lex442

I just want to let you guys know that I found out what the problem was. It was the satellite tuner. It is located om the trunk area behind the panel on the right side quarter panel. Also what I have noticed was in areas I was having reception problems with the signal are much better now.

Caflashbob

fwhomeboy

How much was it?

mbarron37

Please, more info needed. How did you diagnose that it was the tuner? Where did you purchase it and what was the cost? Easy to replace. My reception is so bad, that I will order today, just need to know how to diagnose and prove that is my problem. I may just change it out, if cost is low enough...............

lex442

I bought it off ebay. It was a used part and cost me 40 bucks. I bought 2 of them just incase the other one goes bad. A brand new one is 1700.00 so I will take my chance with a used one. How I figured out what it was, I called HiTech Services in California 818 785 8085 and they told me that it was either the antenna on top of the car which I had already replaced or it was the tuner. Some of you all just might want to keep their # handy because they repair radios for Lexus. A couple years ago I sent them my radio from my 99 Gs 300 and they fixed the LCD display. Now the tuner is not visible even when you remove the trunk panel. It is mounted on a support bracket above the amplifier. But it is accessible. There are several of the tuners on ebay. I will take a chance on a 40.00 part versus one for 1700.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2007-2008-L....c100290.m3507

https://www.ebay.com/itm/07-09-LEXUS...sAAOSwjRpZVBIv

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lexus-LS600...gAAOSw9Bha-Chm

AZLexicon

My wife's jeep will lose signal in the same place and there happens to be a cell tower right there so that's probably the cause.

mbarron37

jmcraney

In addition to the tuner and antenna, there are lots of other things to consider. As to comparing to your previous car: you need to keep in mind that the cell site equipment changes and the interference problems are related to the change to 4G LTE, so there may not have been a problem from cell sites at that time.

When comparing your car to your wife's, you have to give some thought to which signal source the different cars use. Your car uses XM - not sure about your wife's car, some Acuras can use Sirius too.

You also need to give some thought to interference from any modifications you have made to your car such as adding a radar detector, or power converter or any electronic device. And you have to consider interference from electronic devices that you carry.

roadfrog

Exactly. Any connection in the system could be loose....behind the head unit, along the chassis, at the tuner.....etc

I still haven't figured out why mine won't connect to sat. Every now and again, I'll get a few seconds of sound and then "no signal". I wouldn't be surprised if it's my connections at the rear of my head unit...possibly from bypass module install, bluetooth module install etc

jmcraney

Chris,
I think that all XM coverage for the US comes from satellite XM5, geostationary at 85.2W. The look angle from your presumed location is: 135.0 deg true AZ (119.1 deg magn) and 23.5 deg EL. That shallow elevation angle makes signal reception much more vulnerable to terrain obstruction. It looks to me like you are likely in the shadow of Mt Baker WA as to XM5 visibility. You can use your cell phone compass and inclinometer to eyeball it on a clear day - if you look, from your location, at 135 degrees azimuth / 24 deg elevation and you see terrain, instead of space, then your XM reception would be compromised. You may be able to get a good satellite signal in Vancouver and Vancouver likely has terrestrial repeaters too - that might be a good place to test your receiver if you get over that way.

roadfrog

Thanks ....unfortunately, (or fortunately), that's not the issue. I've always had satellite radio (not just in my LS). It's only recently that it stopped working after subscription expired from previous owner. I let the expiration go on for a year or so and then decided to pay for service. That's when I discovered the issue. Everyone around here has satellite radio, and service is normally trouble free.

jmcraney

Well, just in case anyone in your area is using Sirius FM6, at 116W, the look angles are 171.7 deg true AZ and 33.4 deg EL and should be an unobstructed view.

jmcraney

SiriusXM has done a lot of satellite shuffling and what worked in the past may not be the same today.

Here is a quote from Wikipedia that provides some insight about their changes - it's sort of hard to follow:

Quote from Wikipedia
As of May 2017, there are five satellites in orbit: two XM and two Sirius satellites and one spare.[88]XM-3 and XM-4 are the active satellites for the XM service and replaced the original XM-1 and XM-2 satellites which were placed into a disposal orbit. Sirius FM-5 and FM-6 function as the primaries for the Sirius side. FM-6 which was launched on October 25, 2013 and declared ready for service on December 2, 2013 initially served as an in orbit spare while the company worked to deploy repeaters for the Sirius side which were needed to transition to full geostationary operation. In 2016 FM-6 was put into active service and officially replaced Sirius originals FM1-4 which operated in elliptical orbit. FM1-3 were later placed into disposal orbits. With this change FM-5 and FM-6 exclusively serve the Sirius service mirroring XM-3 and 4. Before FM-6 was launched, XM-5 was sent into orbit by Proton from Kazakhstan, on October 14, 2010, and is capable of broadcasting to either service.[89]
[90] XM-5 serves as the in orbit spare for the entire system and can function in place of either a Sirius or XM satellite. In late 2016 Sirius XM placed an order for two new satellites SXM-7 and SXM-8 which will replace XM-3 and XM-4. These are scheduled for launch in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

Sirius satellites broadcast within the S band frequencies from 2.3200–2.3325 GHz, while XM radio uses adjacent frequencies 2.3325–2.3450 GHz.
End Quote