I have an 03 430 with Mark Levinson.

On the Sewell parts online pictures they show two rear door speakers in the 2001 - 2003 models, either Mark Levinson or Pioneer. My car only appears to have one speaker grill. Am I missing something like the tweeter and mid/ bass driver in the same opening?

 

Behind the one grill in the rear door is a round enclosure. In the round enclosure is a 5" midrange and a little tweeter. Mine had some deterioration in the foam for the mid range and I bought a foam rebuild kit for the Mark Levinson speaker. It came with good instructions. I removed repaired and reinstalled the speakers and they work beautifully. (the dealer replaced the deteriorated sub woofer as part of my agreement when I purchased the car and I had to replace the mids in the front doors as well 1 I got new the other I sent out the spare for re-foaming and when I saw how nice and easy it was I bought the reRfoam kit for the rears to do myself. The dash and rear door tweaters are the only original survivors they are tough and probably never fail) I too could not figure out this scenario until I took the door panel off. It is easy if you know what you are doing. Let me know if you require instructions or repair kit details. Regards, Stephen


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Thanks.

That's kind of what I expected. Think I'll just replace the mids. Never refoamed before but replacement should be easy enough.

I downloaded the repair manual. Are there any hidden tricks in removing the door panels? I need to do front and rear doors. Did the sub last week and it was a PITA!

The reason I ask about hidden tricks not listed in the repair manual is I replaced all my rear bulbs today. NOTHING in the manual about how to remove the interior trunk emergency release handle bezel. Not a mention. I had to remove the trunk lid liner to get to the license plate bulbs so I followed the manual, as best as it allowed!

Thanks again........…

 

Step 1 pull very very hard on the little tiny side sunshade to remove it from the frame because without removing it it will be impossible to lift the door panel up over the metal lip of the door that holda it on.
Step 2 get a smallish flat head screwdriver and put tape on the end (TO PREVENT SCRATCHING THINGS) and pry the little plactic cover off that is in back of the chrome inside door handle, pry out the light housing at the bottom of the door and disconnect, place the screwdriver carefully under the wood bezel to the power window switch and carefully pull up as the front portion is a clip that pulls upward the rear of it is a sort of hook that once the front is pryed up slides forward and out then disconnect the plugs and use a phillips screwdriver to take out the ashtray light.
Step 3 put a bucket with a pillow on it to support the door panel once loose so you do not have to remove the wires and door lock and handle cables completely but you can undoo these if you like it really is easy just do it slowly and pay attention to how it came apart.
Step 4 using a phillips screwdriver remove the screws 1@ in back of the plactic trim you removed near the inside chrome door handle 1@ under the wood power window switch 1@ under the armrest (it is not hidden but only viseable from under the armrest, you have to almost lay down and look at the door armrest upward from the ground 3@ the very bottom edge of the door panel under a black rubber weatherstrip 6 total for the rear
Step 5 pry the door panel away from the door there are 2 clips on the left two from the right and no door pull tools are needed just use your fingers
Step 6 unce the door panel is loose pull the whole panel up carefully as the whole horizontal top section rests in a lip at the edge of the dew wipe inside window gasket.
Step 7 now that it is loose remove slightly and set it ion the bucket with pillow and voilla you will see the speaker.
Step 8 remove the speaker and replace it.
***I mention the refoaming kit as it costs $25 for 2 and the speakers are $129 each and quite honestly the refoam kit has a little more durability to it's construction than the new Mark Levinson speaker. I was not too worried about the cost of the new speakers but figured why not save $200. I figured that if i could not do the refoam I would leave the door panels off and keep the car in the garage and one day later Lexus of Austin would have the speakers and I would put them in but it never came to that it was the easiest thing. Now that I know how to get the door panels off I honestly could do it in 5 minutes. It seams daunting from the onset but honestly is quite easy. It took me much longer to type this note to you on my smartphone than it would have for me to get the door panel off. Let me know if I can help you more. Regards Stephen


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Btw check out ebay item 140741044817 please and let me know what you think. This is the $25 kit to repair two rear ML mid range speakers.


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One final thought. I sent one front door speaker to these guys for refoaming and they did an amazing job. It took 8 days from when I shipped it till I got it back. You could send all 4 speakers to them at the same time and including both way shipping have them all done for just under $200 out of pocket and I am telling you the end result is better than new (that is if you can live with no audio for 8 days or if you have a second car). I am telling you you if you can get the door panels off you can do the refoaming yourself. As a matter of fact you can do all 4 yourself for well under $100 Just a thought. If you can do that PITA rear subwoffer job you can do all 4 of these in less time. I knew my rear sub was bad when I bought the car and told the dealership if they did not replace it for me it was a deal braker so they did. Then one by one the 4 mids sound quality started going bad I guess because the foams were so brittle just hanging on by threads and when I would enjoy the sound system at higher volumes one by one they gave out. Actually each speaker I took out was so damaged at the foam it is a wonder thay sounded as good as they did in the condition they were in. Now "all" is absolutley perfect with this car and I love it.


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WOW! Thanks a LOT for all the help and advice.

Looks like it's time to look into re-foaming and doing it myself. I'll try to find a couple of DIY's.

I just thought plug and play with new OEM ML speakers would be the easiest to do. As far as longevity I figured the replacement would last a number of years. Not sure about the lifespan of refoaming jobs?

 

Stemirra,

When you did the refoam did you remove the dust cap, shim the voice coil and install new dust caps?

The reason I ask is I've seen directions to do it either way. When not replacing the dust cap the last part you glue is the surround to the frame and then "exercise" the driver so it finds the center (while the glue is still wet) without any dragging or noises in the voice coil. Not real confident about this method but if others have used it with good results than I'm up for it. Less work and fewer chances for damaging the speaker cone.

These guys look pretty reasonable and credible: http://www.simplyspeakers.com/lexus-...edge-kits.html

 

If your car is old enough, eventually all the foam around every speaker will deteriorate to some degree. I had my rear subwoofer refoamed, and replaced both front door speakers with new OEM as they were relatively inexpensive (under $200 for both new). I'm sure my rear passenger door speakers are probably weak but I can't hear any distortion and I'm not investigating any further. OUr sound systems are one of the few weak links to LS430 ownership.

 

I just had the dealer (Park Place, Plano, Texas) replace a driver door speaker in my 2004 under the Platinum Vehicle Service Contract (what they sell when it's too old to be a CPO). No cost to me. A friend had, I believe, the amp go out in his 2004.

 

In answer to tahiles question about removing the dust cap etc. no i did not. I carefully followed the instructions and just changed the foam. 3 hours later after completely drying I put them back in and wow what an improvement. I now have a new subwoffer and all mid range door speakers have renewed foams (actually 1 speaker is new other 3 refoamed). I do not think the tweeters can go bad because they are so durably constructed so now my system sounds like new.


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