No Audio At All - 01 Ls430 Ultra With Mark Levinson

[opie]

Here's my closeout (hopefully)..

I bought a used amp on eBay. The seller described the amp as remanufactured but when it arrived, there was no factory remanufactured sticker. I did order the p/n that ended in 01, not 0 so hopefully it will be OK (the supposedly upgraded part).

Installation went well. I had some trouble with a round plastic fastener at the far front of the side panel (the piece with the pocket) and this makes access more difficult than it should be. Oddly, this particular fastener had a sticky rubber coating which made re-installation much easier. It sticks to your finger when you go to replace it. Be sure to use this exact fastener in this particular place when you put everything back together.

All-in, it took me a little longer than an hour. It would have been faster had I done the procedure before. The replacement amp seems to be working fine and the sound is back. When I had finished, I opened up my old amp to see if there was an obvious problem. Although one part of the board was discolored, there was nothing else obviously wrong.

I thought I'd be helpful and provide photographs for those that follow in my footsteps. Some of the photos have notes.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oparvez/sets/72157617363721873/

I hope this helps others...

[Speedemon]

Hi,

Any closeout on this. Did your new amp fix the problem. I have the exact same issue on my '03 ls430 with ML and nav.

Thanks

Sorry I thought I posted on here but I guess I only posted on CL, yes the new amp fixed the issue, and the missing buttons are common with the amp issue. Good luck

[dcfish]

If someone on this topic is looking for an amp like I sent Speeddemon leave a message and I will do my best to source one for you.

[toftelar]

If someone on this topic is looking for an amp like I sent Speeddemon leave a message and I will do my best to source one for you.

[toftelar]

If someone on this topic is looking for an amp like I sent Speeddemon leave a message and I will do my best to source one for you.

I have an 01 LS430 with the same problem and exact symptoms. I would be very interested in your assistance in sourcing an amp. Please let me know how best to connect with you.

[jayrodclg]

i had a question about this also in 2 parts first i have a 2001 LS430 with NAV/ML and i think the amp died.... also i was wondering about the quote. the part about the speaker and mic not working. my car doesnt have Lexus Link but i was wondering if the fact that i had a speaker not working in the back(pulled it out and tested it, it is good.) and i dont think the mic works. my wifes 2006 rx will misunderstand voice commands all day long. but in my car it just acts like i havent said anything. i didnt know if it was possible that this connection would still be present in a car without Lexus Link, and if it could lead to a problem like the no speaker and mic dead that im dealing with. thanks.

The mute point for the radio/phone/LL interface is in the connector for the LL system; it's pin#15 on one of the LL connectors. I think it's the one that's NOT attached to the car. If you disconnect them you'll see one of the connectors only has 6 leads; this is the connector going out to the speaker and the mic (with power and shielding leads); the mute wire is in the other one --Connector H (I think there are 12 or 13 leads). You can disconnect this and see if it affects anything; the rear door speaker won't work as well as the mic for the nav and ASL systems but it might be useful in pinpointing where the short is.

[jayrodclg]

any word on this? i didnt know if the amp was going bad and caused the problem with the speaker and mic(if i replace the amp will this also go away), or is there a separate box that could be causing the problem. thanks for any advice.

[jayrodclg]

i ordered the amp(I'll have it early next week), we'll see if it'll fix the speaker/mic problem when i replace it.

[jayrodclg]

i got the amp, got it replaced really easily. stereo works again. still having the problem with the door speaker/mic. any info/help on this would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

[jainla]

i got the amp, got it replaced really easily. stereo works again. still having the problem with the door speaker/mic. any info/help on this would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

Hey there...

Depends on what speaker. The original Lexus phone is wired to use the driver-side rear door speaker(s). Is that the one that's out?

The connection point for the phone system (as well as the Lexus Link) is in the trunk on the right hand side. The in-car mic, the door speaker and power are all routed through this connection. If it's disconnected both the NAV system mic and that rear door speaker set won't work.

If you remove the floor cover on the right side of the trunk you'll see 2 ECUs (one of these is the Nav system) and a white connector. In the attached photograph it's the one with an X on it.

If your car doesn't have LL or the phone you'll have just two of these guys; make sure they are connected fully. If you have LL (like the car pictured) you'll have 2 pairs of these guys; and if you have (had) the phone you'll have 3 pair; you might have to play mix and match to see what needs to be connected.

Good luck!

[jayrodclg]

i got the amp, got it replaced really easily. stereo works again. still having the problem with the door speaker/mic. any info/help on this would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

Hey there...

Depends on what speaker. The original Lexus phone is wired to use the driver-side rear door speaker(s). Is that the one that's out?

