1996 Lexus Ls400 Telephone

[Chrissy]

Hi:

Years ago when I shipped this car down to FL for the owner he asked me to get cell phone service. I was not able to do this as it is an analog phone. Is there a phone available now that will work through the stereo speakers as it originally did?

Also can I remove this phone or should I have it professionally removed (remember it too me 3 tries to figure out how to post a question)?

Chrissy

[AHJGTA]

Hi

This is a bone of contention for a lot of people here. If you do a search of the forums here, you will find people wanting to use the phone, trying a few things and ripping it out to make the space useful.

Here in Toronto, Canada, the previous owner of my car had the phone linked up to Bell Mobility. It seemed very convenient but I never went for it and let it lapse. I have disconnected it though as I used to accidentally touch the steering wheel controls and it would start ringing and give me an 800 number to call.

Some people have put in Bluetooth devices and are generally happy with that. You will find it all in the forums.

[nc211]

I'm suprised the phones don't work anymore. My 95' had the oem lexus phone in the arm rest, with the speaker phone buttons on the steering wheel. When I bought it from the dealership, the previous owner had not dropped the service provider "verizon", and the phone worked great. Granted, that was back in 04', but even after he finally had the service turned off, I could still use it for emergency reasons (911), and Verizon would hook it back up if I wanted to, even when I sold it last fall.

Thing use to drive me nuts! Phone would ring all the time, looking for "Tim". Finally, after what I can only image was a few hundred dollars in 1-900 calls to his account, did he FINALLY turn the damn thing off! Took him 3 months, but he did it.

[Chrissy]

Thanks for this info - I will check with Verizon.

This is a bone of contention for a lot of people here. If you do a search of the forums here, you will find people wanting to use the phone, trying a few things and ripping it out to make the space useful.

Here in Toronto, Canada, the previous owner of my car had the phone linked up to Bell Mobility. It seemed very convenient but I never went for it and let it lapse. I have disconnected it though as I used to accidentally touch the steering wheel controls and it would start ringing and give me an 800 number to call.

Some people have put in Bluetooth devices and are generally happy with that. You will find it all in the forums.

[1990LS400]

There's been a number of threads on this forum that address your questions. There is a "Search" feature towards the right side of the heading of this page.

That said, I'll repeat some of the information you would find from searching past topics.

The requirement for phone companies to supply analog phone service ended 18 February 2008 --> http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/analogcellphone.html

Removing a dealer installed Lexus phone requires some disassembly of the center console. It is not all that difficult to do on a '96 LS but it does require some effort to do it cleanly without cutting any wires; it is best to unplug phone system components rather than cut wires. You should unplug all cables from the phone ECU in the trunk and plug the two large connectors together. One member of this forum used a portion of a mouse pad to re-line the upper console tray after removing the phone.

You might consider buying a Bluetooth phone kit from one of the major vendors - Motorola, Nokia, Parrot, etc. While it is possible to splice into a door speaker, it is simpler to use an external add-on speaker with a BlueTooth kit - there is plenty of room to hide a speaker under the dash; the phone kit speaker under my dash sounds fine. The easiest way to power a phone kit, IMO, is to use a piggyback fuse connector at the underdash fuse box.

There is an audio system mute pin under the rear of the front console - on the driver's side. You can attach the mute wire from any phone kit to this mute pin so that the radio/CD/Tape mutes automagically when a call is received or placed -- perhaps the most important feature of all. Do a search on user "Blake918" and "phone" in the LS400 section of this forum to find information on his similar 95 LS400.

Post specific questions if you want or PM me or Blake918. Blake, Jainla, I or others with experience with phone kits will likely respond.

[Chrissy]

There's been a number of threads on this forum that address your questions. There is a "Search" feature towards the right side of the heading of this page.

That said, I'll repeat some of the information you would find from searching past topics.

