So i just got my 2004 ls430 and I am having an issue with the radio (at least I think its the radio). when I start the car the radio would randomly come on for a few seconds sometimes even 5+ seconds and just cut off. after it does that it would start crackling and making poping sounds. I also noticed that the antenna has been ripped off (only the little screw part is in the housing and its stuck). another thing a Bluetooth transmitter wont work cuz the sound wont play, the calls cant be heard when I connect my phone to the car. but when I test the volume levels on the OEM touchscreen the little robot voice plays. I tried looking online and some people say it could be be battery. the last owner put a 650 cracking amp battery in there and online it says the car needs a 750-935 cracking amp battery (which I also assume cuz the car takes a few seconds to crank on and the battery in there looks a bit old). Anyone got any advice on whats going on?

 

if you have mark levinson , its probably the factory amp has failed. very common issue.

 

um, yeah, what he said. I just went through this whole thing. Here are 2 threads I commented on:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...-and-pics.html

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...ispreloading=1

I went through OEMautoaudio. They send you a refurbed amp for $475, and you send them your core and they refund you $125. It's a solder issue, same as the NAV issues with "external system not connected" and the transmission ECM's with the downshifting, all related to crummy no-lead solder.

 

Definitely sounds like an amp issue. Also you should replace the battery with a properly sized quality battery - not that it'll help the stereo. If the antenna on the roof was ripped off, make sure it's not leaking water into the car. That will eventually give you all kinds of new problems.

I really wish someone on here knew which parts actually go bad, or have bad solder joints in the amp. It seems to be a big secret that only two or three shops know the answer to. I can do board level repairs on through hole and SMD components as well as broken or cold solder joints on IC pins. The only thing I can't do is remove/replace an IC, but from what I've been reading it's not the chips, it's capacitors and/or bad solder joints. I'm not good enough to start a service doing amp repair for random people, but I'd like to be able to do it for myself and my friends. One of my friends is currently having issues with his amp, and it seems likely that all ML amps will eventually have some sort of trouble.

 

I watched a youtube video and guy replaced his battery and his whole audio system started to work. he said it wasnt giving enough power to the radio, but I defiantly will replace the battery. as for the antenna the housing is till there just the little screw part is stuck in it. i took part the amp today and everything seemed fine clean in there (seems like it was taken apart before as well).

 

I mention that guy's video in one of the threads above. I don't have a Youtube login so I cannot ask him, but I would bet that was not a long term solution. He definitely did some good investigation and you should always know where your battery is at anyway, but In the 3 or 4 threads here I read on the topic, I did not read one person here talking about that as the solution.

 

I second this. Even a small or slightly failing battery has plenty of power to run an audio system. Unless the battery is so far gone it can not even reach 10 or 11 volts, it will easily power the ML stereo. A car battery has hundreds of amps available for starting the engine, a factory stereo with an amplifier may require 30 or 40 amps to run, that's a drop in the bucket. And this is also only talking about when the car is not running. Once the engine starts and is running, the alternator will supply all of the power needed to run the entire car and the battery is removed from the equation (except for the fact that the alternator will top off the batteries charge). You can even completely remove the battery from the car while it's running and it won't make a difference, unless your alternator is failing.