Little Speaker Buzzing When Stepping The Brake

[ThunderRiver]

Lately, whenever I step on the brake, I keep hearing little buzzing sound near my driver's seat. After further investigation, I notice that it comes from a little speaker that's a little bit left to the brake padle.

What does that speaker do? I don't think that speaker has anything to do with the regular audio speaker. How do I fix it so that I wouldn't hear any buzzing sound from that speaker?

1994 LS 400

Thanks

[1990LS400]

The speaker left of the brake pedal may be part of a phone car kit. The speaker for my Nokia phone's car kit is attached to the firewall just left of the brake pedal arm. If that is what it is, there may still be a connection from the phone's car kit to the ignition system or fuse box and there may be a few other components hidden in the console or dash. If there is a wire coming out of the speaker, you might try tracing it in order to locate other related components. There may be a junction box than ties all of the components (handset cradle, microphone, speaker, external antenna) together.

[1990LS400]

One more thought. Could this speaker be for the wireless lock/unlock confirmation noise?

[ThunderRiver]

Hi,

Thanks for the hint! I bought this car back in 1997, and it was a pre-owned 1994 LS400. Well, I suppose the previous owner installed the handfree cell phone car kit inside the car, and I never knew until now LOL.

I noticed that the serial number for that speaker is SSN4002A. After goolging around, I found this http://store5.yimg.com/I/cell-accessories_1785_15527081

That's exactly the speaker that was inside my car. Do you think Lexus installed that phone car kit? or previous owner did?

I wonder if there is an easy way to remove it as it doesn't do me anything good. I already have another car kit of my own anyway. Besides, I think this speaker is going bad, and that's why it has been buzzing.

All the wires are hidden under the carpet. I guess the only solution is to take off the carpet and dig deeper to find the wire? Can I just cut the speaker off and leave the wires inside the car? I don't think it matters that much anyway.

Any suggestions?

[1990LS400]

Yep, that speaker is quite similar to the one for my Nokia car kit. My only concern about cutting the wires is that the buzzing might indicate that there is current flowing through the speaker cable. If you cut the cable to the speaker, you might want to separate the positive and negative wires on the harness side and tape the wire ends with electrical tape. I would bet that there are other remnants of the phone kit - maybe under the dash, under the front armrest and/or behind the front ash tray. Still, it would be interesting to trace the speaker wire and see what it is connected to and where the other components are hidden. But that is your call.

[SKperformance]

The odd part is the lexus car kit speaker is supposed to work through the drivers door speaker not another seperate speaker.

I might suggest you have a wiring problem in the trunk like many other owners which is causing a bad ground in the trunk arm. Search the posts from a couple of days and you will find it and how to fix it.

[1990LS400]

I think that skperformance is talking about the common early LS problem of a broken wire - the "white with black stripe" one - in the left trunk hinge that causes the transmission to shift eratically and also the reverse indicator light in the gauge cluster to come on when the break pedal is depressed. It is easily fixed by splicing in a piece of wire. Although I doubt it, I suppose that this could be a factor here. It is kind of strange that this problem is happening after you have owned your LS all these years. Maybe the speaker has gone bad or one of the connecting wires in the phone car kit has shorted out. This underdash speaker is not part of a Lexus phone system since the dealer installed Lexus phones played the call through the door speaker. Again, I suggest that you see if that aftermarket car phone kit is connected to the car's electrical system (fuse box, ignition switch, etc.) and, if so, that you disconnect it.

[ThunderRiver]

Yeah well, the more strange thing is that I never knew it existed in my car until it starts bussing whenever I hit the brake.

I cut the wire earlier tonight, and went ahead to separate the wire and isolate them from touching each other.

I don't think my 1994 LS400 comes with any Lexus car kit speaker, and previous owner probably did the wiring, and now the external speaker is going bad.

All my sound system is in good shape. All sound speakers are working, so that's something I am not too worried about.

Tonight I can sleep better, knowing that I got rid of the problem LOL

Thank you all for all your help. I don't know if I want to go through the pain and uncover all the wiring underneath the car. My car spent its first 9 years in southern states, either Florida or Texas. This is the first year that it is enduring cold winter weather up in Michigan. A lot of problem came up, cruise control failure, air flow censor malfunction, instrument panel black-out and this sneaky external speaker is just one of them. Not to mention the snow driving while my rear end was swaying one way or another. So much fun with rear wheel drive on snow... heh

[VBdenny]

The reason the bass end sways on snow is because the car has what GM calls "positraction" If you gas it on snow, both tires spin equally. It is also called limited slip differential

[1990LS400]

Hey Thunderriver,

I recommend purchasing four snow tires before next winter - not all season tires but real snow tires (such as Bridgestone Blizzaks) with the "mountain/snowflake" emblem on the sidewall. With snow tires, the LS does really well in fairly deep snow.