Begin rant: my 2014 IS350 F Sport is back in the shop to get the Mark Levinson infotainment system working. The first time they had my car for 11 days after deciding it needed a new amplifier. The sound crapped out three hours after I picked the car up. I took the car back and they said they were going to try another new amp. So far, they have had the car an additional 8 days and I still don’t know when they plan to return it. Last word from the service advisor was that they expected the replacement amp to arrive on Saturday, but because of the Labor Day weekend, the car wouldn’t be ready until at least the following Tuesday. If that.

19 days and counting. I just bought the car on 8/6! I have put more miles on the service loaners than my own vehicle. Right now, I am not having positive thoughts about the brand.

 

When your volume **** isn't working / no sound = amplifier issue (this issue happens across some years of the 3IS)
When your radio goes out, the screen doesn't turn on (this can cost $2-3K to fix) - mostly happens in 2014, never seen anyone 2015+ complain about this.

For me personally, 50K miles (pretty hard driving) / 4 years of ownership, no issues besides oil changes, brakes, and tires

 

Dont lose faith. You did buy a 7 year old car. They are making a good attempt to take care of you and provided you a loaner instead in an enterprise or nothing at all. Lexus is still a great brand, at least its not something mechanical or safety related that would put you in harm and straded. As ****ty as you are feeling, you are in much better hands then you think.

 

Thanks to you both for your information and views. I have faith in the reliability of the vehicles, based on my experience with my first Lexus. But I am starting to question the brand, perhaps unfairly based on one dealership.

The screen and every other function of my system worked fine, just no sound. Well actually, there was sound: a loud “pop!” right after starting the car, even if the audio was turned off. And that same popping sound was heard after the repair, just before the sound went silent again.

Here’s the thing: I expect the Lexus master technicians to accurately diagnose the problem and fix it with new parts that work. I really don’t think that is an unreasonable expectation for the “brand.”

10+ days to replace an amplifier? Seems unreasonable to me.

Installing a defective part (if that’s what actually happened)? This is not supposed to happen at a luxury brand.

I learned, after the fact, that these Lexus/Mark Levinson systems are problematic and seem to have a shelf life of some sort, which again gives me pause about the brand. My 2015 Hyundai Sonata Limited’s Infinity system never faltered despite clocking even more miles. AND I was able to upgrade to Apple CarPlay using software only, and not having to install some third party workaround. Clearly Hyundai is not a luxury brand but… come on Lexus.

Okay, I’m almost ranted out…!

 

Yeah unfortunately, not all cars are built perfect. My Corolla had window switch issues ($25 used), AUX port went out ($100), and at the end of ownership, the O2 / fuel sensor went bad (almost $1000), but I drove that car from brand new to almost 130K miles for 7 years versus a 80K mile 2008 Honda Accord which had a VTC actuator failure which caused the engine to fail ($5000 to replace and the car still drove like complete ****). A/C not functioning properly, heat coming out of passenger side.. point is, Toyota is the best built car by far and Lexus is better than that.

Just for the future before purchasing a car, go on the forum, and ask what are common problems, people have done this and it's very known for the amplifier to fail and in your case it did.

I had an issue where I had water leaking from the right hinge of my trunk, right over the amplifier. I just watched a YouTube video where someone's 3IS amplifier failed and he showed the board and it was corroded. The only way I am thinking something could get corroded is through a liquid so that's making me think that the water drainage in this car may not be proper and some people aren't noticing it. I had to complain to Lexus and 2 dealerships to finally get this fixed. My amp is still good though.

Besides the amp, you should be good but since you're already upset about the purchase, look into the car's history to see if your radio has been replaced or not. Try to get an extended warranty because that radio is really expensive, sorry you're dealing with this. This car is known to go up to 250K miles with no issues, **** happens. Wish you the best

 

Buy something else if you aren't happy

 

This is good advice, and I appreciate it. The twist here is that the first amp failed BEFORE I purchased the car. It was discovered after I had a pre-purchase inspection performed. The selling dealer agreed to pay for the repair. That dealership, a Jeep Chrysler place, actually held up to their part of the bargain (although they failed to disclose the broken system before I did the PPI), the ball is in the court of the local Lexus service department, and they are the ones doing considerable harm to the brand image at this time.

We’ll see what happens this week. Still, I have read the threads here about the moisture issue and the trunk flap issue and I have to wonder why Lexus won’t move in a positive direction to resolve this like they did the sticky dashboard issue.

 

Is this more common to the ML system or across the board?

 

The ML amp is in the trunk. From what I have read, this seems to be only affecting ML systems, but I could be wrong; I haven’t been searching for threads about non-ML systems.

 

I just remembered, there's someone who was offering amplifier services for amps that fail in the cars. If you search, you might be able to find him

 

And I am experiencing the same issue as well with my 2014 IS350 ML system. I have no audio and no sound but everything else works. This started a few weeks back, the audio then was intermittent, it would fix itself if restarted the car, it was bizarre and random. And now it's completely dead, and my google search brought me here.

 

Yes, in my case the REPLACEMENT amp went “bad” in just 3 hours after picking the car up from service. Like yours, it would fix itself after a restart of the engine, then crap out again some time later. Seems like it went out only when playing music; I went on a long commute using only the navigation and handsfree phone and it never stopped working.

I read about the place in New York that repairs these amps. But why would a supposedly new amp need repair? Seems like maybe something else is happening, but my service place is insisting it’s the replacement amp. I hope they’re right.

 

United Radio (unable to post website as it is being blocked here) sells remanufactured amps for the IS for ~50% of the price of a new one. They seem to have a good reputation.

 

TBH, I think you are over reacting. Things happen, They are taking care of the problem. I have never had an issue with Lexus service that was not rectified. Lexus stands behind their work and they go above and beyond to satisfy in my opinion. Yes, you are inconvenienced but you would be more inconvenienced in you would have no car right? Just relax and enjoy your loaner car.

 

Just curious: have you ever had one of your Lexus in service for more than 10 days AND they didn’t fix the problem?