jkcali2ooo

Okay I am borrowning this fix from another forum but I used it and it worked.
Basically you can pop out the cover from the sub in the back seat. Apparently that has worked for some people.

However for me I took out the back seats and lift up the cover. You can lift up the back seat and it pulls out. There are 4 bolts at the bottom of the rear top portion of the seats. There are also seat belt holder screws that need to be taken off. Also after you unbolt the four screws and seat belt screws make sure to lift up and out because there are 3 clamps that the top portion of the back seat rest on.

Now for the speaker issue. So rather than worry about replacing the subwoofer which can cost hundreds you can actually use glue. Here is an excerpt from the other forum:

"""""This will work for any make or model subwoofer lexus offers.

Go find/borrow/buy an electric glue gun or heavy duty bathroom tub/tile 100% silcone clear caulk (home depot or lowes).
I prefer the glue gun. Pull off or pry with screw driver or puddy knife the subwoofer top grill where you suspect the noice is coming from. Inspect the cone around the speaker. lightly push down on the speaker's outside cone edge. you will find using a flash light and a good pair of reading glasses will help. Observer that in almost all cases the speaker will be torn around the outside edge. This is the weakest part of the factory subwoofer. Mine was torn for about 2 inches along the edge and was very hard to see tear. Take your glue gun, insert glue stick and let it warm up. Now go all the way around the entire outside edge of the speaker cone with glue meeting outside edge with the foam part of the speaker, cover the paper part of the speaker from the form part of the cone to the outside wall of the speaker. Fix any other tears with the glue gun.
Push the speaker cover back on and it will be as good if not better then new.

This is a simple repair for an expensive speaker that will last for a long time. No other replacement speaker will sound as good as the factory speaker without potentially damaging your Mark levinson amplifier. Believe me I know because I have tried others. """



Just make sure you let the glue settle after you put it on. And for me it didn't take 10 minuts but 30. The car subwoofer does not rattle anymore. This an alternative fix for those who do not want to replace the subwoofer.

Good Luck and hope this helps. Remember this DIY is at your own risk.

azrael06

Worked perfectly. I have a 2002 ES. Bottom portion of the back seat was a cinch. The top portion, I removed the 4 screws and was only able to remove 2 of the 3 seat belt screws (didn't have a flexible ratchet to get to bolt properly). The only thing that made me break a sweat was lifting up and out on the back seat. It would be very easy if you had a second person for this part. There were two tabs holding down the speaker cover, just lift up on it. Found the tear by depressing the speaker. Used the glue and was good 10 minutes later. Probably didn't take that long but better safe than sorry, wasn't in a rush. Anyways, thanks for this great post. Saved me a ton of money.

contemplat

This worked PERFECTLY. Although, all I did was pop the grill off on my 2004 ES330 and go alone the edges of the sub with gorilla glue. Sounds brand new and only cost me $5.

rlx101

something to keep in mind. my sub is fine, but if it goes ill use this. THANKS!

connan23

I took out the seats as explained but how do you take out the plastic panel that's covering the speakers and blinds?

909

Side panels only need to be loosened not completely removed, the rear deck has 2 pins holding it, and will slide through.

To save everyone time, just pop off the speaker grille and seal with silicone. If the foam is deteriorated, trim off the section attached to the metal, or the outer ring of the foam, apply new foam at a slightly higher position so that the speaker is raised ... use something similar to dense weatherstripping, and silicone the existing foam , with the new foam, to the metal housing.

No need to remove the seats.

Pry the part closest to you upwards, disengaging the pressure clips . then slide towards you and up. Be patient, it will pop off, and will save you at least an hour or two.

funcrusher

My sub is blown and sounds horrible in bass heavy songs. Will glue really work? I want to remove and install a system eventually but no time soon

Bluescreen

Someone here mentioned using Elmer's Rubber Cement instead of hot glue or caulk to fix their sub after removing the grille, and that made a lot more sense to me. I can't/won't remove the back seats and all the other stuff needed to pull the sub and get it repaired, so I thought I'd try that. ES330 2004 with the incredibly fragile, unreliable ML sound system (amp just came back from its FOURTH repair).

First of all, removing the woofer grille is not nearly as easy as people make it sound. The front has two plastic pins that are held in by VERY tenacious retainer clips. The rear is simply two L-shaped rear facing plastic brackets that slip into two slots. If you pry from the rear side of the grille, you will most likely break those off. As it is, I managed to break one of the front pins off, and the other came out complete with retaining clip. Once the front is loose, pull the thing toward you and it will come off. When I was done, I slipped the rear brackets back into their slots, and held the front in place with two thin Velcro strips that are invisible when the grille is in place.