The connection point for the phone system (as well as the Lexus Link) is in the trunk on the right hand side. The in-car mic, the door speaker and power are all routed through this connection. If it's disconnected both the NAV system mic and that rear door speaker set won't work.

If you remove the floor cover on the right side of the trunk you'll see 2 ECUs (one of these is the Nav system) and a white connector. In the attached photograph it's the one with an X on it.

If your car doesn't have LL or the phone you'll have just two of these guys; make sure they are connected fully. If you have LL (like the car pictured) you'll have 2 pairs of these guys; and if you have (had) the phone you'll have 3 pair; you might have to play mix and match to see what needs to be connected.

Good luck!

jainla you are brilliant! that was exactly it. it was completely disconnected and stuffed down underneath the dvd unit and the other ECU. i dont know why someone would have done that, but they did. im just glad you were willing to help. thank you so much.

[jainla]

Anytime... sorry it took me so long to finally catch your thread.

Perhaps your car went through the service campaign to remove the Lexus Link (they disconnect and then replace the control box with a generic sunvisor) or somebody was trying to troubleshoot something else.

Enjoy the ML and have fun with the voice command! If you search the AV forum you'll find my odyssey of installing bluetooth in the '01, now that you've wet your feet with the amp, another project!

i got the amp, got it replaced really easily. stereo works again. still having the problem with the door speaker/mic. any info/help on this would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

Hey there...

Depends on what speaker. The original Lexus phone is wired to use the driver-side rear door speaker(s). Is that the one that's out?

The connection point for the phone system (as well as the Lexus Link) is in the trunk on the right hand side. The in-car mic, the door speaker and power are all routed through this connection. If it's disconnected both the NAV system mic and that rear door speaker set won't work.

If you remove the floor cover on the right side of the trunk you'll see 2 ECUs (one of these is the Nav system) and a white connector. In the attached photograph it's the one with an X on it.

If your car doesn't have LL or the phone you'll have just two of these guys; make sure they are connected fully. If you have LL (like the car pictured) you'll have 2 pairs of these guys; and if you have (had) the phone you'll have 3 pair; you might have to play mix and match to see what needs to be connected.

Good luck!

jainla you are brilliant! that was exactly it. it was completely disconnected and stuffed down underneath the dvd unit and the other ECU. i dont know why someone would have done that, but they did. im just glad you were willing to help. thank you so much.

[LS430 UltraLux]

Just when I think I've got the conditions figured out for when this issue occurs something else happens to mess it all up.

I got in the car this morning and it was colder last night than it had been in a week or two, started the car and the radio took about 10 seconds to come on, so the problem also exists when it's cold.

In light of this I think I am more or less convinced that the amp is the issue, probably just a cold solder joint or something, although the disappearing buttons under audio concern me, but not knowing the internal design or what exactly each wire going into the amp does I can't say that it will or won't cause those buttons to disappear.

The mute wires have no effect on the issue and from what Jainla said it didn't change the buttons available either, I used the pdf from earlier in this post from 1990LS400 to figure out and disable each mute wire going to the amp with no improvement, the amp connections are correct on the diagram, just match the colors and pin count to figure out which connector it is, it is not top to bottom like the diagram.

I have verified that the hot at all times is in fact hot at all times and I also verified that the ACC is hot with the ignition in ACC, or On. So either a signal isn't getting to the amp from the player up front or the tuner in the rear or there is just an intermittent connection that is somewhat temperature sensitive inside the amplifier.

Also, thinking from the perspective of a Dealer and what they would do, I know the first thing they would say/do is replace the Amp so unless someone else has any feedback or ideas, I'm going to replace the Amp, cross my fingers, and hope that it fixes it.

Hey did buying the new/used amp ever fix your issue? I have the same problem on my 01 UL. The radio doesn't come on at all, then with the radio off the speakers start making an annoying sound that sometimes gets very loud. It's like a scratching noise that may actually damage my speakers. Please let me know if that actually fixed the problem because there's only one guy on eBay who's selling this amp and he wants $900. Just wanna know if that's the only way out. Hope not but would help to know. Thanks in advance.

[uhalde]

If someone on this topic is looking for an amp like I sent Speeddemon leave a message and I will do my best to source one for you.

Hi Dcfish: got 01LS430 with same problem...can you source me an amplifier? Thank you...Paul...uhalde@sbcglobal.net...(408)768-4089

[maniek_LS]

Hi,

I checked and my colleague who selling LS430 parts (has few LS430 models to sell as parts) is selling amps around $250. When I order something from US to Poland - postal (UPS) is below $40. If someone is interested I can help - send me PM.