The requirement for phone companies to supply analog phone service ended 18 February 2008 --> http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/analogcellphone.html

Removing a dealer installed Lexus phone requires some disassembly of the center console. It is not all that difficult to do on a '96 LS but it does require some effort to do it cleanly without cutting any wires; it is best to unplug phone system components rather than cut wires. You should unplug all cables from the phone ECU in the trunk and plug the two large connectors together. One member of this forum used a portion of a mouse pad to re-line the upper console tray after removing the phone.

You might consider buying a Bluetooth phone kit from one of the major vendors - Motorola, Nokia, Parrot, etc. While it is possible to splice into a door speaker, it is simpler to use an external add-on speaker with a BlueTooth kit - there is plenty of room to hide a speaker under the dash; the phone kit speaker under my dash sounds fine. The easiest way to power a phone kit, IMO, is to use a piggyback fuse connector at the underdash fuse box.

There is an audio system mute pin under the rear of the front console - on the driver's side. You can attach the mute wire from any phone kit to this mute pin so that the radio/CD/Tape mutes automagically when a call is received or placed -- perhaps the most important feature of all. Do a search on user "Blake918" and "phone" in the LS400 section of this forum to find information on his similar 95 LS400.

Post specific questions if you want or PM me or Blake918. Blake, Jainla, I or others with experience with phone kits will likely respond.

[gn50]

Hi,

Have a 1998 LS 400 with the factory installed cell phone. Never used it since buying it in 2005. Anyway, want to see it we can tap into the existing wiring for a bluetooth kit for an iPhone. Is it even possible? Was looking at the Parrot 3200 but read if you have the premium sound system there is no wiring kit available for it. Can someone help?

[1990LS400]

Hi,

Have a 1998 LS 400 with the factory installed cell phone. Never used it since buying it in 2005. Anyway, want to see it we can tap into the existing wiring for a bluetooth kit for an iPhone. Is it even possible? Was looking at the Parrot 3200 but read if you have the premium sound system there is no wiring kit available for it. Can someone help?

Welcome to this forum. One of the most valuable features of this forum is the search feature -- you can likely find past threads about phones by doing an advanced search.

That said, I would recommend that you use an external speaker for your Parrot -- Parrot sells one or you could use a speaker from another manufacturer such as Nokia. IMO, a good place to mount a speaker on a 98-00 LS is just above the emergency brake. It's easier to use an external speaker than try to tap into a door speaker and an external speaker sounds just fine.

An easy way to pick up power for your phone kit is with a piggyback fuse that plugs into the underdash fuse box (photo attached) -- you can buy one at auto parts stores.

You should find an audio system mute pin in the driver side phone connector under the air vents you can see with the armrest raised. Just strip some insulation off the mute wire from the phone kit, plunge it into the middle front hole in the connector and secure it with a plastic wire tie.

The ground wire from your phone kit can be attached to something metal under the dash.

Here is a link to a past thread I started -- it has a pointer to a Word doc I wrote a long time ago on where I positioned a phone kit speaker and microphone on my similar 00 LS: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...91&hl=phone

By the way, you will likely want to remove your existing old dealer installed Lexus phone. Be sure to plug the large connectors together after you remove the phone ECU in the trunk. You can unplug the Lexus phone receiver when you disassemble the center console. My Word doc has information about prying the insert out of the upper console tray to remove the Lexus phone receiver cradle.

Doing all this may sound like a big job but it is really fairly easy. PM me if you have questions.

[ED.]

Won't all analog phones be killed in 2009? I have a phone in my BMW's and can use them to call 911 (they say) but that's it. If I try and call it will ring three times and say blah blah blah call this number.

I know one guy who got Sprint to activate two of his car phones by thereatening to cancel his home and office accounts. But Bluetooth is the way to go. I lost mine the other day and ordered a new one. Life kinda stinks without it!

[1990LS400]

Won't all analog phones be killed in 2009? I have a phone in my BMW's and can use them to call 911 (they say) but that's it. If I try and call it will ring three times and say blah blah blah call this number.

