Hi,

A friend of mine bought a GS300 (about a week after he saw my LS400 ). Anyway, he's had an odd "bouncing" problem which we today diagnosed as a knack'd tyre; but while on the brief drive out, a load of warning lights came on on the dash. These were:
- Alternator not charging (red battery in rev counter/speedo (I forget which))
- Low oil level light (the amber one, not low oil pressure)
- Brake system fault (red brake drum symbol with ex. point in it)
- Low washer fluid
- Faulty bulb

Switching the ignition off/on did not clear the lamps. Also, when switching on, not all of the lamps lit (only the ones described, plus the "check engine" and "oil pressure" warnings - both of which extinguished when the engine was started).

Oil level is fine BTW, we checked that.

SO - crashed ECU? Or something more serious?

Any thoughts/ideas most gratefully received.


Cheers,
Ade.

Take to dealer, have them plug in a diagnostic computer. Most likely any faults will have been logged in there.

I take it these faults weren't apparent when he took it for a test drive? Did he get it from a car dealer (of any type), or was it a private sale? If from a dealer, they should really be looking at it first... assuming he's not had it months that is!

Ah, apologies - he's had it for months (about 8 months, I think). Worse than that, he lives in Spain... he bough the car in the UK and drove it over.

There was no indication of any actual faults - at least, none of the ones on the dash. e.g. oil level (that was fine), failed bulb (no bulbs were on, and all bulbs checked out OK). The brake system seemed fine & both brake lamps are operational. I couldn't tell you about the alternator - there was some oil on the rear of it (obviously, a small leak going on somewhere), but without a VM I'm not able to ascertain whether it's functioning or not. For the avoidance of doubt, I don't believe any of the fault lights - I think whatever is controlling the lights has gone screwy....

Amazingly, despite the lack of Lexii over here, there actually is a reasonably local dealership! However, he's taking it to a local independant guy first, to see if there's anything he can do.


Cheers!
Ade.

your friend can reset the ecu by following this link: click me
this is for the mk2

once done, if the codes come back he can be sure its a problem and not an ecu crash.

Whereabouts in Spain? A mate of mine's an auto electrician, moved to Almeria (a few miles from Huercal Overa to be precise) last December. He's got various kit that may be able to nail the problem if your mate's not too far away.

Wrong side, unfortunately.... he's out near Cádiz..

Anyway - the good news is, it turned out to be a loose fuse in the footwell fuse box (I'd only looked in the engine fusebox); pushed the fuse back home & all the improper lights went out.... I can only surmise that the flakey contact between fuse & circuit was confusing the panel...


Thanks for the replies!

Just imagine how much that might of cost had you taken it to a Lexus dealer