I did a practice run with an old speaker I had around. I cut a three inch gash in the rubber surround, separating the cone from the metal ring, then fed some music to it and heard it buzz and rattle. Then I applied the rubber cement, noting how it spread and where it dripped. Two thinner layers is better than one thick one. Wait a day between layers. It takes the stuff a few days to dry, so be patient and don't feed audio to it right away. Once done and dry, I fed music to it again, and it visibly moved and aurally sounded just fine.

So I attacked the ML woofer. I cut a piece of paper roughly the size of the cone to use in case of spills and placed it inside the speaker. Then using the brush applicator that came with the bottle, I spread a generous amount of the rubber cement completely around the rubber surround and metal frame nearest the side where it attaches to the metal frame, not just where it had separated from the frame. Worked slowly, and tried to keep the layer of rubber cement even. It was more than a week before I could test it (the amp was out for repair), and by that time the glue was mostly no longer tacky to the touch. Hooked up the amp, and voila! I had bass again with no buzzing or rattle.

I just finished up an hour ago, so no idea how long the repair will last. Try this at your own risk - your mileage will vary, and keep hands and feet inside the moving vehicle.

sctenor

Just inspected the subwoofer in my 2004 ES330, and it looks like the surround is completely gone in one section. Any hope for using the glue fix on this?

Bluescreen

Extremely unlikely. The rubber cement fix only works if the surround is mostly intact but has separated from the edge of the speaker basket or the cone. In your case, there's nothing for it to hold/bind to anything in that area.

The two choices I see (if it was my speaker):

Go through the pain of pulling the back seat, and then the speaker, and take/ship it to a speaker repair place, or fix it yourself with a surround repair kit from ebay. The glue holding your dust cap in the center also seems to be seeping, and overall having it professionally serviced is by far your best but most annoying choice because pulling the rear seat is a big pain.

Or buy a surround repair kit for the woofer, very carefully trim some of the existing rubber away in the damaged area so it's straight and clean, then cut an appropriate sized piece of the surround kit rubber and use rubber cement to bind it to the cone on the inside and then the speaker basket on the outside. Not for the faint of heart, and if you're inexperienced in these sorts of repairs I wouldn't recommend this as you could easily ruin the woofer. And the repair might not work so well acoustically, introducing foreign material like that. Sorry.

For those following this thread, it's been about 10 weeks now and the rubber cement repair I did on mine is still solid. I have now taken to keeping the rear window sunshade up whenever possibly to minimize sun damage to the woofer.

sctenor

Well, bummer. Looks like the best solution to me would be to remove the seat, remove the woofer, and replace the foam surround. Is it that difficult to remove the seat? Also, if I'm going through this trouble, are there some reasonably priced aftermarket subwoofer replacement options I should consider? I recall reading that the ML sub has non-standard impedance for mobile audio components.

Thanks for your response!

Bluescreen

There are various threads here describing how the back seat comes out. After reading them over, I knew I was not flexible enough at my age to do it, but it might be easier for you. Look through this and other ML subwoofer threads here for decent descriptions of how it's done.

The ML sub I have measured (by me) 16 ohms when I was contemplating replacing it. Not a lot of appropriate sized 16 ohm woofers out there - I couldn't find any. Also be aware that I've read in various places that the sub is 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, and 16 ohms. So either those people were incorrect, or the impedance varies. Frankly, if you're going to remove the seats and sub, your best bet is probably to get the sub refurbished and stay OEM. For $50-$100, a good speaker repair place will replace the foam surround, make sure the cone moves freely, and fix the dust cap glue leakage I see. Google around. There may even be one local to you so you don't have to ship. If you're in Los Angeles, Speaker City in Burbank has repaired a 15" Klipsch home theater sub for me in the past, and I can recommend their work.

Alternatively, the DIY foam surround replacement kits I've seen run $20-$30 if you're comfortable replacing the foam surround yourself. Looked not too difficult in the videos I've seen on YouTube.

kodavis

I replaced the foam surround on the rear deck subwoofer of my 2005 ES330 using this kit: http://www.simplyspeakers.com/lexus-...t-fsk-10m.html
They have videos on their website showing you exactly what to do and the kit comes with everything you need. The repair was super easy and I had no prior experience doing anything like it. However, getting to the speaker is pretty difficult. The seat bottom, back, and C pillars have to be removed in order to access it. It took me about an hour and a half. The sub sounds great now though. Well worth it!

JSimo

Thanks so much. I took mine out of the car and inspected it but found no obvious cracks.

When I saw that you pushed in the speaker, i saw two tiny cracks in the membrane. I put some glue on and now I'm waiting for it to set. You possibly saved me a lot of money just by saying

I'll update to let you know if the glue worked.

gluing small cracks in the mark levinson blown subwoofer