What's Missing Here?

[flashedwards]

OK...I was cleaning the trunk on my Mother's '98 LS400 and I opened the "trap door" to the right side of where the spare tire is located and there seemed to be an electrical device missing. What makes me think this is there is what appears to be a small antenna lead...maybe an 1/8 of an inch in diameter, gray in color with a silver thread-on fitting on the end. Protruding from the fitting was a single bare copper conductor resembling the center conductor on co-ax cable. In the well where this lead was located was an elctrical plug with maybe a half dozen wires in it. My father bought this car used and I don't know anything about it's history. (my father passed away five years ago and my mother has Alzheimer's disease so she is of no help). Is something missing here?...could something have been stolen?...or were these wires stubbed-out for optional equipment that was never installed on this car? Any ideas?

Thanks,

Flash

[1990LS400]

All LS400's were prewired at the factory for a dealer installed Lexus branded phone. The connectors you found are part of the prewiring. You found one of the two phone antenna coax cables in the trunk. One leads to the rear of the center console and the other to the phone antenna imprinted on the rear window. Connect the two coax cables together and the coax cable under the center console will be connected to the phone antenna on the rear window.

The well under the false floor would hold the phone transceiver or booster if the car had a phone system. There are other phone system cables behind the passenger side trim panel in the trunk. A plastic bracket attached to the the bottom of the tool kit receptacle holds the cables in place so they don't rattle around in cars without the phone system.

In 1998, two phone models were available for the LS400 - one fixed and the other portable. Both analog-only and essentially worthless these days.

Besides the coax cable under the back of the center console there are two fairly large phone system connectors -- the handsets for the dealer installed phones would have been installed in the upper console tray. The front center pin in the driver side phone connector is a mute pin - attach an aftermarket Bluetooth phone kit's mute wire to this pin and the audio system will be automatically muted when a phone call is received, made or in progress. Other pins in the connectors supply power, connect to where the phone controller would be mounted on the left side of the steering wheel and even to the HVAC system so that the fan speed would be reduced during a phone call.

On 98-00 LS400's with factory navigation and a dealer installed Lexus phone, the phone integrated with the navigation system. Calls could be dialed from the navigation screen and POI's stored in the nav (restaurants, etc.) could be called without inputting the phone number.

I know all this stuff because I use the mute pin and rear window phone antenna with my Nokia phone kit.

[flashedwards]

Outstanding...that's for getting back to me so quickly. So it's a Fred Flinstone communication prewire....got it! Since I have a phone w/Bluetooth I don't think that I have any need for an analog hook-up. Thanks again....Flash

[flashedwards]

Outstanding...that's for getting back to me so quickly. So it's a Fred Flinstone communication prewire....got it! Since I have a phone w/Bluetooth I don't think that I have any need for an analog hook-up. Thanks again....Flash