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I'm exector of my father's estate, and have found his 2015 IS250 has no sound. I've read a bunch of these threads, done a bunch of testing in the car, and no joy.
Amp is a pioneer 86280-53190 ie Not Mark L. Car has Nav. Car trunk area was dry, no corrosion, and taking the top cover off the amp it looks fine. Speaker resistance seems ballpark 3.8 to 4.5 ohm.
The hidden diagnostics menu doesn't show the Amp when I go into it.
I haven't dug deeper.
I'd hoped to just throw another amp in it, as I need to get the car sold, but if I'm understanding the system it is digital audio to the amp, which then does the digital/analog conversion. Right?
Is the DAC proprietary? Has anyone come up with a swap for reasonable $$$?
I got excited reading Crutchfield's site where they list an adapter cable, but on digging deeper, it doesn't work on cars with Nav. My amp has a completely different pinout than they show.
The car has only 73,000 'old man' kilometers on it (Ontario) and will be Safety'd this week, if anyone wants a low milage IS250 with no sound....
Any and all help is appreciated. I refuse to spend a thousand bucks on a used Ebay amp.
Quick inquiry before I dig into this. I just had a loud sharp pop from the speakers on my 2014 350F ML and Nav and the requisite no audio. I know these amps are known to fail, but one thing I haven't seen or perhaps didn't realize, is I am also getting no seat belt chime, door open chime either. Would the death of the amp also cause that? I guess I never really noticed whether the alerts come through the speakers, but I wouldn't have thought so.
Edit: Got home and went to start with diagnose it and it works now. I am going to go ahead and pull the amp out and make sure everything is clean and dry.
I am trying to go the financially smart way. Using a high quality aftermarket amp would feel like money better spent. Plus sound quality would be better.
I have a 2014 IS350 F-Sport ML with Nav with ~68k miles. Been struggling with no sound for almost a year now. When the issue (similar to what you guys are going through with a failed amp, no sound for anything i.e. radio, nav, bluetooth) first started, it would only appear after a car wash or raining but now the sound will never come on the first start but will usually come back on the second start. If I turn off the car and wait for the radio/computer to turn off completely (I listen for the fan noise to turn off) and start it again, the sound will usually come back but it will stop working again the next day.
Have already tried the following:
Checked ML amp for moisture or wetness, no signs of any moisture or wetness. Still used a hair dryer on it for a minute or so, which used to fix the issue. Not sure if it was the hair dryer or the restarting that fixed it.
Replaced the flap next to the amp with an OEM part from the dealer. After 10 years, the old one didn't look too bad but it wasn't sealing perfectly like a new one does.
Checked the fuses, they looked OK.
Disconnected the negative terminal of the battery for several hours.
Updated the software to the latest version.
Pushed the "mode" button on the steering wheel a few times to make sure it's not stuck on mute command.
Pushed the "SOS" button and heard something along the lines of no active subscription to make sure it's not stuck on a failed call loop and not sending a mute command to the audio system. The 2 lights next to "SOS" button are off.
Please correct me if I'm wrong but based on my understanding of electronics and common sense (which might be limited). Because the sound comes back on the 2nd start, I think it's likely a software or electronic glitch as opposed to a completely failed amp or loose electrical connection. If the amp was bad or a connector was physically loose or contaminated, the sound wouldn't return on the 2nd start, right?
Just to add to my frustration with Toyota / Lexus:
Local dealer (Newport Lexus) wants $250 for diagnosis. My guess is that they'd probably tell me it's a bad amp, radio, and/or telematics system, which would cost $$$ to fix.
Contacted Lexus corporate and even gave them links to all these threads related to "no sound" but they offered 0 help. Based on this experience and the transition to EVs, this will probably be my last Lexus/Toyota product.
Just spitballing here, but it could still be water damage from before you replaced the flap next to the amp.
A corroded connection on the circuit board could induce higher resistance, impeding current flow to something like a capacitor, slowing its charge rate, causing the amp to fail some internal start up test. When you get to the second start, the capacitor still has a residual charge, allowing it to finally make it to the full charge to meet the test requirements. By the next day the charge has drained, and you start all over again.
Taking the amp out, and apart, might reveal a corroded connection (or maybe not).
Just spitballing here, but it could still be water damage from before you replaced the flap next to the amp.
A corroded connection on the circuit board could induce higher resistance, impeding current flow to something like a capacitor, slowing its charge rate, causing the amp to fail some internal start up test. When you get to the second start, the capacitor still has a residual charge, allowing it to finally make it to the full charge to meet the test requirements. By the next day the charge has drained, and you start all over again.
Taking the amp out, and apart, might reveal a corroded connection (or maybe not).
