mckellyb

I mentioned this in another thread, and yesterday, I went by a local audio shop which repairs OEM stereos. $125 to diagnose, credit for that if I have them fix it, but I can't get in until March 5th. Another week without music is gonna kill me.

I know when the amp fails, there tend to be screeching/chirping noises. When this system died, it's just nothing. The buttons do not register in the hidden screen's test area, the rear armrest's controls don't do anything, it's like the head unit does not exist. Have there been many other failures like this? I'm sorely tempted to just get a replacement off Ebay and be done with it, but if it's the amp, well, then I'm out $400 for the head unit (though I could resell it).

Plus, it could be something else. I don't know what, because I've traced power back from the head unit to the battery, and everything checks out. I'm going to pull the amp fuses, tonight, even though they looked okay, to make certain they're whole. I'm 99% certain they are, but it's best to pull them to double-check.

Anyone heard of a similar failure? I've seen reference to it in a couple of places, elsewhere, but no resolutions were ever posted, and the threads just died.

SW17LS

Never heard of such a thing, but let us know what the audio shop says

mckellyb

Actually, I'm going to pull it back apart, tomorrow, after I get home from work. My work day is done by 1 PM. Sounds great, sure, but I'm here at 5A, so no free ride.

It hit me this morning as I was driving in at 4:30A and surveying how the interior is lit, and I noticed there are no lights on the head unit lit. All the buttons are dark. I'm not convinced the DIN plug on the rear isn't at least partially-disconnected between the fuse box and the termination point at the stereo. I never could get a 12V+ signal from what I thought would be a hot line at the terminus of the wiring harness. Chalked it up to being tired and possibly not thinking straight, at the time, but looking back, I never could get 12V+ signal from any wire I tried.

It's not like I haven't come across a disconnected wire in one of these cars, previously (right-rear suspension wire under the parcel shelf).

peteyx

I took mine in for the chirping failure. The dealer had a factory refurb for $1200. Since I had extended warranty, I said sure. They swapped the amp out and I thought all was good until it wasn't. No sound and the audio settings were unresponsive for bass, treble, balance and fader. And no chirping or any other sound. They said the amp failure caused a fuse for the headunit to fail. Perhaps that is your issue, as well.

mckellyb

Ah, HA! There are a few fuses which do not have power in the box above the passenger's feet. One of them is P-IG1-2, or close to that, the radio's fuse.

Now, the fun part. Finding where the electrical break is.

Right now, the interior of my ultra-luxury LS looks like it's a theft recovery.

mckellyb

Okay, verified I have 12V at the passenger's side fuse box on fuse 14, the audio circuit...as well as every other circuit on that distribution block. Debating whether or not I, again, pull the radio to test at the connector before I dive into a "new" eBay head unit. The pins are tiny, so it's a challenge to get a multi-meter probe on them without using tiny wire as a probe. I know, for a fact, I have ground at the connector, so it's connected, at least partially, and it's not like it has far to go.

It's been three weeks, I'm going for it. Worst that happens is, I put a replacement in, and it doesn't work. Put said replacement back on eBay, probably come close to breaking even.

I looked inside the radio for a fuse, couldn't find one, though I didn't take it completely apart, just the rear panel so I could shoot it with some DeOxit.

RandyV

A know issue. Condolences.

Don't spend money on shops that will use you as a guinea pig. There are six fuses associated with the amplifier. If the main fuse located at the passenger dash area is blown, it means you have a hard short across the amplifier power supply.

Send to a reputable shop - see last pages of this thread:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...mp-repair.html

mckellyb

This isn't an amp issue, though. Every fuse is good, the amp checks out via the onboard diagnostics and lead testing in the trunk, it's as if the head unit isn't connected. No lights, no buttons register, nothing.

My system did not make any odd noises, it just randomly shut off every few days. Sometimes after an hour of driving, sometimes 5 minutes. I figured, one day, it wasn't going to turn back on. Unfortunately, when it decided to do this, it was in the body shop, so I don't know if anything led to it (I don't think so, but y'never know). I'm fairly certain it sat for a while with the battery disconnected, and that may have finally let whatever bad connection finish failing.

I'd wager there's a bad solder joint or trace inside the ML head unit. I'll know in a couple of weeks.