Bill H

Jim, I had the exact same connectors in the console that you and Blake had and both were pluged in to the phone. I do not know why there was no mute. I had the portable plus phone and maybe that is why but did remove the cradle and unplug everything under the console. I left everything in the trunk hooked up and just ran a mute wire along the drivers side under the door plates. Ther is a lead hole already coming up the rear seat on the drivers side to push it thru. I then pulld the fabric mat on the upper trunk pan and ran it over to the phone ecu. My tester is a circa 1975 tester that I bought a NAPA in Kansas City growing up and has a light bulb in the handle with one lead wire going to an alligator clip. It lights up like a charm and doesn't let me ground out anything. As far as the tray went, I mixed JB Weld to fill the holes, then painted them with Testors flat black paint and then went to Michaels and go a piece of felt paper with self adhesive backing to put on the plastic. It worked like a charm. The location of the button works perfect in the location. It looks like the ash tray will hit it when opening but it doesn't. My only word of caution with mounting there is to remove the wood from the console. In one post they said just to pull the ashtray up hard and it will come out. NOT on the 97. It is bolted in and if you pull it you will be buying a new one. Again Jim, thanksfor all of your help Bill

Here is the installation instructions without the word document. Motorola IFH1000 Bluetooth car installation in a 1997 Lexus LS400 Location of Components: Control Module The control module is attached to the wood console with double sided tape (which is provided by Motorola), between the traction control and heated seat buttons. It looks like the ashtray will be obstructed but because of the angle in which the ashtray opens, it is not in the way and does not hit the module when it does open. Motorola Loudspeaker Location: It is important to position the loudspeaker so that trim panels do not block the sound. A good mounting location is on the firewall between the emergency brake and the service brake. Like Jim I removed the two bolts holding the plastic cover to the firewall, pulled the cover back so I did not drill into the electronic module, and then drilled two small holes in the plastic to which I connected the speaker bracket with small bolts. I used the bracket as a template to drill the holes. The Microphone The microphone was installed on the map light housing just rear of the small center sun visor using adhesive “Velcro” tape. This mounting location picks up the voices of both the driver and front seat passenger equally well. The map light housing was removed temporarily to route the microphone wire towards the front of the headliner and then down the driver side A-pillar and under the dash to the Motorola Bluetooth ECU. The Motorola ECU Box: I did not take a photo of the ECU but I was able to remove the black panel above the gas and brake panel and use double sided tape to attach it there. The ECU ties all the car kit components (microphone, speaker, control module and mute wires) together. Automatically mute the radio/CD/cassette when a phone call is received or placed. I only found one point where the Motorola mute wire could be attached to the wiring harness of my 1997 LS400. 1) At the “yellow with black stripe” wire on the male connector mated with the female connector and attached to the Lexus phone transceiver in the right well of the trunk. I used the red splice tap and ran an 18 gauge wire from the firewall along the kick panels and behind the rear seat to the trunk. 2) A second mute terminal location on the driver’s side at the rear of the console did not work on my 1997 LS400. I don’t know if it is because mine already had the phone installed or not. I did short out the fuse to my ECU while testing this plug. I believe that I may have hit two terminals at the same time. Be careful when testing. It blew the fuse to the Power Steering, ABS, Shift Lock, Charging System and Traction Control ECU. My LS400 had two connection plugs under the center console. A three pin on the driver’s side which had a transformer on the center green wire, a purple wire and a black wire. The right side had a seven pin adapter. I tried to ground all ten terminals and none of them worked. Tools used during the installation and Wiring Instructions Continuity Tester Splice Tap Mini fuse wiring harness – This was the real time saver. I found this at NAPA auto supply. You simply remove the fuse you from the panel, place the necessary fuse for the Bluetooth adapter in the top position and the fuse you removed from the panel in the bottom position. Then you simply plug the new harness into the fuse panel. This is much better than the spades that you attach to the actual fuse. They have a tendency to separate the fuse box and you risk breaking the panel. Once this is done you simply crimp the wire to the Motorola ECU into the harness. You will use two of these. The red wire to the ECU goes to a fuse which is switched on with the ignition and the green wire goes to a fuse which is switched to the ignition also, but needs a low current while the car is off. Find your radio 7.5 amp fuse and it will work perfectly. The reason for this is that the Motorola Bluetooth ECU lets you store contact information for voice dialing. This job would not have been possible without help from Blake and Jim. Sorry I was unable to attach the word document. Bill

