Instrument panel problem occurred at dealership while fixing other things

[Lexus owner 00]

Good morning,

I gave my car to the Lexus dealership in Santa Barbara to check and fix some mice problems that had gone in the engine, also had the timing belt changed, as well as the water pump and the thermostat - spending close to $4,000.

The car came back. I realized the lights in the driver's door panel, by the pedals and on the headliner were not turning on when I opened the door.

I took the car back to Lexus who fixed the problem. 

I took my car back, drove a block to see the instrument panel suddenly turn totally black. I went straight back to the dealership.

Furthermore, I realized the command panel in the driver's door was not glued back. 

When turning on the ignition, the instrument panel lights up and works; then, for a few seconds, it flashes before turning totally black.

Could it be a FUSE? a bad CONNECTION?

What do you recommend?

Please, give me insight! The dealership is telling me they cannot do anything because it was a preexisting condition when they NEVER mentioned it to me once before it happened, not in writing on the invoice or the final bill, not EVEN verbally!

Thank you so much for your input! I am anxious to hear from you!

[LSPaul]

On 11/20/2017 at 1:12 PM, Lexus owner 00 said:

Good morning,

I gave my car to the Lexus dealership in Santa Barbara to check and fix some mice problems that had gone in the engine, also had the timing belt changed, as well as the water pump and the thermostat - spending close to $4,000.

The car came back. I realized the lights in the driver's door panel, by the pedals and on the headliner were not turning on when I opened the door.

I took the car back to Lexus who fixed the problem. 

I took my car back, drove a block to see the instrument panel suddenly turn totally black. I went straight back to the dealership.

Furthermore, I realized the command panel in the driver's door was not glued back. 

When turning on the ignition, the instrument panel lights up and works; then, for a few seconds, it flashes before turning totally black.

Could it be a FUSE? a bad CONNECTION?

What do you recommend?

Please, give me insight! The dealership is telling me they cannot do anything because it was a preexisting condition when they NEVER mentioned it to me once before it happened, not in writing on the invoice or the final bill, not EVEN verbally!

Thank you so much for your input! I am anxious to hear from you!

Wow, that stinks.   Tracing through the electrical system to find damage, especially from mice is a seriously tough job, even for pro mechanics. It's no surprise that plenty of cars get totalled out by insurance carriers for that reason!

I don't have any experience with the second-gen cars, but in the case of the first-gen cars (up to '94), I bought mine in non-running condition, and eventually fixed it.  There's multiple wiring looms that run inside the fenders (behind the fender liner) from the engine compartment (and the power distribution points under the hood) to the  passenger compartment.  Most of those in my case were on the driver's side.  I'm not a tech and I had another LS400 at the time I bought my current car, so I was able to dig into things in spare time.  I fiddled with things on and off for the better part of a year before getting the car up and running (thankfully not a rodent issue with mine, but with a loose connection under the dash, between the fush/junction block and the dashboard wiring harnesses). 

1993 and 1994 cars had issues with backlighting on the instrument clusters, which can be repaired by replacing some capacitors on the circuit board.  I have no knowledge of whether this is an issue on '95-on cars.

I suppose it's possible that connections weren't put back together properly when the techs dug through the wiring harnesses, trying to find and repair the breaks.  Perhaps there's more damage? 

Fingers crossed that the solution is a fairly simple one.

Best,
Paul