Satellite Radio Not Working

[areich12]

Hi all,

So i recently bought a 2008 Lexus is250 AWD and i have to say WHAT A NICE CAR!!!!! anyway when i push or hold down the SAT button it only goes to AM radio. So i took the car to Lexus and they said it needed to be wired for it. however i thought that when you buy it new it comes with a free month of XM but thats beside the point. Around how much would this cost to get rewired and do I HAVE to bring it to Lexus to have this done or could i bring it to like Meinike or some other autoshop or could i do it myself? Also someone told me you could like haggle XM or Sirius to get the price down to around $5/month is it true?

[pj8708]

Hi all,

So i recently bought a 2008 Lexus is250 AWD and i have to say WHAT A NICE CAR!!!!! anyway when i push or hold down the SAT button it only goes to AM radio. So i took the car to Lexus and they said it needed to be wired for it. however i thought that when you buy it new it comes with a free month of XM but thats beside the point. Around how much would this cost to get rewired and do I HAVE to bring it to Lexus to have this done or could i bring it to like Meinike or some other autoshop or could i do it myself? Also someone told me you could like haggle XM or Sirius to get the price down to around $5/month is it true?

You have several things going on here. First, I think the dealer misspoke when they said it had to be wired for it. They should have said it needed to be equipped from the factory to receive satellite radio signals. However, if as you say, your radio has a SAT button on it then your radio is already equipped for satellite reception. What needs to be done, is to have XM ACTIVATE the radio so it will start recognizing the XM signal and you can rock out. In my opinion Meinike,Midas,Jiffy Lube,and the like, should never come within a mile of a Lexus.

It sounds like you bought this car pre-owned so the previous owner probably used the "free" trial offer and you will not be able to take advantage of that. To activate the radio, tune the stations to 000, and the eight character ID number will appear in the display. Go to "XM Radio Customer Service" on the Web and you can sign up for your service. If you want, there is also an 800 number you can call for a warm body. I would not hold my breath regarding negotiating a $5 price.

Hope this helps.

Paul

[1990LS400]

Paul, when the dealer rep told areich12 that his car "needed to be wired for it", he/she might have meant that no XM receiver is installed. Sat radio receivers are options: http://www.lexus.com/cpo/model_library/IS/2008.html

I'm too lazy to look now, but the last time I looked on eBay, I think the price for an XM or Sirius receiver that was fully compatible with late model Lexus vehicles was running about $250 - whatever the price it was far less than the dealer installed sat radio receiver option.

[pj8708]

Paul, when the dealer rep told areich12 that his car "needed to be wired for it", he/she might have meant that no XM receiver is installed. Sat radio receivers are options: http://www.lexus.com/cpo/model_library/IS/2008.html

I'm too lazy to look now, but the last time I looked on eBay, I think the price for an XM or Sirius receiver that was fully compatible with late model Lexus vehicles was running about $250 - whatever the price it was far less than the dealer installed sat radio receiver option.

Could be Jim, kind of unclear. With both my ES330 and 350 the head units for those models had a combo AM/SAT button and in my experience meant the unit was prepped for reception with activation. I read the post to mean the unit had a SAT button.

Please areich12, let me know what you find out.

Thanks Jim,

Paul

[SW03ES]

Until 2010 the SAT receivers were optional and dealer installed. So even if the vehicle has a SAT button, you need to buy and have the tuner installed in order to subscribe to satellite radio.

There are lots of options, www.vaistech.com for one, or you can buy the tuners on eBay like Jim said. I would probably take the car to a car audio shop and have it installed.

Mieneke is for mufflers...not car audio ;)

[grondie]

That's correct, if you push that SAT button and it stay's on AM, the tuner is not installed. The dealer will probably charge you north of $700 dollars to purchase and install the unit, or you could purchase it from one of the many online dealers (such as Sewell in Texas) for around $300.00 and install it yourself. It's actually quite easy to install as the units come with step-by-step instructions, it should take about 2 hours for a first timer.

[smooth1]

Until 2010 the SAT receivers were optional and dealer installed. So even if the vehicle has a SAT button, you need to buy and have the tuner installed in order to subscribe to satellite radio.

There are lots of options, www.vaistech.com for one, or you can buy the tuners on eBay like Jim said. I would probably take the car to a car audio shop and have it installed.

Mieneke is for mufflers...not car audio ;)

Correct-o-mundo! Hitting the Sat button just switches the unit to that input feed. Like hooking up a CD player to a DVD input, on the front when you hit DVD it just allows the CD player to operate. You can purchase a Sirrius, or a XFM reciever and hook it up yourself as well. It's really not that hard.

[Gloria Schlanser]

I bought my IS 250 new and it came with a 3 month free XM subscription which at the time I did not really take advantage of; fast forward to 2019 and a get a deal for a 3 year subscription which I signed up for. However, I find now that I get a horrible signal I am constantly losing and I don't even get one full song to play. It doesnt matter if it is a cloudy or clear day or where I am, the signal is constantly lost and the music plays in pieces if at all most of the time

[1990LS400]

On 1/21/2020 at 7:13 AM, Gloria Schlanser said:

I bought my IS 250 new and it came with a 3 month free XM subscription which at the time I did not really take advantage of; fast forward to 2019 and a get a deal for a 3 year subscription which I signed up for. However, I find now that I get a horrible signal I am constantly losing and I don't even get one full song to play. It doesnt matter if it is a cloudy or clear day or where I am, the signal is constantly lost and the music plays in pieces if at all most of the time

It might take a Lexus dealer to diagnose the problem.  A common cause is a defective antenna.  One thing you could try is to have the signal refreshed.  IIRC, there is an option on the XM website for refreshing the signal after you log on.  Edit:  After logging on to the XM website, look for "Refresh My Radio".

XM reception varies widely.  I live in the Kansas City area and sometimes lose reception while driving down tree lined streets, under overpasses and around tall buildings.  I lose the single everytime I pull into my garage too.  I listen to XM quite a lot.  It's much improved from what it was a few years ago.

Edit:  One more thing.  I've found it best to never start one of our vehicles in our garage with the radio on and set to XM.  If I do, reception is poor until I turn the ignition off and back on.  I've learned to either turn the radio off when entering my garage or to change the radio from XM to any other source ... FM, Bluetooth, etc.

[LexSpeed]

Understand this to be an older post however, wanted to confirm the following statement; Until 2010 the SAT receivers were optional and dealer installed. So even if the vehicle has a SAT button, you need to buy and have the tuner installed in order to subscribe to satellite radio.

Does that mean the wiring to the roof antennae / radio is already in place, and just need to install the satellite tuner / module as shown here;

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-2nd-gen-2006-2013/297124-diy-2007-isx50-oem-xm-satellite-radio-install.html https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-2nd-gen-2006-2013/297124-diy-2007-isx50-oem-xm-satellite-radio-install-2.html 

 

[LexSpeed]

On 1/21/2020 at 7:13 AM, Gloria Schlanser said:

I bought my IS 250 new and it came with a 3 month free XM subscription which at the time I did not really take advantage of; fast forward to 2019 and a get a deal for a 3 year subscription which I signed up for. However, I find now that I get a horrible signal I am constantly losing and I don't even get one full song to play. It doesnt matter if it is a cloudy or clear day or where I am, the signal is constantly lost and the music plays in pieces if at all most of the time

Hello Gloria, would you have photo available showing where in the  vehicle, the XM satellite tuner was installed from the factory (trunk etc.) Would any other member have a photo of factory installed satellite tuner (2006 - 2013 IS 250 / 350)