Ls400 Cuts Out

[cruisermark]

Managed to dig up some pics - shouldnt have sold her! lol

[lurch]

Yeh I know, I have a RX400h but clean father in laws LS for him and love driving it, real quality car and smooth and as they live only a few doors away see it regularly.

[cruisermark]

AH OK - how does the rx compare to the ls in terms of smoothness and quiteness?

[lurch]

Great pics , man there some stuff under there, can,t even see the switch on them . I love the RX it's really smooth with the CVT box and on a long run very comfortable, excellent in snow aswell where the LS would struggle, but there's something about the LS which appeals every time for me.

[Tulpen]

Phil,

I parted company with my beloved LS 400 in November 2012. I then bought a 2009 RX 400h. It was a nice car with all the attributes you describe.

BUT.......it wasn't an LS.

In November 2013 I exchanged it for my LS 460. Once you've owned an LS, somehow, nothing else will do.

[cruisermark]

if you look in the second pic its the block connector with lots of wires coming from - its on the right handside of the pic next to the round sponge covered connector

[lurch]

if you look in the second pic its the block connector with lots of wires coming from - its on the right handside of the pic next to the round sponge covered connector

Yep I see it thanks again for that will be a great help when part comes.

[lurch]

Phil,

I parted company with my beloved LS 400 in November 2012. I then bought a 2009 RX 400h. It was a nice car with all the attributes you describe.

BUT.......it wasn't an LS.

In November 2013 I exchanged it for my LS 460. Once you've owned an LS, somehow, nothing else will do.

I like the ride height of the RX and FWD in slippery conditions but having only driven father in laws on short trips I know where you are coming from, could do with owning both !!!!

[lurch]

Ok thanks will pop down and lay head under dash and see if I need to order flexi drive to be able to remove. Sent off enquiry to amayama will get one ordered.

I sent amayama an enquiry yesterday for this part as well, be interesting to see if they differentiate between Suffolk and Scotland for p&p!

Will let you know what they come back with !

[lurch]

Total cost inc p&p £29.69 to suffolk. May Incure Import charge but shouldn't be much on that, I paid £64 import charges on gearbox parts which were heavy and cost £286 .

[cruisermark]

hi mike you dont need to touch the barrel - the switch is fixed using 2 screw - thats all

[Malc]

Hi there my father in laws 1998 ls400 has been cutting out for over a year now and they have learned to live with it but it's dangerous so am trying to find out what it could be. They say they are driving along when all of a sudden it cuts out leaving no power steering no dashboard lights etc, they jiggle the keys and its then back to life. Car has to been driven for a while I.e. Half hour or so before it plays up and then can be ok after that, strange one. Seems ignition problem to me but you can,t get it to do it by jiggling keys before its cut out. Any ideas please would be appreciated. 88,000 miles on clock.

Well now, just looked at my Lexus service history and Lexus Hatfield in 2006 at 96674miles had the car in for exactly the same problem .................... couldn't find an answer but decided to reprogramme the ECU ......... what's happened between then and 2011 when I bought the car I don't know BUT it's occasionally recurring .............. and if it beats Lexus then I don't know !!!!!

probably just the ignition barrel as they say on here

Malc

[ambermarine]

After further investigation of this switch problem it turns out it as been reported as a intermitent fault on several other makes of cars it is fitted to.

I propose to approach Lexus Uk on the subject as it can be a serious distraction whilst the car is being driven .There have been cases on GM models were accidents resulting in fatalities have occured because of a faulty ignition switch.I hasen to add we are not talking about the same switch but I think the matter requires some investigation by Lexus .The reason being it is not a wear or age related problem.

My car as only done 27k and from what info I have at the moment the other vehicles did not have high miles on them.

[Malc]

t'would be brilliant if you could get Lexus to do a full recall on these Ls models to sort the issue.

Does anybody know ( or able to determine ) if it's a recurring problem across the whole Lexus range or just specific to the Flagships !! ??

Malc

[cruisermark]

amberine has a point here - it is a very big shock when everything goes all black - for me it was and continued to be everytime the blackout occurred

[ambermarine]

Malc

I have just had an interesting telephone conversation with a customer services rep at Lexus UK.

I briefed the rep on the problem and reffered to the forum content on this issue .I asked the rep to heads up the problem to a relevant dept but that request was met with a flat refusal until they have checked individual cars that have this supposed problem.

So what they are actually saying is unless we decide there is a problem there is'nt.

