I purchased a 2008 GS460 a few weeks ago as a daily. Although I also have a BMW F80 M3, I must say... what an amazing car to beat around. Always loved the 3GS and I was able to get a mint rare black on black spec V8 model.

One of the very few imperfections it had was the display touch screen stopped working and the screen also had a weird dark square spot in the center. I bought a digitizer on ebay for $30 and that fixed the touch screen issue but the dark spot still persisted. I'm seeing lots of replacement screens available online but it comes with the entire unit (a/c controls, cd changer, cassette tape deck if 2008 or -, etc). Would a screen setup from a newer year work for the 2008? Say 2009 or 2010? I know the tape deck would be gone but I believe the nav slightly improved. Has anyone done this before?

Also are all of the configuration settings for the display unit saved directly to the screen unit or a separate cpu module? Asking bc I'm wondering if i'll have to reset all the things i've done already (radio presets, bluetooth devices, navigation destinations, etc).

 

I would just buy a used replacement by making sure you match the numbers in the front. There have been members who tried this without success. As lexus has used different radio brands, through out the 3GS.

 

Just order a replacement from an E bay seller. It will be used and will probably cost $150-$200. Try to bid for lower price. I bought a unit (with Navi) a couple years ago after my controls inexplicably stopped working. You can easily install it yourself.

Youtube taught me almost everything I needed to know about the interior components of the 3rd Gen GS.

 

So I actually did just that, and found a replacement on eBay. Bad news is the one I purchased also had the same dark spot in the center of the screen as the one I'm trying to replace. Now I'm stuck with two perfectly good units and all I needed to replace was the screen in the first unit haha. Crazy that the screen itself isn't a part number on its own.

This is when OCD gets the best out of a situation.

 

Never seen or heard of an issue with a dark spot. Can you snap a pic of it, im wandering maybe theres an issue with your wiring or maybe camera rear camera.

 

Dark spot must be upstream of the unit then. I once had the camera turn on mostly black and flickering in weird sequences. Next start it was back to normal, around then i'd sprayed WD40, but it's non-conductive however may have displaced some moisture briefly and caused an issue somehow.

For anyone with an actual LCD panel issue, if you can disassemble down to the LCD panel, there are only so many manufacturers. Japan then and now mostly uses Korean panels, so you could replace it if it was a LCD panel defect as a vast majority of panels in a vast majority of applications are generic.

 

The LCD panel can be disassembled, which is what I've done. However, it seems this dark shade issue is very common. See the below image for what mine looks like:

 

I've seen that where the touch screen material has faded/worn but never electronically. Might be worth posting it on an electronic repair forum/reddit and see what they think.
If I remember (got to finish reading a patent before they file it lol) I'll dig the service manual and have a look for you.

One idea, it could be a bad cable pair or something causing voltage drop specifically when addressing those rows/columns. Because you are getting the signal through, but the white is off in middle, which might indicate a voltage drop.

https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/...+LCD+TV+Screen

Looking further it seems symptom of LCD burn-in and maybe why your replacement screen had same issue? People report similar with projectors when they overheat, might be sunroof open + direct sun...
So I would lean to fully stripping one of your units down to the panel itself (the actual thin LCD panel 4mm thick or so) and getting the model/size/info and ordering a replacement.


that's what these guys are doing here https://www.mycarforum.com/marketplace/info-87774
So they have found the panel on market, it can't be too hard then


edit4: here is replacement instructions lol https://www.autotechnologyrepair.com...al-and-repair/
enjoy

edit: p.s. I'm looking for a volume **** if you want to sell one! hopefully same as gs460 or close enough

edit3: I'm going to order a screen and replace ours as touch has gone.