Lexusexus

Hellllllpppp any more input? I have Thursday off and was planning on spending a good chunk of my day trying to figure this bull**** out.

1JZPWRD

iTrader: (59)

I would pull the main ECU and check for any signs of fried components.

Lexusexus

I mean I'll check it out... But the ECU only supplies the oil, battery and check engine light from my understanding. All accessories and what not are on the AM2 circuit and fuel/ignition on the AM1. Which is why I've ruled out the ECU but like I said I'll check it out.

Uhmmm where is the ECU located on these cars? Lol

Because I know on most cars even without an ecu plugged in it should still have instrument lights and what not. Please any input is really appreciated guys it's getting to the point where I'm just going to have to sell the car as-is, take a HUGE loss and probably end up driving a POS Honda again...

PoisonedSc

i feel your pain literally one day in my sc i was having the cut out issue and the car shut off and was smoking. i pulled over popped the hood and the ***POSITIVE** wire was touching the side of the battery and melting into it. and like me being dumb *** i grabbed it 3 degree burns i had to deal with on my shift finger needless to say i had eletrical tape and bungee cords in the car so i rigged it up. what it sounds like to me maybe you got that wire really hot some where and fused it with more which is shorting it out when ou drive they could be rubbbing together more... follow your wires man. i know it sucks but if it got as hot as it did for me i bet you melted wires together.


sorry had to clarify

Lexusexus

So even after that happened to you... the car was still drive-able after you "rigged it"?

Also not sure if you caught it.. but the car is not drive-able whatsoever. Won't start won't do anything.

PoisonedSc

yes it drove perfectly right after but i was quick about it and im thinking maybe your starter as well after you check the wires you should bring in your starter and see if they can test it for you i know theres security features with our cars where some thing causes it to shut dont like a anti theft good luck let me know how it goes....

Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

does the starter kick over and not start. if so check in the fuse panel by your left foot, there is an IGN fuse I think or EFI or something important like that, when this one goes you loose injectiond and/or ignition, cant remember which one but it = no start. you can always jump it to rule out the battery, but on a stock ecu it should start right up even with a weak battery as long as its turning over decently at all.

If its not turning over then I would suspect one of the larger ones is done in the engine bay.

PoisonedSc

another thing when you try to turn it over do you hear the fuel pump or the starter click any thing at all when turning it over?

Lexusexus

The car does nothing when you turn the key. The CEL, battery and oil light come on, that is it. No cluster lights at all. If it's on the ACC the door chime kicks on but it is really weird sounding. My friend noticed the fuel rail clicks when the key is turned. Again, I have checked and replaced the bigger main fuses in the engine bay. (AM1 AM2 ALT MAIN)

So yeah it's not turning over at all. Literally won't do ****. I ohm checked all the fuses inside the car but I will go through them again. I still need to check voltage on the fuses as well, just been a busy week.

Ali any chance you could maybe swing by and take a look next week if I'm still having issues? There's a guy up in Boulder that I've been trying to get help from off CRN he's the one who's been helping me diagnose the AM1, AM2 etc.

Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

weird sounding door chime makes me think weak battery. have you tried jumping it off another car, sometimes the batteries when drained fully will not be able to hold a charge right again. also make sure your terminals are in good shape after the incident. I am going to be very till basically october, but if we can't figure it out I can take a look.

Lexusexus

I haven't tried jumping off another car. Well the tow truck driver tried to jump it right after it had happened. Tried roll starting it as well. I had the battery tested cause I wanted to exchange it since I just bought it and they refused cause it tested good. It has 12.6v when I put my voltmeter on it. I had put brand new terminals on, the negative should be fine but I haven't replaced the positive one. I'll do that again as well.

Appreciate it man I'm going to give it some more time before I start trying to sell it as-is. And even if I do sell it as-is I'll still be trying to fix it and if I do I can always pull the ad down. Would like to keep the car I really wanted to go NA-T with it but I'm going to definitely need a vehicle before winter hits.

Hatchy400

Do The Lights That Come On When The Key is In The On Position Turn Off Or Blink When Starting The Car?

Check The Positive Wire For Any Burning Or Damage The Kind Of Heat That Happens When You Ground Out The Battery Wire Can Cause The Wire To Not Allow enough Current flow To Start The Car.

If You Have A Multimeter Check The Amperage Coming Out Of The Battery When Turning The Engine Over. I Haven't Dove Into The SC As Much As I'd Like To But Just Spit Balling Is There An Actual "Main Fuse" On Them?

Lexusexus

So I convinced my dad to drive out here 10 hours to make a vacation and help me out with the car. First day he's here we get it figured out. When we would push down on the car on the driver side, all the lights would light up again. So we determined a bad ground. The engine ground is dead so all we need to do is make an additonal ground to the chassis.

I think my starter got burned out too. The contacts are pretty corroded and the plastic plug thing broke off. I ordered a new one through Advance Auto for $87 after tax and core! Pretty good score, today was the last day for their $50 off $125+ purchase. The starter happened to be $127.99 so lucked out there.

It's officially not running yet but we did get it running earlier and all the electrical accessories are working now. I'm honestly thinking about selling the car when I fix it but I'm not quite sure yet.

Lexusexus

Car is running just fine now. Not going to lie I'm honestly a bit disappointed with the tech support on this forum but it is what it is.

If anyone is interested in a 5-speed low-mileage SC300 in the Colorado area let me know. Looking to finance something for this winter.

GordonDET

Hmmm, where to start?

First off, this is not a tech support forum, it is a Lexus owners forum. Yes there is info here that is helpful in diagnosing problems that is because members of this site relate their own stories about problems to help others out when they encounter a similar problem. With this type of a web forum it is usually best to search older posts for a solution rather than wait for someone to hold your hand and lead you to a solution. The few people that screwed up and didn't put the bolts back in the battery hold down bracket correctly, thus causing a dead short, thus contributing to a ground to fail (seems odd btw) may not have logged in for a few weeks, or months even.

I realize that it is stressful trying to diagnose a problem when you are in a hurry and no one responds (been installing an alarm in my sc400, door lock wires are not what the chart shows, f@#kers, lol) but when that happens you figure it out, fix it, and post how you fixed it so the next person can find it in a search. Thus making this a better forum.

I realize this is an older thread, the reason I posted is because I had a similar problem. So after my preaching I thought I should follow my own advise.

Last December when I got my SC I had to get a new battery, It was 6 am and I had to get to work, so I went to walmart, got a battery that had posts on the correct sides and hooked it up, it was smaller and the strap did not engage the battery, I ignored it and left it loose then promptly forgot about it. A couple months later I was driving home from work at midnite and starting having power flux issues. Installed cell phone speaker resetting, lights dimming, crazy stuff, pulled over a couple times and couldn't see any problem. Finally I noticed sparks flying out from under the hood next to the battery. Pulled over and sure enough the hold down strap was trying to mate with the pos terminal. Yanked it off and no further problems. I didn't post it because I felt like a dumbass. Unfortunately you were not so lucky.

In conclusion, I hope you kept your SC, they are great cars as long as you treat them right. And don't pull a bonehead move like I did buy the wrong battery, not replace the hold downs correctly, and try to burn them up.