Volume Not Responding - New Harness Recommended! YIKES!!!

[shalong]

Car History: 2014 IS250 bought new from dealer and serviced by dealer, no mods or wrecks of any type.  120k miles.  This is my first 'real' issue with the car.

Symptom: After a Saturday morning hand wash in the driveway, drove the car on Sunday and noticed volume would not register a change via the center knob or the steering wheel toggle.  After 2 hour drive (total all day) with multiple stops, no rain and 90 degrees and sunny, the volume never started working, though the entertainment unit displays fine.  (no volume level indication on the screen either).

Debug: Started with fuses under dash (2 for Amp).  Next, I moved to the amp (no water damage) - checked the power to amp with car on, no voltage on the small pigtail.

Asked a Pro: Took the car to dealership.  They swapped out amp and head unit with no result.  They are asking for $4500.00 for a complete wiring harness swap.

My Thoughts: I was flabbergasted with this and their lack for troubleshooting any further  I'm thinking that the harness has a pinch, grounding issue, connection failure somewhere along the line, but no experience with this car to know any 'hotspots' to try.  I'm not beyond jumping the proper wires to get this working as I'm not inclined to spend a 1/3 the value of the car for sound at this point.  Any and all thoughts welcome.

It was also suggested by the service manager to call 1800-25-LEXUS and ask them for support.  Anyone out there done this for out-of-warranty cars?

Thanks for your help!!!

 

[Architech]

oh wow, I posted this in another thread. Had a similar issue and it turned out to be a connector under the center console near or in front of the cup holders. Loose pin and or bad connection. Hope this helps anyone with a similar issue.

[shalong]

I forgot to follow up to this post, and your comment reminded me to do just that.  I took the car to a radio/electronics specialist in the area who let me know that they could trace the wiring harness and hopefully find the issue.  Starting from the amp in the back they roved the seats and carpet and followed the wires to the dash.  Under the center console by the shifter/cupholder the connector had come apart a bit.  They put it back together and added a ziptie.  But, yes, it sounds like the same thing that was causing your issue!

[Architech]

oh nice! glad to hear that you got it fixed. Yes, that seem exactly like the same issue I had.