My mother and I both have '04 LS 430s. She and I have both looked around this forum for her problem and haven't found it so I'm going to ask here:

She has a DroidX that she previously used in her car (for months). One day the bluetooth connection didn't connect. She says she had recently added a new contact (but doesn't think it was immediately before the connection problem).

She and my father have the LS 430 Repair Service Manual Set (not the glovebox book that you get from the dealer when you buy the car) but what a mechanic would have. They've been through the flow chart troubleshooting section which leads them to replace the screen. She really doesn't want to do that unless it's absolutely necessary (not as a "check to see if this works" solution).

I suggested today that she delete her phone device and re-install it but she hasn't gotten a chance to do that yet. She's also going to re-charge her old Palm Treo and see if it will connect with bt (to try to narrow down whether the problem is with her phone or car) but won't be able to do that until later today.

Just checking to see if anyone else has had this problem and can offer any solutions.
Thanks in advance.

 

Usually if the bluetooth (i will use 'bt' to abbreviate) stops working all of a sudden, then it is likely the phone itself (since it worked fine before). Start with obvious stuff by going into your phone settings and making sure you didn't turn off BT by accident. Delete the existing phone from the car and try to pair it again. I do notice that the Droid phones tend to have some odd software glitches here and there (though I shouldn't be talking b/c the iPhone is no better ).

It could be the phone software, but that would be unlikely (why would the newer software decrease BT compatibility??).

My money says that it's the phone, not the car.

 

Thanks for that info CarGuy89. I forgot to say in the original post that I believe she's already checked her phone settings but will pass along your remarks about the phone software glitches. I'll have her look around Droid forums for entries about bt glitches.

She really didn't want to replace the Nav screen and would have tried replacing the phone first but this gives her more info.

Thanks again!

 

You're more than welcome! These issues are always annoying. More often than not, I find that the software is flawed, not the actual hardware. Good idea on testing another phone. Any phone with BT should be able to connect to the LS. Also, I am guessing that even if the car's BT were broken, it wouldn't require replacing the nav screen, just w/e detects BT devices will need to be replaced.

My mom has a Droid X as well and she said the entire thing crapped out on her within week 1 or 2 and she had to get a new one lol. Gotta love how unreliable something as simple as a cell phone can be.

 

If turning bt off / on on the phone doesn't clear up the problem, try powering the phone all the way off (should be done occasionally anyway) and back on.

 

Thanks for that suggestion CaddyOwner - she had already tried turning the bt on/off and regularly powers down her phone.

 

Have you tried another BT phone yet? Or perhaps a software update?

 

Posting a follow-up so others with the same message will know that she was able to get the bt working again. She deleted the phone device and registered/paired/connected it again.

In case you're having this problem too, you have to delete the phone device through the phone not the Lexus Nav system (at least she did with an '04 LS430).