Dodgy Electrics

[matto68]

Hope someone can shed some light or a few pointers on this one.

Since november certain electrics have been playing up,its easier to say what works than what doesnt work,the headlights are fine,so are the indicators,wipers,radio,speedo and rev counter,but everything else is dead,most annoyingly the heaters/blowers,cant clear windscreen,not good in a british winter.

Anyway,i put it down to water somewhere,it usually takes about 5 days to come back on after going off,but this time it has been 10 days,the sun roof drains were blocked and water was getting into the cabin on the passenger side,quite bad but are fine now but still no power.

No wet carpets in footwells etc.

Hope somebody can offer some advice.

cheers.

[nelmo]

I assume you have checked all the fuses? There are some under the glove box as well as in the engine bay (well, there are on the RX400)...

[matto68]

The first time this happened just before xmas,i called the RAC out and they checked all the fuses and they were fine.

Like i said,the electrics stop working then 5 days or so later they are fine,except this time its now been 9 days.

Forgot to say its a 53 plate rx300.

[matto68]

Well i give in,put up with this for 3 months now and still no nearer solving/fixing the problem so calling it a day with the lexus.

Cant say i will be sad to see it go,out of all my cars,this has been the worst (well apart from a rover 75)

Im going back to jaguar....

[Boxbrownie]

You'll have problems finding a SUV Jaguar just yet :D

I am surprised actually you had such problems, only had to replace two exhaust gas sensors (usual thing) and a back exhaust box recently (that was pricey as could not find an aftermarket version) in 60K miles..........car now has 115K.

Your problem must be ECU connected, difficulty is finding the correct ECU, have you had it in a specialist for diagnosis?

I understand your frustration, and Jaguars are lovely cars, had four of the XJs myself..........but no where near as reliable as my Lexus has been

[Duncan Roberts]

IT is an old car but have you tried an auto electrician or, heaven forfend, a Lexus dealer or is the extent the RAC and here? Electrical problems can be notorious to find on any vehicle but someone needs to spend an extended period trying. It will cost but that is one of the hazards of older cars, low capital cost, potentially high revenue maintenance costs.

[matto68]

Yes had it plugged in to lexus software for about an hour,all it came up with is 6 major communication faults...!

Im presuming the worse that one of the ECU's is cooked,or more realistically,soaked,i have no doubt that its water ingress somewhere thats killed the electrics.

However no fear,i get my new jag in two days :)

[nelmo]

I always thought that the biggest problem with old jags was the...er...electrics?

Going from a Lexus to a jag to get better reliability? Good luck with that one...

[Boxbrownie]

Yes had it plugged in to lexus software for about an hour,all it came up with is 6 major communication faults...!

Im presuming the worse that one of the ECU's is cooked,or more realistically,soaked,i have no doubt that its water ingress somewhere thats killed the electrics.

So you know what the problem is, why not do something about it?

[Parrot of Doom]

Water on it's own doesn't necessarily damage electronics; once things have been properly dried and cleaned, they will normally come back to life. ECUs can be repaired for a fraction of the cost to replace.

Being a new owner, I'm fairly ignorant of the RX. But I'll tell you about one problem common to a car I owned a few years back, A W210 E-Class Mercedes. Although it didn't happen on mine, a faulty seal on the automatic gearbox connector allowed gearbox oil up a multicore cable and into the gearbox ECU, causing all kinds of havoc. The Mercedes solution was to replace the lot at significant cost. The DIY solution was simply to wash the gearbox ECU with alcohol, replace the faulty seal, reinstall the components and enjoy thousands of miles more of normal driving. All for the cost of a couple of hours with a few spanners and a new rubber seal or two.

Food for thought.