M.Yasir

Did you checked with a multimeter that there is no power coming to the head unit?.. try to pull out the head unit and try to connect it directly with the battery you will come to know where the problem is, either the radio will work or if it does not there is a problem with the unit.... in case it works then it might take a lot of time to track from where the wires are damaged/cut Since you already checked all the fuses then the problem might be in the wiring

Yeah i ended up breaking a bulb since the socket was stuck somehow, No I placed a normal bulb not an LED, still the message is coming

Currency in United Arab Emirates is Dirhams, 1$= 3.6 dirhams this currency difference is fixed between UAE and US So i paid in total 500 dirhams + 200 dirhams for starter motor total = 700 dirhams which amounts to 194$ Yes you are right I have the valet key, i tried opening the glove box but it wont budge, thanks so much for the links

When turning the key is the starter motor running? are you able to crank the engine... what do you mean by "towed to my house and out oil in it" ? check the electrical first all the fuses, no start condition are of 2 types 1.) No cranking, pure silence when turning the ignition key 2.) Engine cranking but engine does not catches up So in your case which one is it? Try to post some pictures, it helps a lot

Best is to go for a new head unit, after heavy rain here in UAE, somehow water entered in the trunk and touched some circuit and boom!. Now my radio sometimes works sometimes not, when it works the sound is crystal clear but the volume knob does not work but sometimes it works Heard kenwood DDX 470 head unit works with the car amplifier and also with the woofer...

I changed the bulbs of the 3rd light, but still i can see the error message on the dash tail lamp failure... after reading some posts i came to know that the bulbs should be 19 watter or more? if the wattage is less the error message will still be there.... i will get back to this one

Update : The car is back to life! fires up perfect..... also no engine check light, it means so far so good Looks like a good job done, some pics

other side of the key I have no buttons, valet key? yes you may be right on this... opening the glove box? i will confirm in my lunch break when i will visit the garage Before buying the started I checked by connecting directly with the battery, it sounded smooth unlike my old started which sounded horrible and also the rotating shaft of the motor was hard Regarding the mechanic being idiot, well there is nothing else I can do in this, here in UAE the attitude of these people is stupid, they wont listen, it is a just replace attitude here, no body will check just replace, I am being optimistic here since i have to get things done from these guys no other option, Labor charge for this job they are taking 125$ Lexus dealer quoted me 385$ for a new starter motor so i stepped back and purchased a used one Run more tests, unfortunately here attitude is very bad, if car not starting and motor is not cranking up replace the starter motor, no body checks a thing On the other hand and keeping in mind i dont have the remote from which i can lock unlock the doors, i was planning to go to a car key shop, may be he can give me a duplicate remote, will this work?

I have almost the same key which i have attached in the pic as a sample, so from the key how can i know that there is something inside... what is a teenie?

It is good to hear that the problem is solved,

Atleast you have wheels bob, you dont have to rent a car or take taxi to hunt down the parts

Update: I managed to get a used started motor from a salvage yard for about 55$, so lets hope this fixes the problem as my previous started motor was almost jammed if not completely, so the mechanic was saying it is rotating but not enough power to fire up the engine regardless i did not have even the starter running up Now the garage people will connect the starter directly which will i think bypass the security system and will try to crank up the engine lets hope On the other hand Bob and as you advised regarding the security system, I asked the technician in the garage he told that if engine immobilizer was working there would be no sound in the engine bay while turning the ignition key, lets hope he is right, the problem is i dont have the remote from which i can lock unlock some more pics, last pic is of my old starter motor

security system problem? yeah i searched around and many people did reported that the security system somehow malfunctioned and immobilized the engine, but here in my case i think i dont have engine immobilizer, i dont have a remote/ buttons on the keys to lock unlock doors/ trigger alarm However whenever the car is locked and i open the trunk using the keys from outside the alarm goes off, does this mean that i should have a remote also to lock unlock doors, how I can identify this that how many functions are there in my security system?

