Well I looked through the forums and I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for so I am hoping that someone here is familiar with what I am dealing with. I have an 04 LS and the Nav screen is starting to fail. It does work most of the time but it often times blacks out and then pops up a "Check System" on the screen. If I am listening to music it shuts off and then the info screen above the nav screen also shuts down and merely shows the time and "outside" (but not the temp) In case you are not aware, all of the functions operate through the screen and cannot be controlled when the screen blacks out. I had the techs at Lexus check it out and it will cost me about $2500 to have them repair it. (And that's because I have a very good freind who is the Sr. Service Advisor at the dealer) Can anyone tell me if there are any other alternatives? I have located a used screen at a salvage yard but I'm not quite sure that will resolve the problem. If anyone has any insight or can offer any solutions I would very appreciative. Thanks in advance for taking some time to reply.

 

Shall I assume no one else has experienced these issues with their Nav system? If not, consider yourself fortunate. Again, any help will be appreciated. Thanks for taking some time to reply.

 

That sucks. Some real basic stuff to check would be if the NAV CPU/HDD/DVD drive fuse is loose or corroded. Also check to make sure the harness that plugs into the NAV system is secure and not loose or damaged in any way.

 

Thanks for the input. Actually, the tech at Lexus already checked all of that. Under normal circumstances, I might question their intentions but the tech and the service advisor at the dealer are like brothers to me. I've known them my entire life. They are the reason that I switched from drving an STS to the Lexus. I doubt that they would mislead me. I was hoping that there might be a more affordable solution. $2500 can do a lot in the way of personalizing a vehicle. It looks like I may just have to bite the bullet. Thanks again.

 

couple of months ago when i was in the market for a ls430..i test drove few ls430s and one of them did exactly what your car is doing....the nav screen suddenly shut of and came back on a few seconds later!!.....that car had 87k on it...how many miles does your car have?

 

It has about 78K now, I bought it with about 71K but before I made the leap I had an Auto Check and a CarFax report pulled and I also had a Tech at Sterling McCall Lexus in Houston pull a service report. Everything came back clean and it was a one owner vehicle. Of course alot has changed in the last 7K miles. I'm not sure if it is an issue exclusive to the 04 models or not. I am just to curious to know if anyone else has experienced this and what they did to resolve it.

 

I can't say I know much about your specific problem, but if I were you I'd look into getting an aftermarket system put in before going straight to the replacement if all else fails.

It just seems a bit over the top for something stock, when you could get something thats a bit more "personalized" as you called it, and performs better for you.

Just a suggestion, if you can't get a quality solution.

 

well..aftermarket nav would never be a good solution for the 04 LS with factory nav since half the climate control buttons are on the screen as well!!

 

I don't know about the 04 LS but when changing from OEM nav to aftermarket nav on the 98-00 LS400, one can supposedly use the standard climate control module from a non-nav model - I've seen the climate control modules for a 98-00 LS fairly cheap on ebay. The connections for the standard climate control on a nav and non-nav LS400 are supposedly the same but I have not personally verified it.

I wonder if doing something similar on an 04 LS430 is possible. It might be a bit more expensive and complicated since the standard climate control module on a non-nav 04 LS430 is more complex and includes the center air vents, clock, outside temp display, etc.

Just a suggestion ...