I used both Jims and Blakes advice to install the Motorola IFH 1000 bluetoothe in my 1997 LS. My car had the integrated phone but there was no mute lead in the console wiring harness so I had to go to the trunk and run a wire for the phone control unit. I have been unable to attach the word document but I will try again. The motorola bluetooth is such a pleasure that I purchased another one for my Jeep Grand Cherokee. I used both Jims and Blakes advice to install the Motorola IFH 1000 bluetoothe in my 1997 LS. My car had the integrated phone but there was no mute lead in the console wiring harness so I had to go to the trunk and run a wire for the phone control unit. I have been unable to attach the word document but I will try again. The motorola bluetooth is such a pleasure that I purchased another one for my Jeep Grand Cherokee.

There is a place in the UK that sells a wiring harness adapter for the standard LS radio. I have te Nakamachi so to change it out I would be forced to replace the amp as well. I believe that you would be safe with the standard amp and just replacing the head unit.

I am a somewhat agressive drive and didn't chage mine until 134,000. I have the 97 which I understand was built before the high performance engines so it would not have damaged the engine if it did break. I guess it depends on what year your car is and is it vulnerable to damage if it does break. Bill

I hav the Pearl White 1997 with gold package. I just recently bougt the chrome on chrome with the LEXUS on it. I felt the logo would be over kill since the logo is on the grill and that the gold was going to over do it. Just my opinion. Bill

Uplaoding attachments was disabled on 5/9/06. They said that it would be off for a few days. I will watch and add the install document as soon as I can. Sorry Bill

where is the document? Let's try this again. I upgraded to gold so I could post larger attachments. Bill It Looks Like I can upload attachments now so here goes.

where is the document? Let's try this again. I upgraded to gold so I could post larger attachments. Bill

Here is a word document with pictures on my bluetooth install. Like Blake and Jim, I would say that this is the best option on my car. I had the factory portable plus phone when I bought the car new ten years ago and have missed the voice activated and mute features. It is nice to have all of these back again. I believe that Jim was correct, since I had the factory phone, I did not have a mute pin in my console but had to run a wire to the trunk. Bill

That sure is odd. I think Jim may be on to something as far as the transciever being the culprit of you not getting a mute in the console harness since neither of our LSs have the OEM phones, but we both found the mute in the console harness. What cracks me up is that the transiever in my old ES300 was under lock and key in its trunk mounted bracket. I'd love to know the reasoning behind that one. I sure can't imagine someone wanting to steal it! LOL Congrats on the car phone! It was one of the best things that I've done to my car! I updated my system several months ago, allowing me to narrowly escape a full replacement so that I can use a newer phone with my cark 91h. :D Blake, I owe you many thanks for the help and inspiration. While doing this project, I removed the seats, console and the carpet, powerwashed the carpet and placed Dynomat on the floor as well. I decided to give my car it's tenth anniversary maintenance. I took the front seats, center armrest and door armrest and had new leather put on all of them. I also sent my steering wheel and shifter to Alan Gun leather Accessories in plantation Florida where he is rebuilding them with new leather and wood. I went with him based on your experience with American Stitches. I will post picture when it is returned, but if anyone needs more information he is at www.aglausa.com I am also posting the installation document with pictures like Jim did if anyone could use it. Bill I like the sound of the speaker that came with it. While mounted on the drivers side my wife can be part of the conversation from the passenger side without any problem. I thought about tracking down the cars speaker wires but after shorting out one ECU, I thought it best to leave well enough alone. Bill