I related the story of your inconclusive analysis and the response again was again then there is no identifiable fault.

The remark that the vehicles are out of warranty and just because a few people have mentioned it on the web forum was met with a swift knock down from me as I pointed out this could be a serious issue with the obvious distraction of losing your instruments whilst driving.

The request for me to take it into a Lexus dealership was offered but I am out of the country for three months as of next week and I pointed out that the reason I wanted relevant depts to look a bit futher into this was there are other people driving around in the cars in the meantime.

At this juncture there is little more I can do but the issue as now been raised with Lexus UK and as I told the Rep it is on record.

If anyone else believes this is a problem on their car take it up with Lexus citing this post,

the more of us shouting means they are more likely to listen

[Malc]

ok, can you give me the name and contact details of the person with whom you spoke please.

I will make that call.

Thanks.

Malc

[ambermarine]

Malc & Mike

I have sent you both PMs regarding this matter .

[mikeyv]

One thing that strikes me, low mileage doesn't necessarily mean low use of the ignition switch, in fact, the opposite is more likely if you think about it.

[ambermarine]

Mikeyv

I don't agree with that synopsis, first of all my car is used three or four times a month and as been for most of its life .Secondly my previous Mark 1 had 200k on it when it was sold and I and the previous owner used it as buiseness car clocking15k a year for the first 10 years of its life there was no problems with that ignition switch nor did I ever hear of any on this forum or anywhere else.Thirdly there have been four members who we know about who have been affected with this problem and there are various mileage counts on those vehicles and they are mostly series 4 .There is a continuity here coupled with the reports of other models fitted with this particular switch having ignition problems.

This is a serious safety issue and should be investigated properly and not dismissed as a one off or insignifacant because it can't be proved as a fault on inspection after an event.

[mikeyv]

Mikeyv

I don't agree with that synopsis, first of all my car is used three or four times a month and as been for most of its life .Secondly my previous Mark 1 had 200k on it when it was sold and I and the previous owner used it as buiseness car clocking15k a year for the first 10 years of its life there was no problems with that ignition switch nor did I ever hear of any on this forum or anywhere else.Thirdly there have been four members who we know about who have been affected with this problem and there are various mileage counts on those vehicles and they are mostly series 4 .There is a continuity here coupled with the reports of other models fitted with this particular switch having ignition problems.

This is a serious safety issue and should be investigated properly and not dismissed as a one off or insignifacant because it can't be proved as a fault on inspection after an event.

I wasn't specifically talking about your car ambermarine, just low mileage cars in general, many of which are "shopping cars", so will have been switched on and off every couple of miles, as opposed to every hundred miles on a motorway cruiser.

They also tend to have more wear on steering, suspension and transmission, than a car that spends most of it's time cruising in a relatively straight line on motorways.

Another point that strikes me though, if it's such a serious safety issue, and I'm not disagreeing with you, particularly if the power steering is affected, then why are people risking driving their cars?

It's not an expensive fix after all, so why risk it?

[ambermarine]

Mikeyv

The fix is not an issue in terms of cost or convenience ,it is weather the fix will fix it,

There is an issue here of a possible faulty design which means that a new switch could be supplied that is going to do the same as the one that as been replaced.

I cannot just sit back with the consequences that could develop from the issue especially for those driving Mark 4 LS400s that are not aware of this potential scenario occuring.

It as been reported on other cars in the toyota range and also some other manfacturers vehicles that the switch in question is fitted to.

The distraction caused when the dashboard blacks out is enough on its own to cause a crash ,loss of indicators just adds to the dangers.

[lurch]

Bit further to Scotland ....lol.... Mines been shipped just waiting now to see what extra import charge will be when it arrives.

[Chris Skelton]

Ah, the days of simple cars. I had a Citroen Dyane, circa 1980, that had a duff ignition switch. we just dropped in a board with two button-switches on, one for Ignition, one for starter......ignored the barrel completely. Absolutely NO security! But, no one was going to nick a scruffy old Dyane!

This is a great string; the value of socialism!

Seasoned greetings everyone!

[lurch]

Well finally got switch yesterday after being stuck in customs, opened box only to find switch had come apart in the sealed packet ! Ball bearings brass rings etc. spent a while and managed to rebuild and clip back together, fitted this morning, 10 mins to fit and 30 mins to remove / fit dashboard. Tried seems to work ok only time will tell if cured the intermittent cutting out, have told the in laws to let me know how it goes and have sent amayama an email explaining condition it arrived in as was well packed so must of been placed into box like that.