Gs400 Lost All Gauges, Power, And Shift Locked

[skenn1977]

I live in Wisconsin and today was a cold day with some light snow. The car was taken on an quick errand and started back up, but no gauges, inside lights, windows. The shifter was stuck in park. The car runs fine, but no electronics and you have to manually override to move the transmission from part to reverse, to drive, back to reverse or park. The headlights work on manual, but not on auto, no highbeams, no tailights, and no interior lights. No radio, windows or doors. I tried replacing the Rad 2 fuse and same problems. I've been having some intermitant problems with certain door locks and the moon roof occasionally but figured that was the need for new motors in those parts.

Any thoughts, I've searched postings but no luck.

[dcfish]

I live in Wisconsin and today was a cold day with some light snow.  The car was taken on an quick errand and started back up, but no gauges, inside lights, windows.  The shifter was stuck in park.  The car runs fine, but no electronics and you have to manually override to move the transmission from part to reverse, to drive, back to reverse or park.  The headlights work on manual, but not on auto, no highbeams, no tailights, and no interior lights.  No radio, windows or doors.  I tried replacing the Rad 2 fuse and same problems.  I've been having some intermitant problems with certain door locks and the moon roof occasionally but figured that was the need for new motors in those parts.

Any thoughts, I've searched postings but no luck.

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Have you tried to reset the ECU/ Disconnect the neg. battery terminal for a few minutes and reconnect. It's worth a try.

[GuyTelefunken]

I would recommend checking all the fuses, including those located in the driver's and passenger's side front kick panels. They are behind the small black doors.

The easiest way to do this is with a 12V test lamp. The clamp on the lamp is connected to a bare metal, grounded bolt or part of the body. Turn the key to position "2" run and check each fuse. If the lamp lights on one side of the fuse it should light on the other. It it only lights on one side, the fuse is bad. Note some fuses will show no power on either side in the run position, example the starter circuit. This is normal because certain circuits are powered only during use.

If you find any bad fuses, note the associated circuit and replace the fuse. If you find one or more that keeps blowing, we'll need to troubleshoot that circuit(s).

If you are unfamiliar with the use of a test lamp, see the attached pic. Test at the points marked in red with the fuse installed.

[skenn1977]

Thanks for the tip. I tried disconnecting the neg term on the battery and reconnecting and no luck. Guess I will confirm all the fuses. Thanks for the advice.

[dcfish]

Thanks for the tip.  I tried disconnecting the neg term on the battery and reconnecting and no luck.  Guess I will confirm all the fuses.  Thanks for the advice.

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Keep us posted. ;)

[skenn1977]

I checked the fuses. On the driver's side panel, I got good readings on No.2 Fr Fog, No.6 Fuel Opn, No.10 SRS-B, No.14 OBD, No.7 D FR Door , No.11 D P/Seat, No.15 Stop, No 20 D RR Door. On the engine compartment, I got good readings on No.32 ECU-B1 thru No.41 Radio No. 1. For the others I got no readings on either side. I found no bad fuses where only one side was working.

I think I'm looking at a trip to my local dealer tomorrow.

[SKperformance]

SOunds like the bcm is not working.

Might be a fusable link or another fuse in there somewhere you can;t find yet.

[skenn1977]

This morning, I tried to start up and the car was dead. I'm thinking it's the alternator as I can jump and start, but it dies shortly after. HAving it towed to the local Lexus guy.

[skenn1977]

Well in the end it turned out to be a bad alternator. A huge thanks for some folks on this board as I was able to get the dealer to match on the alternator. I saved $70 in the process.

One other lesson learned... I've seen a lot of posts about door locks, trunk releases, window motors/actuators going bad, but if you find multiple of these things going at the same time look at the alternator. I've been having the sporatic lock, trunk release, moon roof power issues for several months. I was told by the Lexus dealer that I needed new locks and at $300 a pop I decided to wait. Glad I did as the new alternator has them working like new now.

Great resource this board and thanks to all the folks for the help!