2002 Lexus ls 430 in So Cal (1 Viewer)

[mechanist]

***FIXED***
[[**diagnosis** An animal chewed through some of the wiring harness. I've seen this on a house but was surprised to see it in a car.]]

So my dad is retired and his LS430 is having some electrical hiccups. Are there any knowledgeable mud members in the IE who could lend a hand with troubleshooting and correction? He loves his car but dealership prices make a fix other than DIY unattainable. I can order an FSM for him but he needs help and I live 3k miles away.

Evidently the vehicle will only start when it's warm outside.

Any help, insight, or referral is greatly appreciated.

 

[dewme5]

What year is it? Some older ECU's have a capacitor problem, and they will at some point need replacing. The 92 Lexus SC400 I used as a donor suffered this problem. Gremlins seemed to move around, some days everything ran fine, other days not so. Not saying this is your problem, but maybe worth a few internet searches on his specific model.

Does his model have a cold start injector?

How are the plugs? When was the last tune up? Is the IAC functioning? Is cold starting the only problem?

Have him take it to autozone, and have them read the codes on it. That should be the first step.

 

[mechanist]

He found a knowledgeable, reasonably-priced tech over near where the old Riverside General Hospital was (I think it's a Lowe's now). Turns out something got under the hood and chewed through the some of the wiring harness. So all he needed was a little splicing and some shrink wrap and he's good to go.

Thank for responding!