1998 Lexus ES300. I rebuilt this car that was given to me, and it was our daily driver until a no crank no start. I think the cause was a bad starter since it was literally sparking in the tester. I replaced the starter, double checked all my connections, but still nothing. No lights, no sounds, NOTHING. Battery tested perfect and is new. New battery terminals. New alternator in the last year. No blown fuses or relays I could see in the fuse boxes. I thought maybe it was the ignition switch, but when I tried the hotwiring trick of avoiding the ignition by jumping the starter relay to the battery, it didn't do anything either, meaning the fuse box lost power. I'm guessing there's a fusible link burnt out under the fuse box, but for the life of me, I can't find anything on how to get to it. How do I safely take the fuse box out? There's clearly a little plastic hinge door under the fuse box, but it refuses to open. Should I just break the plastic to get to it? Pull out the whole fuse tray? Could it be the battery cables themselves even if both ends are good? The starter seems to be getting power, but the vehicle is still completely unresponsive? Has to be electrical somewhere between the battery and the car. I cleaned the battery terminals inside and out and checked and cleaned the ground end, but there was no sign of corrosion and I replaced the terminals on the battery cables last year but not the cables themselves. The only issue I was working on before it randomly died after we parked it at home was flushing and replacing the radiator fluid, but that shouldn't have anything to do with it being able to turn over. Jumping the battery did nothing. It's fully charged. But my FatMax charger says it doesn't see the alternator? A bad alternator wouldn't cause a no start no crank though, and it separately tested fine. I saw a thing this morning to try shifting gears and starting it in neutral, but I had to open the emergency release to switch gears at all, and that didn't help it get power either. Again, it drove fine until it was parked, and it just wouldn't respond at all the next morning or since. What's left to check or replace? It's gotta be something under the fuse box, doesn't it? Help?

Edit: Got the fuse box open and out, but I still don't see anything that looks burnt, damaged, or like a fusible link? I found the alternator fuse, but it looks fine? I'm running out of ideas now. What else would make the whole vehicle just not respond at all to anything?

As it turns out, the problem was my battery tester. 🫠 The battery was going bad but still could be charged. It was still under warranty, so it was even free. Now that it's starting, something else is wrong I'll have to track down today. Always something. Thanks for your help guys. 😅

⟐ Commented February 19, 2024 at 5:52 MST

⟐ Answered June 17, 2018 at 23:41 MST

⟐ Answered November 29, 2025 at 19:27 MST

Thanks.

Godspower.