jjfinley2001 Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 When I play music loudly my car starts to smell like burning wiring or something. It smells very bad, to the point that I am afraid something is about to catch fire!! Please help!! Also, I do not have the woofer hooked up. Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curiousB Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Obviously something is getting hot. I'd double check to make sure no one got cute and put in a higher rated fuse for the audio branch circuits than what is prescribed by Lexus. The disconnected Woofer could be an issue. Some amplifiers do not behave well if they don't see a load on their output. If your woofer is disconnected that would be an open circuit. Also if the wires somehow are shorting to the chassis that would be equally bad... Sometimes the thermal paste used on the final output transistors in the power amplifier dries out. When this happens these transistors overheat because heat transfer to the chassis heat sink doesn't work well. This would require removing the unit and getting it on the bench and reapplying thermal paste on each output driver (probably two per speaker).. Another possibility if dried out electrolytic capacitors in the power supply circuits. This can cause them to get leaky and then they heat up even more and bake the electrolyte further... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pj8708 Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Based upon my conversation with the audio tech at my dealer last week regarding the ML system, I'm with curiousB that you have a amplifier problem. I don't know much about the earlier ML amps, but the ones being installed over the last few years in the LS models are dropping like flys. The main problem with doing any repairs or diagnostics is that Levinson only licenses the use of the product to Lexus. All schematics, specs, components, and other information is kept as proprietary by Levinson. Lexus itself does not know how to repair one and can only swap out whole parts. Sounds dumb I know. But on Lexus part, it keeps the ML system exclusive to the Lexus line and no one else can copy the technology. Consequently, unless someone like curiousB knows something I don't, I don't know who would be able to do any work on the amp. As you know, "dcfish" is our authorized audio source for the club. If it comes to this, he might have a amp you could buy for that year. Let us know what you find out. Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pj8708 Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 I just found this on Club Lexus site. I have no idea if it is legitimate or accurate or even still available. In short, I make no guarantees. However, it might be a great answer to a major problem for a lot of our members. "Hey guys, I don't know if anyone knows this on the forum, but I have some great news. I had been having problems off and on with my Mark Levinson amp for quite a while and a week ago it finally stopped working. Well, after tons of research I came upon a company called United Radio Service in Syracuse, Ny. They had great customer service and fixed my amp the same day it was received for $325. I can't say enough, as I was quoted $900 from Lexus to replace the amp. They also warranty their work/parts for 1 year. Anyway, their website is: www.unitedradio.com. I dealt with the Automotive Division." Automotive Electronics 5705 Enterprise Parkway East Syracuse, NY 13057 Toll-free: 800-448-0944 Phone: 315-446-5570 Toll-free Fax: 800-701-3874 Fax: 315-446-2434 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjfinley2001 Posted November 7, 2011 Author Share Posted November 7, 2011 Thank you for all of your input. Greatly appreciated. I think I am going to try playing it loud with the car parked and see if I can tell exactly where the smell is coming from. Do you guys know exactly where the amp is located? I will also look online to see if I can find out. Thanks again and I will keep you posted! Thanks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaswood Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Thank you for all of your input. Greatly appreciated. I think I am going to try playing it loud with the car parked and see if I can tell exactly where the smell is coming from. Do you guys know exactly where the amp is located? I will also look online to see if I can find out. Thanks again and I will keep you posted! Thanks!! Why is the woofer disconnected..? Either connect it back up or use a 4 ohm high wattage resistor, 10W might work, as a load substitute and see if the smell abates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjfinley2001 Posted November 7, 2011 Author Share Posted November 7, 2011 Thank you for all of your input. Greatly appreciated. I think I am going to try playing it loud with the car parked and see if I can tell exactly where the smell is coming from. Do you guys know exactly where the amp is located? I will also look online to see if I can find out. Thanks again and I will keep you posted! Thanks!! Why is the woofer disconnected..? Either connect it back up or use a 4 ohm high wattage resistor, 10W might work, as a load substitute and see if the smell abates. It is removed by the previous owner. Looks like they had some subs in the trunk. There is a pass converter going to the separate sub amp which has the fuse removed until I put some other subs in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaswood Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 Thank you for all of your input. Greatly appreciated. I think I am going to try playing it loud with the car parked and see if I can tell exactly where the smell is coming from. Do you guys know exactly where the amp is located? I will also look online to see if I can find out. Thanks again and I will keep you posted! Thanks!! Why is the woofer disconnected..? Either connect it back up or use a 4 ohm high wattage resistor, 10W might work, as a load substitute and see if the smell abates. It is removed by the previous owner. Looks like they had some subs in the trunk. There is a pass converter going to the separate sub amp which has the fuse removed until I put some other subs in it. Since the Lexus already has a 5th, low pass, channel, why would a pass converter be used. In any case a "passive" low pass filter, inductors and capacitors only, with no load, ~4 ohm speaker, might "reflect" a serious level of energy back into the solid state audio driver circuits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjfinley2001 Posted November 9, 2011 Author Share Posted November 9, 2011 I think I need to ask a new Q. What is the correct way to add an external amp to the Mark levinson system? Also, what is the correct way to disconnect the subwoofer for the system? It seems it would be like any other system, where if there in no load demand in a channel there is no power going through that unhooked channel? If that is the case then I am not sure that there would be an issue if you don't have a speaker hooked up. However I am not an expert so I could be waaayyy off. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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