Hello to all LS owner,

We have an 2002 LS430 in the family, which is having a non working radio.

Yesterday morning, the battery went dead. I tried to jump start the car and mad a fatal mistake by connecting the jumper terminals to the wrong batterry posts (this is not my car and it was really early in the morning). In other words, I connected the negative cable to the positive post and positive cable to the negative post. Within a few minutes, I started to see a little smoke coming out from the battery. I disconnected the jumper cable right the way. Let it sit for a little while and gave it another jump (I made sure to connect the cable properly this time, of course). The car started and has been running fine. However, the radio and CD can not be turned on.

As a side note, the other car, which I used to draw power from is functioning fine.

I'm wondering if I fried the radio? (it's ML so could be little expensive, ouch!). I called a Lexus service center and was told that a weak battery could cause the radio to stop working (?). This battery is about 1.5 years old so I don't think it's that old. However, it was the second time the battery went dead in a couple months. I'm not totally positive that it's not the culprit.

I'm trying to figure how to get the radio working again. Any input is greatly appreciated.

 

OUCH!

I made the same mistake a few years ago on a 1993 Toyota Previa while trying to jump start it. I even had a smoke smell in the cabin.

I quickly realized my mistake(after the smoke) and correctly switched the terminals. Strangely it just wouldn't crank afterwords.

I freaked out because the van was my fathers. I called Toyota and spoke with a certified mechanic and he seemed to think the problem was a fried computer ...VERY EXPENSIVE


A few days later I tired boosting again and voila it started right up.

I would check the fuses for the radio system. It might be something cheap...I hope.

Do you get any response what so ever from the radio? Does anything else seem affected?

Good Luck!

 

I disconnected the cable right when I see some smoke. Luckily I didn't proceed to turn the engine on yet. There was no smoke in the cabin. Everything else is fine. Just no response from the radio. I'm hoping it's the fuse.