Hello,
I have a 2003 LS430 with an unusual challenge. When starting the Radio / Amplifier / GPS all work. After 15 - 20 minutes the entire system shuts down.
Is there any sort of temp sensor or overload switch that I can reset / replace?
This started coincidentally with the installation of new mufflers and the summer heat started.
Although, still rather cool this morning, the same thing still happened.
Any help would be appreciated
Regards~
Jeff

 

Did you say the radio stop working too after 15-20 minutes? I try to decide if the problem occurs on something common to all 3 devices (radio, amplifier, and GPS), or just the display screen.

 

Yes, The radio, amp and GPS. The screen goes black

 

Let's try a few things to see if we can isolate the problem.

We will test the GPS screen first... Next time you start your car, immediately turn off the screen by pressing the "Option" button (on the right side of the screen), then select the "Display" option on the screen, then select "Screen Off" on the screen. Now wait for the 20 or more minutes that it normally takes to turn the screen black, then press the "Map" button (on the right side of the screen) to see if the screen will come back on. If the screen does not come back on, then we know the problem is not with the screen (something else shuts the screen off regardless if the GPS screen is on or not). Otherwise if the screen comes on when you press the "Map" button after the 20 minutes, then the problem may be with the screen (screen will only work for 15 - 20 minutes at a time).

We can do the same for the radio... Start your car and immediately turn off the radio. Wait for 20 or more minutes and see if the GPS screen will turn black with the radio turned off. If the screen stays on, then the problem may be caused by the radio or amplifier. Otherwise, something else is causing your problem. Please let me know what you find...

Other questions for you... What happened after the GPS screen turn black? Does it come back on after some time? Did you try to pull over, turn off the engine, and then restart to see if you get another 20 minutes of play time?

 

Started this morning. Turned off radio and screen. Stopped for fuel 5 minutes later. Restarted car and all was dead. No Radio, no GPS.
Stayed that way for the next hour or so.
Will try this again this afternoon on the home trip.

 

Mine is doing a similar thing. Sometimes when I crank the car, the screen says," cannot connect to external system", and sometimes it says", check the condition of the air conditioner", it also says" audio off". It will correct itself after a few minutes. The Nav will still work. What the heck is goin on here?

 

So, your observation tells us that somethings else causes the Radio/Amplifier/GPS to stop working. It is not a blown fuse, since the problem does not exist when you first start the car. It sounds like a common relay somewhere upstream of these devices is cutting power to them.

Let's move on to the next test... Next time you start you car, test the cigarette lighter next to the transmission shifter to see if it works. Then drive until the GPS dies, then test the cigarette lighter again to see if it dies with the GPS. Please let me know what you find.

 

OK here are the results:
At start up I turned off the display and radio. After 25 minutes of driving, went to turn on both and neither came on. Audio was off as was the display so no GPS either.
I can push both the cd and tape buttons and the screen says "no cd" or "no tape"

The cigarette lighter is not affected by this. Both the console and the one inside the center storage compartment are active.

This morning it took only 7 minutes before the system went off again.

Very frustrating!!

 

I’m stumped on this one…

As with any automotive audio systems, there are 2 sources of power: a “switched” power source (see “P-ACC” fuse) to operate the equipment only when the ignition is on, and a “constant” power source (see “RADIO NO. 1” fuse) to keep the clock running and keep all the pre-sets and programming.


So I traced the "switched" power source back upstream and found that it is switched by a relay called "P-ACC". As you can see on the diagram below, this relay also switches "P-CIG" fuse. That was my reason for you to check if your cigarette lighter also dies when the GPS dies. If that being the case, we know we have a bad relay. Unfortunately, the cigarette lighter did not die with the GPS, so that relay is not our problem. I will have to look a little deeper.

 

^^^^^^This is great detective work

 

What would happen if you have CDs and tape in the player. Would the CD/tape plays?

 

Currently I have a Grom Bluetooth adapter hooked up with an Aux input cable for a satellite radio receiver. So, I am on the CD input, and when it dies, it all dies. The XM receiver is plugged in to the cig lighter on the console next to the shift and this is how I know the lighter stays on.
Now, to add to the mystery, this morning the entire system stayed on for over an hour and did not turn off untill I shut the car off.
Here is what was different. I left early so I had the lights on forcing the display in the night view. Realizing this, when I turned off the lights, I dimmed the screen to about 75% for "daylight" operation. Hmmm.....

 

OK, so this is some sort of anomaly. Nothing worked on my drive home, but again, this morning all worked.
Anyone have any idea........