Hello everyone. My eyes are bleeding trying to figure out this radio issue i have. Nothing seems to work for me. I have a 96 ls400 with the pioneer stereo. The issue is the common turns on, no sound issue. Ive tried everything aside from replacing the head unit. There was no lexus phone installed in this car, checked connectors in the trunk where the lexus phone would be, under the center console where the auto mute connector is, checked all fuses, replaced amp with 2 known good amps (one from ebay, and one from good samaritan from craigslist who let me rip his out from under the seat to test) I still have nothing. All the speakers are good (for their age, no rotting, splitting,etc) and well connected. I'm stumped, not sure where to go from here. Ideally I would like to keep the factory system with disc changer etc. The only thing that coincides with this is that the front cig lighter does not work. Otherwise everything else works perfectly. Idea's would be welcomed before biting the bullet and replacing the entire system.

Thanks

 

the problem could very well lie with the headunit itself. glad you did your usual checks of the fuse and even the amp. could you get with the good samaritan again and swap headunits?

maybe your next interim steps would be to check why the cig lighter isn't working, which is in the same vicinity as the HU. it could as simple as a loose connector or missing ground.

 

Does your clock work?