I will be posting pictures tomorrow but here goes the installation procedures for a Motorola IHF1000 bluetooth kit in a 1997 LS400 with Nakamichi sound system. It is a simple installation really. I followed Jims instructions and even mirrored the speaker installation by the fuse box (be sure to loosen the black cover before drilling as to not hit the connectors that it is covering). Instead of placing the module between the carpet and transmission, I loosened the black cover above the brake pedal and used double side tape and cable ties to attach it and then place the cover back on. There is plenty of room as I have the integrated radar detector and all of the wires are up there as well. My connection to the fuse box was aided by a very nifty piece that I got at NAPA in which you remove the fuse from the box, plug this new harness in, place a 5 amp fuse for the bluetooth and the original fuse in the second slot of the adapter. There is a lead with crimp connector to attach the lead to the system. There are two power leads, Red goes to a 5 amp ignition fuse and the green goes to a lead with full power on the ignition and low power when the ignition is off. You will have a 7.5 amp radio fuse which is the best place to plue the green lead into. Where I ran into trouble was with the mute wire. My LS did not have a mute lead on the wiring harness under the console. I am assuming that this is due to the Nakamichi with the portable plus Motorola phone. I had to run a wire to the trunk and go to the right side under the floor. Coming off of the phone CPU it was a tellow wire with black stripe. I used Blake and Jims method of a continuity tester to ground it. I did have a problem testing the leads under the console to warn you all about. I used the continuity tester and shorted out one of the ECU's. I lost power steering, The complete charging system, ABS, traction control and the ability to shift. It blew a fuse in the fuse box, nothing major but I had to use the diode tester to find the right fuse. In the end it was all worth it. I was 10 feet behind the car putting stuff away while the ignition was on and the phone rang. It picked up the bluetooth and ran the call in the car. The Motorola also reads the incoming number or the name if you placed it in the memory.

Jim, I have the Lexus portable plus Motorola Flip phone. The harness has two plugs. The drivers side has three wires. A green wire which has a transformer attached to it, a purple wire which is in the slot that Blake plugged his telemute into, and a black wire. On the passenger side is a 10 pin with only 7 pins installed. The wire colors are, Blue, Orange, Yellow, Red, Green, Brown with white stripe, and I can't remember the other one. I will finish hooking up the motorola bluetooth this weekend and will let everyone know. One note; the Motorola bluetooth IFH-1000 has to be attached to a 5 amp fuse. If anyone is thinking about finding the battery lead on the phone harness be very careful. The only 5 amp on the 97 LS is the stop light. There are not even any 5 amp fuses under the hood, so you either have to hook into the stop light fuse or run direct to the battery. I will keep everyone informed. Bill

Blake, You and Jim listed the phone plug with Telemute on the drivers side of the rear console. I have two wiring harnesses in my console. The drivers side is a 3 pin and the passenger side is a 10 pin. The dirvers side has a green, purple and black wire. The green wire has a transformer attached at the phone which leads me to believe that it is the power. Question, do either of you remember what color lead is the telemute and was it on the side with the 3 pin terminal. Thanks in advance Bill

Time for an update. The engine idel going up and down was due to a bad o-ring in the fuel injectors. The shop replaced them when they pulled the intake off to get the EGR pipe and gaskets out. The ABS light was my doing. I decided to be like Blake. Since I was having new leather seat covers made at and the seats were out, I decided to pull out the carpet, put dynomat in and power wash the carpet. While pulling everything out, once again I thout it would be a good time to put a bluetooth phone system in. When I pulled the dash apart and took the wood console out without the traction control pluged in, I drove the car to Home Depot. Well the traction control is linked to the ABS system. What I have learned is anytime you unplug something do not start the car. If you need to move the car, plug everyting back in befor starting it. Bill