2001 is200 electrical issue

[Jay999]

Wondering if anyone can help me, I've got a 2001 is200, been very reliable up until today, I went out to see a neighbour and I've noticed that my headlights are pulsing on and off? I can hear what sounds like a relay clicking on and off under the bonnet and I'm unable to unlock the car at all either with the remote fob or the physical key, hoping someone on here has come across a similar problem and found a nice easy fix for it, car was running fine earlier today, noticed the problem about 45 minutes ago and it's still doing it now?! Anyone have any idea what's going on?

thanks

[sorcerer]

I don't know about an IS200 specifically because I've never had one, but all sorts of weird electrical problems can be caused by a failing Battery or bad earths. Because of the way vehicles are wired (all earths common to the body and Battery negative), if an earth connection becomes loose or is dirty or corroded, power can be backfed into other circuits. I remember a case of a skip truck where every time the driver applied the brakes, the windscreen wipers came on - release the brake and they stopped. That was traced to a faulty earth somewhere.

Check that the Battery is in a good state of charge and check the main earth strap from the Battery negative to the body, the engine earth strap and also the earth connections at the headlights. Other than that, I don't know. Oh, and when I say "check" the earth straps, unbolt them and clean the connections, don't just visually inspect them. Good luck.

[ColinBarber]

In addition to checking the Battery and earths, the series I IS can suffer from water ingress which gets into an electrical junction box. Here is one example, use the search to find others. You may be able to dry out the junction box, others have had to replace it due to corrosion.

https://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/28384-headlights-staying-on/

 

[Jay999]

Thanks guys I'll be sure to check out both of these ideas if I can just get into the damn thing, lights have stopped pulsing and relay has stopped clicking but I can't unlock it with the key fob and the key doesn't unlock the door 😡