Update: Mechanic here told me that I should replace the following parts in order to proceed and see the results 1.) Starter motor 2.) Starter motor relay 3.) Intake manifold packing 4.) Battery Some pics

Hello everyone Unfortunately yesterday my car gave up on me in a bizarre way I woke up in the morning for office, start the car left for idle for 5 mins then left to office, then started again and went for lunch everything was nice and smooth and you know the regular untill i came back after lunch, put the keys and when cranked, NOTHING, pure silence! tried again and nothing all peace.. Opened up the bonnet tried to check the battery and checked the terminal everything looked good, tried turning the keys again still nothing, the started motor just died no crank just silence, while turning the key i can hear tick tick sound in the engine bay... While trying, in between starter motor came to life and cranked but engine did not fired up, i tried again then again it went into silent mode, i gave up (was getting late for office too) Luckily in the area where the car broke down there were lots of auto garages, i went upto one of those, i tried explaining to him that may be the battery died so took one of the portable battery to jump start the car, we went to my lexus but still no luck, I called up a recovery truck then went to their garage.. In the garage they diagnosed and told that the starter motor is not accessible straight away, they need to open up the manifold on the top to see why the started is not turning up, i argued that its not about the motor there is some electrical fault, i told that please try to pull up the ODB codes since engine check light was lit, they did and what their computer was showing was all the history codes and one was that fuel to air ratio was not good... The pic attached is when the car came inside the garage, i will go today in my lunch break with more pics of the engine bay Please help here

You are lucky only body parts are damaged and not the engine parts, good luck

welcome prateek, '98 LS 400 is also my first car and I am loving every bit of it Very sad to hear that you got into an accident I hope you were not hurt, regarding the spare parts yeah and like bob said go to a scrap yard you should get easily at least the bonnet and the front bumper, are you still able to start the car? is the radiator damaged? what about the windshield, is it still in place?

You are absolutely right there is one box, i will fix and report back It is the other way around Bob my apologies i typed it wrong, in 1 litre it will go 9.3 km; talking in mpg in 19 gallons it is going 405 miles so in 1 gallon it is going 21 miles

There is 3rd brake light? my goodness! i will check tomorrow

Beautiful, in 500 bucks its great Blowing off the door will be the last option honestly delete this option, ofcourse there must be something which is making it stuck, try to open the door panel from inside meaning when you open the panels to replace the door glass for example, you will definitely find something, good luck

Hi all I have just set a new record for my own satisfaction regarding the mileage of my 98 LS400, the car is simply unbelievable so here we are talking about in tank full it gave 405 miles (651 KM), tank full is 23 gallons or 87 litres but i will consider 19 gallons or 70 litres of petrol Some equations mileage = 651 km/70 litre= 9.3 litres/km which is very impressive for a 290 bhp V8 bull sitting under the hood, this reminds me i was going 180km/hr when a Range Rover managed to get pass through me phew he was going 200 then (keeping in mind the radar is set to flash over 140km/hr), enjoying every bit of lexus PS: yeah i know there is a tail lamp failure message, i dont know what to do about this guy i changed the lights but still this guy is coming up

Hi Paul Welcome to the forums, and take good care of your lexus and keep sharing your experience Craig I registered there, lots of information i can see there of my car (up until the year 2000) keeping in mind that the car is now 18 years old now and the car is exported to Abu Dhabi.. the only thing I wanted to know who the owner was i was able to see a name "Leo Markarian" i dont know whether this person is the owner or not... but he maintained the vehicle in the best way possible, that is the only reason why it is shining now

despite the above scenario please dont hate the car, its a great car

I edited the post so that any other use may not take my post into account and pour in brake fluid... One more thing everyone says the brake fluid will damage the whole system? what is the primary reason behind it? because brake fluid does not have much lubrication properties or is there any other reason or it absorbs moisture and will make the seals swell?