New owner needs help... (1 Viewer)

[SCDreamer]

Hey guys, I've been creeping on these boards for quite a while now, but this is my first time posting so go easy on the newb. So here's how the story goes, I've been agonizing over getting an 80 for years but I never had an actual need or a valid reason to get one until a couple weeks ago when I finally pulled the trigger. I was able to pick up a 1996 LX450 with 148,000 miles for a pretty good deal, it looks mechanically sound but it's a little rough cosmetically. The guy I got it from seemed a little shady but as far as I can tell its a solid running machine, but I've still got that nagging fear that something is going to go terribly wrong with it. So far I've changed the oil and I was getting ready to flush the coolant and do the PHH bypass, but when I was down in the drivers side wheel well I noticed this cable that looks like it's not plugged in anywhere. Do any of you have any idea what this might be? Thank you guys!

 

[Phildoh]

I'm "guessing" it goes where that speaker wire is plugged into the starter? Possibly broken connector so it was bypassed? Chase that speaker wire and see if it taps into that harness upstream. Without seeing the connector its hard to say. I'll snap a pic in the morning and post it, mines a 96 as well.

 

[120mm]

I'm "guessing" it goes where that speaker wire is plugged into the starter? Possibly broken connector so it was bypassed? Chase that speaker wire and see if it taps into that harness upstream. Without seeing the connector its hard to say. I'll snap a pic in the morning and post it, mines a 96 as well.

I think Phildoh is right. Someone had a broken wire so they bypassed it with speaker wire.

You might want to redo that before your rig burns down to the axle.

In my eyes, every PO is shady. People buy Land Cruisers because they are "bulletproof" and then proceed to neglect them for 20 years prior to selling them full of botched maintenance or no maintenance whatsoever.

The good news? Nearly every form of neglect is correctable, but you need to be willing to hang with the rig.

About every other day I am tempted to set mine afire and push it off a cliff. But then I drive by a Jeep Wrangler mired in a bog and I decide to keep it.

 

[SCDreamer]

Hey good catch, thank you guys! These novice eyes completely missed that. I traced it back and its routed through the fire wall and under the steering column, it looks like it just goes directly to the ignition. Its hard to say exactly what they did or why they bypassed the original harness without taking apart the dash, so I'll save that for later this week. Thankfully I was able to take out the PHH and the original tube and run the bypass without too much struggle. I was bracing myself for an all day fight but it went really smooth!

 

[SCDreamer]

Ok so here's the follow up. I took off the panels under the steering column and completely traced that wire and this is the scary wiring solution I found? What do you guys think? Take it to a professional? Or unhook the battery, undo the crazy little knot of stereo wire they tied, and try to splice in the correct wire and heat shrink it?

 

[inkpot]

Any chance this rig has an aftermarket alarm on it?

 

[SCDreamer]

Highly doubtful. Haven't seen anything that would lead me to believe that.

 

[Phildoh]

Grab a test light if you have one, and check this jackjob. See if it's hot, with either key off, ACC on, ign on, or starter crank. I'm guessing the PO broke the terminal on the starter and bypassed it like this. Sketchy for sure. Then search in here for a starting circut diagram and see what ya need. Can't be too hard being one wire here, and two at the other end (plug connection at the starter). I'd say make a note of how it is now, as a bypass, or fail(safe?!) as to what will make it start and dive in and dissect it. I'dtrace the harness back from the plug connector and see what else has been done, and see with the help of a wiring diagram, what should be in place. Im sill meaning towards they bypassed the factory wiring because of that broken connector.

 

[Phildoh]

And keep your eyes peeled for any other hack jobs while you're in there. Check your stereo wiring, and make sure they didn't leave anything else in a sketchy condition. Something like a decent sized wire for tyhhe stereo can burn the truck down in the "right" conditions, fused wire or not. Especially if it has the factory amp/woofer and if it's been disconnected or not. An hour on mud to research it, and about 15-30min fixing things and you should be fine. Are you pretty familiar with electrical on automobiles?

 

[Dave 2000]

Or it is one of the most horrible attempts at an antitheft device I have ever seen, and I have seen some!!

Regards

Dave

 

[RedComet]

Ok so here's the follow up. I took off the panels under the steering column and completely traced that wire and this is the scary wiring solution I found? What do you guys think? Take it to a professional? Or unhook the battery, undo the crazy little knot of stereo wire they tied, and try to splice in the correct wire and heat shrink it?View attachment 1233144

That looks soooooooooooooooooo sketchy.

 

[Wayne]

There was another mudder on here that had a similar situation a month or so back (ignition/starter solenoid connector hanging loose and another wire in its place). His was related to a remote start system that had been install and partially removed.

 

[landcrshr]

Wow! You really dodged a potential bullet by finding that. My guess is that the speaker wire is either for a remote start feature or it's a work-around for a no-start issue.

You're also missing the rubber plug for the firewall pass-thru.

 

[SCDreamer]

After I got off from work today I went and investigated some more, while I was looking at it and started testing it a little I realized that the stereo wire isn't "spliced" into the starter wire at all, the starter wire is the one that's black with the red stripe and is completely untouched, now I'm trying to track down where the beige and red wire that was spliced in to goes. I'm going to wait until I get off work tomorrow to unplug the whole thing. Thankfully I don't work this Friday so if this winds up being over my head and I get stranded at home for a bit I'll at least be able to figure this out and won't be missing work. This was the best picture I was able to get of how they plugged the stereo wire into the starter. It looks to me like they actually split the wire and forced it into both of the contact holes, it definitely won't just disconnect by accident, it's really secured into the plug.

 

[4G63 POWER]

Wow, I haven't seen a hack like this in awhile. Good thing you found it though.

 

[TomH]

According to the 1996 Land Cruiser EWD there is no wire in position 5 on that connector. Position 5 is where the hack job connects.

 

[SCDreamer]

Thanks TomH! That's what I've been trying to figure out! I searched the EWD that I have and only found the black and red. Do you guys happen to know the lay out of the connectors inside the plug? It looks like two hollow pins they ran the stripped in into. I don't know how they secured it in there but it's stuck pretty good, I just want to get as much info as I can before I yank it.

 

[danthman114]

yikes!

 

[SCDreamer]

So I unhooked the bypass and plugged the original black and red starter wire back in and sure enough it wouldn't start. So I'm going to route a bypass using some 14 AWG primary wire but clean it up so it will at least be safe and passable until I can remove all of the coverings from the harness/cable bundles and hunt down exactly where this break down is with a multimeter or test lamp.

 

[landcrshr]

According to the 1996 Land Cruiser EWD there is no wire in position 5 on that connector. Position 5 is where the hack job connects.

Looking at the 1996 Land Cruiser EWD, there are also other wires that seem out of place in the photo of the ignition connector (I12) above. The EWD also says the connector is black, so maybe it's different for Lexus?

Something else has to be going on here because the WHITE/RED wire would normally be coming directly from the battery.