More Glitches - Cell Phone And Heater Fan

[Paul Sherman]

I have a '93 LS400, 178K miles on it

2 more weird electrical problems...

First...

Occaisionally, the built in phone will turn on by itself.

I turn it off, and it turns back on.

Worse - it will beep every 15 seconds when the car is turned off.

Pretty annoying.

I unplugged the handset, but that did no good.

I removed the fuse, but that disabled the stereo output

(guess it's because the speaker circuit routes thru the phone box)

Can I remove the main phone box and keep the stereo working?

Any other solutions?

Second...

Lately, the heater/AC fan occaisionally takes its time coming on.

Works fine in cool weather (when heating), but in warm weather

it can take several minutes, or never come on during a short trip.

The fan speed indicator comes on, the AC compressor engages,

everything but the fan seems to work...

Not a huge issue now, as the weather is OK, but come summer,

I'm gonna need that AC here in St. Louis!

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks all for being here.

Geez, I feel guilty, asking for help and unable to help out yet.

[1990LS400]

I remember reading that the early LS400 Lexus phone system automatically lowered the HVAC fan speed when a call was in progress. (I don't know about the newer LS.) If this is true, I suppose it is possible that these problems could be related. In the 98-00 LS, the trunk mounted phone unit can be bypassed by disconnecting two fairly large connecters from it (one male, the other female) and then plugging the connectors together. I don't have a Lexus phone but I probed these connectors with a test light last year when I installed a Nokia phone kit.

When you "unplugged the handset", did you also disconnect the handset cradle at the connector under the vent that you can see when the center armrest is raised? It takes some minor disassembly of the console to get to this hidden connector. There may be more than one hidden connector in a 93 - I don't know. There are three phone connectors unter the armrest in my 00 LS.

[Paul Sherman]

I'll need to do some research - it would be handy if the phone was

causing the problem...as long as I can do something about it.

I did disconnect the handset from the 'buried' connector. I actually

started dissembling too far (trying to remove the whole insert), then

saw the panel under the vent - much easier.

Does anyone have the phone box connector diagrams?

I've been in electronics ~30 years professionally, should be able

to jumper whatever's needed. I've heard the box is in the trunk

on the driver's side - but haven't found it yet...

[nc211]

Mine is on the passenger side when you pull up the carpeting on the far right wall. Very easy to see. don't know if it's different for earlier models.

[Paul Sherman]

An update:

The cell phone issue is resolved.

I found the phone 'box' and disconnected it.

A few hints (that don't seem to be covered elsewhere)

for anyone else needing to disconnect the factory cell phone

(On a '93 LS400, possibly other 1st gen units):

Location: In the trunk, on the driver's side.

Remove the side panel that contains the tool kit (4 screws

and the plastic plugs. The phone is a black box located behind

the antenna and below the tool kit location.

Electrical Deinstallation:

There are two white, multi-pin rectangular connectors that hook

it into the car's electrical system. If you unplug either one, you

will have no sound out of the left rear speaker. The trick is to

unplug both connectors, then plug the two connectors not

attached to the phone together (I checked wire matchups and

they looked fine).

As for the climate fan...That is still a struggle. I appear to have

a loose connection somewhere. Yesterday it didn't work for several

hours. We hit a bump, it started working and is working fine now.

Any info on where the climate fan, wire harness and related

components are located (and how to get to them) would be

greatly appreciated.