That seems like a logical explanation for my situation. The old flap didn't close completely at the bottom due to the deteriorated/deformed rubber material but there was no signs of moisture or wetness around the amp. Also, I forgot to mention an interesting detail, before I disconnected the battery yesterday, it would take 5-6 restarts to get the sound back but after the battery disconnect, the sound comes back on the second start (for now). How could this be possibly explained?
If I take amp out and apart and find a corroded connection, how should I remove the corrosion? Or is that something I need to let a professional handle?
Is there anything else I can try besides taking the amp apart?
Can’t explain your battery disconnect improvement.
See photos earlier in this thread showing what corrosion can look like (yours, if you have it, may or may not look similar). As far as fixing it yourself, it depends on where it is and your comfort zone in regards to soldering SMDs (Surface Mount Devices).
Can’t explain your battery disconnect improvement.
See photos earlier in this thread showing what corrosion can look like (yours, if you have it, may or may not look similar). As far as fixing it yourself, it depends on where it is and your comfort zone in regards to soldering SMDs (Surface Mount Devices).
I have no experience soldering SMDs or working with amps in general. So based on that, I'll just call some local car audio shops and see what they can do. From reading the replies, I guess the repair cost should be around $500 USD or more depending on how bad the corrosion is? Anyone want to chime in the actual repair cost? I'm hesitant mailing my amp to United Radio after reading someone posting even with their "repaired" amp, it still produced no sound and the tech at UR blamed a connector somewhere else in the car?
Given how wide spread this "no sound" / failed amp problem is with Lexus (affecting multiple models and model years for over a decade), I'm surprised there is no recall, TSB, a simple acknowledgement, or class action suit. In fact, when I called my local dealer, they played dumb and said they've never seen any audio issues with Lexus vehicles! Customers are left paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars to repair or replace their amps in cars with less than 100k miles (mine only has 68k miles!). The whole Lexus reliability thing is starting to look like a myth. Is there anything us owners can do to hold Lexus accountable?
I called a few local repair shops and got different answers. In my situation, the sound comes back after 2 or 3 starts (not starting the engine, just pushing the "start" button without pressing the brake pedal). Does it sound like a ML amp or loose/bad connector problem?
One of the shops told me that it's probably not the grey connector buried in the center console if I haven't spilled any liquid there. I've never spilled liquid in the center console and I bought the car new.
One shop only does amp repairs and won't help me with anything else. Another shop charges $162 to diagnose + whatever additional for the repair.
Guys, please HELP me narrow down the root cause - with the sound coming back after 2-3 starts, is it the amp or the connectors??? btw, I already cleaned the smaller white connector (fiber optic?) that plugs into the amp but it didn't fix anything.
Just bought a 04 LS 430 radio CD both work but no sound noticed. I have a blown audio fuse when I replaced the fuse it pops when I unhook the amplifier I can put in fuse without it popping,Does that mean I perhaps have a bad amplifier that is blowing my fuses?
Just bought a 04 LS 430 radio CD both work but no sound noticed. I have a blown audio fuse when I replaced the fuse it pops when I unhook the amplifier I can put in fuse without it popping,Does that mean I perhaps have a bad amplifier that is blowing my fuses?
You probably need to ask about this in the LS 430 forums. This is the forum for the 3rd-gen IS. I as opposed to L.
Probably have an amp failure in my future, as I had to remove the trunk trim to run a power wire from the battery to add trailer lights, and saw a very rusty nut/bolt holding down the amp, so I figure it’s just a matter of time until corrosion gets my amp too.
When I bought my 2014 IS350 F Sport (used), the ori amp was already shot, but the dealer agreed to fix it. The replacement worked well for about 2 years, then one day I heard a very loud pop, and that was the end of the sound. I removed the amp myself and saw that while the amp case didn’t show any signs of corrosion, one of the mounting screws was completely rusted. And the area under the amp, while bone dry at the time of removal, showed debris and sediment not found in other parts of the trunk.
I sent the amp to United Radio; they called and said it couldn’t be fixed. I found that rather surprising. So I ordered a new amp from Lexus Parts (about $1500), plugged it in and… blessed music again! But I was worried about it happening again, so I bought a plastic shoebox from the container store and rigged it up. It’s a little too big to completely close the trunk panel, but it gives me a little peace of mind.
I opened up the amp, and at first it appears to be fine inside. But then I removed the screws and looked under the main board and there’s plenty of corrosion there. Clearly, water can get in through the gaps by the wiring harness connectors. Thinking about putting this amp up for sale for parts on EBay..
03-04-24, 11:22 AM
another Me Too post, on inherited IS250
