Sudden Problems...almost All At Once

[91LexusLS400]

My fuel guage now reads full even after driving 250 miles, then starts to come down. The fuel lite comes on when the needle reads a little over half full. The brake light is on, but very faint (It will go off eventually). The cruise kicks off on its own and will reengage only periodically. The temp needle seems to read a little cooler than normal, even though we're in the 90s daily now. Guage cluster or deeper problems?

[dcfish]

My fuel guage now reads full even after driving 250 miles, then starts to come down. The fuel lite comes on when the needle reads a little over half full. The brake light is on, but very faint (It will go off eventually). The cruise kicks off on its own and will reengage only periodically. The temp needle seems to read a little cooler than normal, even though we're in the 90s daily now. Guage cluster or deeper problems?

Sounds like the infamous LS400 trunk hinge wiring harness, There is alot of info on the fix here. Try the search feature.

[91LexusLS400]

I hope you're right fish...I hope it's that simple. Get on tonight! THANKS! I thought the trunk wire only caused the gear indicator to act up?

It sounds like this could be it...the brake lite goes off...then the cruise works again.

[VBdenny]

DC fish called it exactly right. I have seen the same symptoms in mine and sure enough, upon inspection, the wire was broken. I added a link and put it all away and it worked firn for 3 years. The, it happened again. I opened her up and sure enough, the wire had broken again. Although I have read that the wire was made slightly shorter than it should have been, I strongly suspect that the problem is caused by the flexing of the wire. Upon my second repair I just taped it neatly and left it out. I have pictures I took when I fixed mine but it is really simple.

Open up the wires on the left trunk hinge. They are taped up pretty well so it takes awile to get it all off but I'll bet you a dollar to a dime, the white wire will be broken off clean. Why the problems occur is that sometimes they made a contact and it isn't a good one.

Should take you about an hour or less. You need a razor blade, a peice of wire, I used crimp clamps because I was too lazy to get out the solder gun. Oh yeah, you need a roll of electrical tape. Finally, you will need 2 asperin and a cold beer to ease the pain in your back from laying in the trunk.

Go get it.

[eatingupblacktop]

Finally, you will need 2 asperin and a cold beer to ease the pain in your back from laying in the trunk.

Go get it.

It also helps if you can find a really small person with small arms and hands that you can direct to do the work for you. They fit into the trunk a lot better than large types and their short arms make it easy to get at the harness. So instead of aspirin, you can concentrate on the beer.

[91LexusLS400]

I found no broken wires, but the black wire had been spliced together before using a crimp connector. With the car running and looking through the rear open window. I was able to make the brake light flicker by moving the wires. I never got it to go out though. The wires looked good and didn't look pinched or pulled. This moring the cruise worked perfectly and eventually the brake light went out. But after about 15 minutes of driving the cruise let go as soon as the brake light came back on.

[eatingupblacktop]

Have you tried disconnecting the battery for about 10 minutes? Lets the computer reset.

[cjmeyer]

Finally, you will need 2 asperin and a cold beer to ease the pain in your back from laying in the trunk.

Go get it.

It also helps if you can find a really small person with small arms and hands that you can direct to do the work for you. They fit into the trunk a lot better than large types and their short arms make it easy to get at the harness. So instead of aspirin, you can concentrate on the beer.

My 95 works perfectly but I did the 2 aspirin and a cold beer just to be sure!LOL

[eatingupblacktop]

Finally, you will need 2 asperin and a cold beer to ease the pain in your back from laying in the trunk.

Go get it.

It also helps if you can find a really small person with small arms and hands that you can direct to do the work for you. They fit into the trunk a lot better than large types and their short arms make it easy to get at the harness. So instead of aspirin, you can concentrate on the beer.

My 95 works perfectly but I did the 2 aspirin and a cold beer just to be sure!LOL

I like that thinking. A good way for not doing repairs.