DeeLexy460

I NEED ADVICE! My Navigation started to display a message "Unable to Read Data" and would not display the Map on my Certified 2008 LS460. All other displays worked just fine and there were no other problems with my Navi. This had been an intermittent problem for a while so I decided to bring it to Pohanka Lexus in Chantilly, Virginia. I paid them $130 to diagnose the problem for them to tell me that I need a new Navigation ECU - which at first they quote $15,000.00 I FLIPPED! I let them know that I would deal with not having a map and navigation and got my car back!
When they gave me my car I started it up to see the wrong time displaying on the clock and a message that reads "A program cannot be read. Please consult to a dealer" displaying on my screen. I immediately got my SA out there to look at the message. He tried to tinker with all the buttons and couldn't get the message to disappear so he brought his supervisor to look at the message.
They explained to me that when diagnosing the problem they tried to reset the system by removing by battery and it didn't work (Yeah, Actually it made things worse!!!) and now it is evident that my ECU has apparently completely died (and I find it such a coincidence that it happen to die while in their hands diagnosing the issue). They took the car back to see if they could do anything to get it back to the state it was in when I brought for diagnosis.
The next day I get a call from the SA that said their technicians have pulled the entire ECU out and have examined it determining it was damaged...they SAY they "Detected" that something must have leaked into the ECU (perhaps a vent air freshener - WHICH I HAVE NEVER USED) causing a short because there evidence of a rip and smear on the ECU label and there was also a bolt MISSING. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? (At this point I feel like I'm getting the run around)
I immediately contacted the manager and he pulled out the ECU for us all to look at it together. He admitted that he did not see any signs of damage or evidence that it had been altered in any way and he would see what he could do and override the technicians by speaking to the Parts Manager. Apparently this would determine if they could trade in the core for a refurbished ECU.
He also said that he would try to reach out to Lexus to see if they will help since I was only 9k outside of warranty.
Three days later I get a call that Lexus has denied the request and really there is nothing more they can do. Had I been a loyal customer by bringing my car to them for my oil changes and maintenance that Lexus would have probably honored it since I never used the Warranty and never had any other major problems. The manager tells me that the only thing they can do at this point is bring the price down to $4155.00 since they feel my ECU would be a candidate for core trade in. Here is the Quote they gave me:
Part #86431500090EX -$2600.00
Part #8627150A01EX - $1295.00
Labor - $260.00
Total Before Taxes - $4155.00

Can anyone help me? Everywhere I have read people are saying that needing NEW ECU is very rare and this car is only 5 years old! Should I take it to another Lexus Dealer to get a second opinion? Does anyone have any suggestions that I can try? Do you think it's worth continuing to go up the ladder to the GM to see if I can get them to help?

I appreciate ANY FEEDBACK you can give!

jlawr

Many dealerships are financially rewarded for good customer service. They HATE bad customer feedback. It hurts their pocketbook. You could tell your dealer you're considering calling Lexus Corporate if they won't resolve your issue. If that doesn't scare them, call Lexus Corporate and complain. Tell them you feel the dealer made your problem worse and didn't seem to care They may help, but you're at they're mercy.

You might just need to pay the $4k -- whole lot less than 15K.
Such is the price we pay for ones and zeros.
Good Luck

jmcraney

I've never seen a report like yours and I think that sort of failure seems very odd. You've asked for advice and this is a long shot but not expensive to try. Remove the battery from the car and have it tested by a full service battery dealer. Ask the dealer to insure that the battery is fully charged and reinstall it in the car. Without your foot on the brake, turn the ignition on by pressing the Start button twice and allow the hard drive to complete loading before you try to start the car. These cars seem to be sensitive to battery defects and occasionally exhibit strange problems when the battery is not perfect when it is first connected. Disconnecting and reconnecting a defective battery will not solve anything.

CJITTY

I agree. I had a bad battery and it threw all sorts of codes..even messed up my braking system!!! a new battery was installed and magically all of the errors and crazyness just disappeared

wilkesmann

Hi DeeLexy460

could you solve it? I have exactly the same my battery was death bad and changed it yesterday, the a head light broke but that is normal after daily use. Problem I live in Switzerland and took my LS form the US when I moved back in 2010. I went to Lexus in Switzerland, General importer does not support any private US models. but the analysed it and now failure came up. They told me to disconnect battery over night which i did 13 hrs but today the same screen message "A program cannot be read,..."

What to do ? maybe there is the HDD which needs to be disconnected, But WHERE IS THE HDD?

jmcraney

Wilkesmann,
i've said this before but I think it especially applies in your case. Remove the battery from the car and have it tested by a full service battery dealer. Ask the dealer to insure that the battery is fully charged and reinstall it in the car. Without your foot on the brake, turn the ignition on by pressing the Start button twice and allow the hard drive to complete loading before you try to start the car. These cars seem to be sensitive to battery defects and occasionally exhibit strange problems when the battery is not perfect when it is first connected. Disconnecting and reconnecting a defective battery will not solve anything.

wilkesmann

Thank you very much. I am so sorry jmcraney missed your post will do it on Monday here in Europe is everything closed on Sundays. I 'll let you know if it worked.


Actually Wednesday fully booked today, left xenon headlight also broke but a regular thing that happens.

DeeLexy460

Sorry I have taken so long to get back to everyone...I appreciate the feedback! Keep it coming and I will keep you posted!
Lexus actually checked my battery as part of their original "diagnosis" and said that they "cannot" replace my battery because it still has "good" life! I have attached the battery test pics.

