I have a 02 SC430. I was playing the Mark Levinson stereo sort of loud when the suddenly the rear speakers went to a whisper, the fronts work just fine. I checked all the fuses I could find, but all of them were linked to other things that were working, just one fuse was by itself, but it was fine and the stereo does work, just the fronts only. Any ideals?

Not sure if that system has a separate amp for the rear, and maybe that amp blew? Could there be a reset button? Or do I need a whole new amp, or is the rear output stage in the main receiver blown, and if so can it be repaired?

I have to take the car to a stereo specialist anyways due to there are 3 CDs stuck inside the changer, and the CD slot door won't open, just says error.

Thanks for any advice.

 

Does anyone have any ideas??

 

The CD error is pretty common. The SC has an Alpine stereo that is known to have CD issues. It is the same stereo (different shell) as in the Ford Thunderbird.

I haven't messed too much with my stereo, but it sounds like your AMP has gone bad. You can have it repaired, or buy a used one off of ebay.

You may want to disconnect the amp, wait a few minutes and reconnect it. There is a certain procedure when you do that. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/att...-amplifier.pdf

You might get lucky.

I do think it is interesting that they wrote up a TSB for the 2002 AMP and not other years, which leads me to believe it was the weak amp in the series.

 

do a search on the stuck CDs, pretty common problem with several solutions.
if you need help searching look at the “stickies”

as for the rear speakers, did you say you hear some sound from the rear?
if so, make sure the fader is set to the rear.
if you did that, the rear speakers may be blown, common problem.
if it were me, I would do the following.
-open the rear panel to access the speaker
-visually inspect the speaker foam around the edge for damage.
-disconnect and remove the speaker.
-connect the speaker to your home stereo or similar.
-take a speaker from your home and connect to the car to test the car amp output.

this would tell you if the car amp or speaker is bad.
if you don’t have any known good speakers or stereos to test with, I guess you need to pay someone to test it for you.

Do the easy and free stuff first

LoL, Daryl types faster than me.
-

 

Thanks for your reply!

Alpine made the Mark Levinson stereos for those cars?

That file you listed just discusses how to reinitialize the amp when putting in a new amp, I couldn't find how to find the amp and disconnect it.

 

The speakers got busted is common. Like BGW said, remove them from the car and get them tested.

 

Here is a how to video

 

Every 2002 SC430 has had speaker foam issues and a few had amp problems…check the speakers first and repair them.

the amp is in the trunk, about a foot forward of the area where you insert the nav dvd.
do a search, plenty of pics.

i attached the service manuals for the radio head unit and amp.
Let us know how it turns out.

Are you a DIY person and turn wrenches?

 

I had the fader all the way to the rear, that's how I could hear that the speakers were just whispering, no cracking just very low volume. Turning the fader to the front speakers they work just fine, so I left the fader in the full front mode.

All fuses related to the Audio system checked out good, which I was able to print off a diagram of the location of all the fuse boxes, and what each fuse does in each box, so going through those fuses was straight forward.

At this point, I'm going to take it to a speciality person in town, have him look at it, he's done these cars and a lot of other cars, so I think I will leave it to a pro.

If the amp is blown, which is what I think might have happened since I had it cranked up quite a bit, then what amp does anyone recommend?

 

its not a fuse…if you have sound, it has power.
the unknowns, amp, speakers and head unit.
I said it in a previous post, but i would check the speakers first and you can test the amp with a known good speaker.
A shop will most likely do what i said in the previous sentence unless they have a spare SC430 amp laying around.

i recommend the OEM amp, but thats just me. There are a few threads from folks who replaced everything with killer sound systems.
I am not sure how you would replace the OEM Amp with aftermarket…guess it could be done.

eBay should have a few “tested good” amps for sale. There is also an amp repair place someone listed. Again, search.

Report back with your findings.

 

Its crazy that the engineers put the speaker outputs on 2 different plugs. Not quite as crazy as the sh_t they did with the LS430 ML wiring but it just leaves me scratching my head. lol Anyone know if its the tweeters or the door mids that are on the input plug of the amp?

 

Didn’t the amp service manual show the answer to your question about the speaker inputs?