B.Crosbie

Update: The hazards came on in the car we originally had electronic problems with regardless of the ecus which were in it. The hazards did not come on in the donor car in the same way until the ecus were swapped and then re installed in their respective cars. With this in mind does that mean some error has been carried over between the two cars due to the ecus being swapped. Regards, Brandon

Hi guys, So after swapping the body cpu from another ls400 lots of the things that weren't working came back so obviously the body ecu was to blame. However after putting the body ecu and any other components back into their original car the hazard lights have started working permanently on the donor car. Nothing we do apart from disconnecting the battery will turn them off which is annoying because apart from a couple of blown bulbs in the dash, electronically the donor car was perfect. My dad read somewhere that touching the two leads for the battery off each other whilst NOT connected to the battery would clear any codes in the ecus. Could this have caused the problem or has something else happened because the ecus were moved between cars? In addition to this we are trying to establish the model version of the donor car I have been refering too. It is a 1999 car which has satnav and according to the previous owner the more powerful interference engine (if cambelt breaks, pistons/valves get damaged). He also said it was a Mk3 which is contrary to what other people have said on forums such as this. According to them the Mk3 did not have satnav and a few other toys. We have 3 cars in total, 2 of which I suspect are Mk3 and one a Mk4. Is there any surefire way to tell them apart? The suspected Mk4 has a flashing ECT light on the dash which was there when we bought it. It is also a bit jerky when changing in/out of park/reverse/drive. The ect button works fine and it will go into Power and Snow modes. After some reading we have found the main causes to be shift solenoids or error codes in the ecu. Is this diagnosis correct? We are trying to decide which car is most worthwhile putting back on the road. The two main contenders have alot going for them but have niggly issues so if the ECT light turned out to be an easy enough fix then the suspected Mk4 would probably go back into service. Regards, Brandon.

Thanks for the reply billydpowell. Turns out the little electronic gizmo inside the key for one car got swapped with the one from another car we have It all works now except for the drivers door which we think is just a wiring or solenoid problem. Regards, Brandon.

Forgot to say the central locking works if it is used from the drivers door and the red light flashes on the key when the buttons are pressed. Regards, Brandon

Hi Guys, Do Denso LS400 keys have to be reprogrammed after the battery has been replaced in them. The key in question starts the car but does not lock/unlock the doors or open the trunk. If they do have to be reprogrammed is there some sort of button pressing sequence that will do it or does the car have to be brought to a dealer. Regards, Brandon

What is the current draw supposed to be when the car is fully "asleep"? We have gotten it down to 280mA, but that is still a bit high isn't it?

Thanks for the replys landar. If the battery is able to start the car and keep it running under normal conditions then the battery could be ruled out couldn't it? The problem arises when the car is left sitting overnight with nothing left on, the battery is drained the next day. We did some testing on the alternator and at idle the voltage input to the battery is about 14.5 volts. However under full load the voltage drops to around 12.3 volts but never goes below 12 volts. This is not correct obviously but could alternator trouble or battery trouble really cause all the problems listed above.

Budget won't stretch that far right now I'm afraid. Just bought the car. Its an 1999 LS 400 (Right hand drive) and the battery was out of the car when I went to see it. I am experiencing the following problems and wondered if there might be a common fault; Battery running flat overnight (charging at 13.5 v at low revs with lights etc on and nothing left on overnight.) The temp gauge does not work despite the instrument clusted (dash panal) and the engine sender being replaced. Lights for gearshift on instrument clusted not lighting (bulbs ok). Lights on shifter itself working. Others not working;; Outside temp gauge Tilt steering. Was working but after some on and off of the negative battery terminal it too failed! It does work when the ignition is on but not when the key is put in initially like it should. Cruise Mirrors CD Trunk Seat belt adjuster not working on drivers side Power windows cannot be operated from drivers door panal except for drivers side. Lock switch does not function. All windows work from location! Passangers seatback and height Central locking (Key itself is functioning) Brake wear light flashing (brake pads good, fluid ok, disconnecting fluid sensor changes nothing) Heater makes a lot of noise Changed all relays and all fuses are ok on both boards. I understand that all of the above may not be linked but any help would be welcome. Starts, drives and runs well.

Hello, We have a 1999 LS400 which has a few electrical gremlins. I found an OBD2 port under the dash and was thinking of getting an OBD2 cable and software for a laptop. Is the 99 fully OBD2 compliant and would a simple cable and cd tester be able to give any real information? Regards, Brandon