thisisludicrous

Quick update, for posterity and the archives searches in the future - coolant level was in fact low, and I've since found a leak in the coolant system. With coolant up to spec, heater works fine 24/7. Thanks gents. Mighty bone-headed move to let the coolant get so low, but I had no "idiot light" to warn this "idiot." 95's don't have 'em, just coolant temp, which was opearting in normal range.

With auto climate control set to any temperature that would be considered warm/hot, the temperature of the air that blows out of the HVAC vents depends entirely on RPMs the engine is spinning at. The situation is the same if I switch to manual control of HVAC, and it's not effected by whether the air is from outside or its being recirculated (with a 10-20 sec delay in response) Assuming car is up to normal operating temperature, anything north of 1500-2000rpm will provide heated air. Idling at 700-900rpm means cool air that gets continually colder. I turn the A/C button off when using auto-climate this time of year, so that's not it. I have not measured this phenomenon past about 2 minutes, primarily because I get too damn cold waiting. Bought the car in July 2003, so I've never been through a winter with it. A/C works fantastic. I'm in the mountains of western North Carolina, outside temp averages 35 Farenheit. Any ideas on this one? Thanks in advance.

Good ideas - I don't actually have a remote for the LS400, just one standard issue laser-cut key that came with the car. So, no remote to be accidentally pushed while in pocket, and no electronic key to be dirty inside. I DO have an dual-mode analog/digital cell phone in the car, so I'll remove that from the equation in the future. And I'll need to check out different geographic locations, per ToddLS400's suggestion. A wiring short is my biggest fear. My indie Lexus repair shop doesn't like to track down electrical gremlins, and a 1+ hr drive to the nearest Lexus dealership for an intermittent problem sounds perilous, "Sorry, but your locks are working fine, we can't seem to find a problem. That'll be $80. Have a safe drive home." The wife's Sienna has an aftermarket keyless entry/remote starter that I installed myself, so I thought I had bungled that one somehow. But now that the Lexus is doing something eerily similar...may have to check the Toyota TSBs. Thanks for the ideas, gents. If you can think of any others, please let me know.

My '95 door locks have an intermittent problem, it's happened 2 or 3 times now within a month. It happens regardless of how I enter the car, whether the doors are already unlocked, or I have to unlock them with the key. Once I'm driving, the door lock actuator begins to sporadically trigger the "off/unlock" mode for the locks on all 4 doors (I'm assuming the signal is coming from the master in the driver's door, or maybe even passenger's door). Sometimes in a stream of 8-10 'clicks,' sometimes just 1 or 2 at the car's whim. During a 'stream,' I can't manually override with the driver's door lock/unlock button. The condition seems independent of the outside weather. It will happen for the entire drive time, up to at least 20 minutes, not stopping until I turn the car off. A day later, the condition will be gone. A 365-day search through the site's archives didn't turn up anything. Coincidentally, the wife's '98 Sienna sometimes does the same exact thing. Pray tell, any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

After searching all morning through the forum for an answer to the radio backlight question, after I post a second question myself, naturally only THEN do I find this: Pioneer Headunit Basically, this gent says forget it, this ain't no DIY job. He doesn't specify exactly which generation he pulled the headunit from, but I can't imagine one would be drastically different from the others. His climate control backlight bulb switcheroo is for a G1, FWIW. So we do without or payup for a refurbishing. Think I'll do without.

No answers from me, I'm afraid, just more commiseration. My '95 LS400 has the identical problem - radio works fine, LCD is just jiffy, but no backlight on LCD display or radio buttons. Does anyone know if this can be fixed as the climate control unit can, by replacing burned out bulbs? Or is this indicative of some other problem? Thanks in advance.