Also as part of their diagnosis they disconnected my battery. The SA came to the Customer Lounge to tell me that after they disconnected my battery they were not able to get my car restarted. They offered me a rental, but I opted to wait it out. They finally came back to say that they got it started. When I asked them what the problem was the SA tells me basically that the battery being disconnected too long triggered the car to think it was being stolen....REALLY? Hmmmmmmmm....THEN I get my car back once they got it started and here I am leaving in worse condition that I started.

Tomorrow I am going to jmcraney's advise and try disconnecting the battery myself....question, do you think my battery is still in good shape or should I try buying a new battery to have it in excellent condition?

jmcraney

Wow! What you are experiencing is very rare, and suspicious. That "the battery being disconnected too long triggered the car to think it was being stolen" sounds like something that the technicians made up in the break room. Although the battery may be adequate to start your car and operate it, it may not be adequate to provide the POWER-ON RESET. Or, it may be adequate to provide the POR now after the car's charging system has raised the charge. So, if you disconnect it for an hour and reconnect it and everything is OK then that is fine. But, if you still have the same problem after that then you are still uncertain. As to the consideration for replacing the battery: if your battery is over 36 months old, measured from the time the electrolyte was first poured in, then you will not leave much money on the table if you just replace it. Most batteries fail between 36 and 48 months after the electrolyte is first installed. If you decide to go the new battery route it is important that you insure that the new battery is fully charged before you connect it to your car. New batteries are good batteries most of the time but not necessarily fully charged. Of course what I am suggesting may be a "red herring" but considering your other options it seems worth a try. It doesn't cost much and is very unlikely to make things worse.

Testing batteries by the methods available at dealerships is okay and catches most bad batteries but some batteries have defects that are not detected by these test. Batteries, being commodity items these days, should just be replaced after a certain age if they are suspect, or even if they are not suspect. The report that you attached to your post looks a little suspicious. The measured volts of 13.01, from your attached test report looks suspicious. A fully charged wet standard battery should read about 12.65V at 70 deg F and most batteries are only able to get that high when they are new. The 13.01 seems very unlikely and may be an indication of poor technique by the technician. That high reading may mean that the surface charge was not removed before testing after they charged your battery at the dealership. As far as I know the gold standard for testing batteries is still to measure the specific gravity of each cell with a hydrometer.

Good luck! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

wilkesmann

Hi jmcrany, we did the battery test, all ok new battery and was fully loaded, disconnected and as you said twice ignition bottom and let hard drive start without foot brake, frustrating.

Its a new banner mammut battery 70 Ah. I don't know what to do in Europe at this moment. Try another dealer General Lexus importer is not supporting US Models.

Crazyfans

Check out other dealers so as to find alternate prices. compare cost benefit and make a decision.

2008gs460

Guys, this happened to me this past week. I have the 2008 GS 460, but, its generally got the same guts as the LS and pretty much figured out what happened with mine, so I will share the story in the hopes it helps someone.

My kid (2.5 yrs old) was pushing buttons in daddy's car and hit the nav eject button. I didn't even know there was a button for that! The glove box was closed and when he did this the DVD went back in, however, it gave the grinding noise of a player that is dying and an error message on the screen, cannot read the DVD. I was able to eject it at that point and did some compressed air spray into the DVD, however, nothing worked and I was unwilling to try the hammer trick. So I decided to remove the negative terminal on my battery to see if that would reset something in the CD and get it working.

Well, then I got the crazy japanese characters and "consult with a dealer" message mentioned in the article above. Its clear to me that the CD actually contains the operating system for the nav ECU and no dvd == no OS and that's why we get the message. In my car it impacted the clock and of course the nav map button. It impacts the clock because the GPS antenna is obviously connected to the Nav ECU and no OS to process the signaling == no clock (or position info for that matter)

Dealer wanted $5K for a new Nav ECU, wouldn't entertain anything else. So I'm an EE and I was like, ah screw this I'll replace the DVD player for 50 bucks or whatever. So I got it out and looking at the DVD player itself this is a special DVD player. Not in that it does special things, but, because its Automotive Temp Rated (as opposed to Commercial or Industrial Temp certified). Long story short, its about $250 for the DVD player, no joke and worth every penny.

Well, I found a guy on ebay selling a brand new nav ECU for $425, so I just did that.

I just wanted to let everyone know you:

1) Don't need to spend $5K fixing this problem.
2) The dealer just removed the power which reset the ECU and you got into that "no OS" situation that I got myself into. Nothing nefarious there.
3) Because it was "sorta" working before the power cycle of your system, you probably just have a DVD player problem like I did.
4) The Nav ECU is a LOT more than just the DVD (shame on you lexus for combining the two)
5) You end up disassembling a lot of your dash to get the damn thing out - Why isn't it in the trunk?!?

Hope it helps. And yes, I'm considering putting my youngest son up for adoption now.

dlbuckls10

Deelexy460 keep us posted on the causes and solutions to your problem. Expensive to repair and I hope there is a better solution.

roadfrog

Don't hold your breath..... his post is almost a year old.

A pet peeve of mine is those who post a question and never come back for follow up. Just ain't proper etiquette!

dlm9352

I can't help you. I can only sympathize because my story is eerily like your story.

My service rep wanted to charge $270 for the diagnostic work. He made the mistake of asking the shop guy for hours to charge and the shop guy said, "Ah, nothing. I did not have a lot of time in it."