I know one guy who got Sprint to activate two of his car phones by thereatening to cancel his home and office accounts. But Bluetooth is the way to go. I lost mine the other day and ordered a new one. Life kinda stinks without it!

Phone companies had permission to end analog phone service on Feb 18, 2008 although phone companies started withdrawing analog service months before that date.. I've read that some smaller companies serving rural areas have been given extra time - perhaps up to a year.

It will not be possible to use the analog phone in your BMW to call 911. In my area, my tri-mode phone no longer works in AMPS (analog) or TDMA modes - only in GSM.

[azpir8king]

Hi,

Have a 1998 LS 400 with the factory installed cell phone. Never used it since buying it in 2005. Anyway, want to see it we can tap into the existing wiring for a bluetooth kit for an iPhone. Is it even possible? Was looking at the Parrot 3200 but read if you have the premium sound system there is no wiring kit available for it. Can someone help?

I would appreciate some info. I need to disconnect the phone. Where is the phone ECU in the trunk located on my 1991 LS400?

[1990LS400]

I would appreciate some info. I need to disconnect the phone. Where is the phone ECU in the trunk located on my 1991 LS400?

I'm not certain but I think it is behind the trunk trim panel on the drivers side. Take a peak. I didn't buy the Lexus phone option (too expensive) when I bought my first LS400 in 1990 but my understanding was that the ECU for the aftermarket President phone system I bought through the Lexus dealer was installed in the same location where the Lexus phone ECU would have lived -- behind the left side trunk trim panel.

[1990LS400]

Sorry but this diagram for a 90 LS suggests that the phone ECU is on the right side of the truck of a gen 1 LS400: http://www.lextreme.com/Lexradio.pdf

The 90 through 92 LS was pretty much identical so I'm guessing the phone ECU is in the same place for these three model years.

[headpro]

There's been a number of threads on this forum that address your questions. There is a "Search" feature towards the right side of the heading of this page.

That said, I'll repeat some of the information you would find from searching past topics.

The requirement for phone companies to supply analog phone service ended 18 February 2008 --> http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/analogcellphone.html

Removing a dealer installed Lexus phone requires some disassembly of the center console. It is not all that difficult to do on a '96 LS but it does require some effort to do it cleanly without cutting any wires; it is best to unplug phone system components rather than cut wires. You should unplug all cables from the phone ECU in the trunk and plug the two large connectors together. One member of this forum used a portion of a mouse pad to re-line the upper console tray after removing the phone.

You might consider buying a Bluetooth phone kit from one of the major vendors - Motorola, Nokia, Parrot, etc. While it is possible to splice into a door speaker, it is simpler to use an external add-on speaker with a BlueTooth kit - there is plenty of room to hide a speaker under the dash; the phone kit speaker under my dash sounds fine. The easiest way to power a phone kit, IMO, is to use a piggyback fuse connector at the underdash fuse box.

There is an audio system mute pin under the rear of the front console - on the driver's side. You can attach the mute wire from any phone kit to this mute pin so that the radio/CD/Tape mutes automagically when a call is received or placed -- perhaps the most important feature of all. Do a search on user "Blake918" and "phone" in the LS400 section of this forum to find information on his similar 95 LS400.

Post specific questions if you want or PM me or Blake918. Blake, Jainla, I or others with experience with phone kits will likely respond.

hello; please describe procedure needed to disassemble center console in order to remove car phone.

thanks

Don

[AzHotLS]

headpro, welcome to the forum, you found a great site for diy'ers.

Back out of this thread and type this in the Search field at the bottom: "+phone +remove +console" (without the quotes).

You'll find several good threads discussing how to remove the phone.

[1990LS400]

I described how to disassemble the center console in a 90-94 LS400 to remove the phone handset in this thread: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...remove++console

If you go looking for other instructions, be sure to use ones for the 90-94 LS400 as it is different from the 95-00 LS400 which had the handset mounted in a separate upper console tray.