2004 ES330 audio issue and diagnostic codes
08-03-16, 02:56 PM
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2004 ES330 audio issue and diagnostic codes
Electrical engineer here, original owner of the 2004 ES330 with the Mark Levinson audio system. As a reference, I have had the power amp repaired three times in the last six years by United Radio in New York. I have spent more on repairing the amp than all the other service I've had done on the car combined.
The latest amp repair has been working fine for three years, until yesterday, when it just stopped. The thing is, this time the symptoms are very different, and I'm looking for input because I'm not so sure it's the amp:
-The fuse is intact. In every previous failure, it blew immediately.
-The "Sound" touch controls on the head end are active and move, indicating it sees the amp. In previous failures, the "Sound" Bass-Mid-High controls were greyed out
-All the speakers, including tweeters and sub, make a kind of 'staticky' noise burst roughly every 1.5 seconds, and it gets louder if I increase the volume.
What I've done so far:
-Checked that both +12 leads at the amp have power
-Checked that the 'trigger' lead ("Acc") goes to 12 volts when I turn on the ignition.
-Buzzed out ALL the speakers (including tweeters) and the sub with an ohm meter to make sure none were shorted
-Disassembled the amp, but could see nothing obviously wrong inside - no bloated capacitors, or burnt traces, or indication of excessive heat
-Tried using the built in diagnostics by holding in the "Info" button on the head and turning headlights on-off 3 times.
I get the following in System Check Mode:
AVN - OK
CD-CH2 - CHEK
DSP-AM - OK
And in LAN Mon, I get:
AVN - CHEK
CD-CH2 - NoErr
DSP-AM - CHEK
Anyone have any idea what the diagnostic codes mean?
Anyone know what the MTXP and MTXN incoming connections are on the amp?
Are the RP/RN and LP/LN connections the line level analog audio coming in from the head/LAN?
My concern is that I'm going to spend $400 to buy a used amp or $500 to have this one repaired AGAIN, and it will turn out to not be the problem, but something with the insanely complex "LAN" system Lexus uses.
Has anyone replaced the entire audio system (or just the amp) with something else? I'm really tired of the ongoing issues with the ML system.
Any help appreciated.
--Bob
The latest amp repair has been working fine for three years, until yesterday, when it just stopped. The thing is, this time the symptoms are very different, and I'm looking for input because I'm not so sure it's the amp:
-The fuse is intact. In every previous failure, it blew immediately.
-The "Sound" touch controls on the head end are active and move, indicating it sees the amp. In previous failures, the "Sound" Bass-Mid-High controls were greyed out
-All the speakers, including tweeters and sub, make a kind of 'staticky' noise burst roughly every 1.5 seconds, and it gets louder if I increase the volume.
What I've done so far:
-Checked that both +12 leads at the amp have power
-Checked that the 'trigger' lead ("Acc") goes to 12 volts when I turn on the ignition.
-Buzzed out ALL the speakers (including tweeters) and the sub with an ohm meter to make sure none were shorted
-Disassembled the amp, but could see nothing obviously wrong inside - no bloated capacitors, or burnt traces, or indication of excessive heat
-Tried using the built in diagnostics by holding in the "Info" button on the head and turning headlights on-off 3 times.
I get the following in System Check Mode:
AVN - OK
CD-CH2 - CHEK
DSP-AM - OK
And in LAN Mon, I get:
AVN - CHEK
CD-CH2 - NoErr
DSP-AM - CHEK
Anyone have any idea what the diagnostic codes mean?
Anyone know what the MTXP and MTXN incoming connections are on the amp?
Are the RP/RN and LP/LN connections the line level analog audio coming in from the head/LAN?
My concern is that I'm going to spend $400 to buy a used amp or $500 to have this one repaired AGAIN, and it will turn out to not be the problem, but something with the insanely complex "LAN" system Lexus uses.
Has anyone replaced the entire audio system (or just the amp) with something else? I'm really tired of the ongoing issues with the ML system.
Any help appreciated.
--Bob
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