I have had this exact problem on an Acura Legend of mine. I replaced the battery terminals and It hasn't given me a problem since. If cleaning off the corrosion doesn't do it, then try replacing the terminals. Its a cheap fix if it works and if it doesn't then your not out a lot of dough.