Shelley

Has anyone else seen or heard of this? My 2002 SC430 with only 22K miles suddenly has some weird problems going on with the stereo (Mark Levinson, original eqpt.). The CD player door is stuck open, won't close and seems to look for a CD each time I start the car. None will load. Secondly, the AM signal is dead. Third, the tape deck won't work. Fourth, you can't adjust the volume with the ****, only with the steering wheel controls, Fifth, the wood-like stereo cover won't go down. The FM radio seems to work, but that's all. What is the deal?? Is this a warranty covered problem??

lexuslover

wow, that's a long list. mine's at 17k miles, nothing like that has happened (knock on wood). good news is, all that stuff is covered under warranty for sure.

Carpe Diem

I suggest you get this in soon. I think early '02s were actually delivered in mid-01 and could be coming up on the 48 month trigger. If you're not sure of the in-service date, check quickly and hope to avoid a very expensive repair.

George

Gojirra99

Whew, that's quite a list, but I think they're all covered. Bring it in for warranty work ASAP

tfischer

We passed the 4 year mark last month. Some of the early cars are now out of warranty. My 4 year anniv date was April 29, I think.

Any early adapters who want to check on the warranty date, ask your dealer to tell you what the "in service" date is for your car. That's in the computer somewhere, and I think it's the date of delivery to the first owner, but I'm not sure. Mine was actually a day or two different from what I had figured. The "in service" date is the date that Lexus uses to determine warranty coverage.

A week or two before that date would be a good date to take the car in for any service it needs, and to check if the dealer can find anything that might need attention which is covered. After that date, you are own your own.

Carpe Diem

I'm guessing this is an expensive repair and If I was facing having to pay for it, I'd like to know if I'm in or out of warranty before going to the dealer. Lexus Customer Service can and will provide the in-service date over the phone based on a VIN.

Then, if you're over, but just a little and you have a solid reputation with a local dealer, see if they won't cover it on good will. They can and do make this allowance often but it helps to know someone pretty well and do a little "work" around the dealership like maybe looking at a new SC and getting someone on the new sales staff to want you to be very impressed with the dealership. One other possible course of is to just take it in acting as if everything is kosher with the warranty and then try to negotiate a deal when they tell you it's not (or maybe they'll just let it pass).

Good luck! Everyone with an '02 SC is anxious to hear! The best thing is that your car is still under the 48 or you've documented some problem with this unit in the past.

George

Shelley

The car was titled 11/15/01 and it was the personal vehicle of Len Stoler, who owns a nearby Lexus dealership. So, I hope they won't give me any trouble....

Carpe Diem

You can't go by the "titled date" unless Len titled it as his personal car. If they used it as a demo the in-service date is the date they began using it that way. Its entirely possible that they got it in May 01, Len started driving it to and from work with dealer's plates on and they used is as a demo. Then they sold it 6 months later as a company executive car. That would be in-service 5/01.

I'm pretty familiar with this sequence since mine went through the same cycle only mine was one of the last '02s produced and Lexus of Wilmington decided to use it as a demo and sell the '03s that were coming in. Mine was the personal car of the President of Lexus of Wilmington. It has an in-service date of May 02 and a first title date of Nov 02

Please protect yourself. Call Lexus Customer service and get the in-service date. The number is 800-255-3987 #4 and they'll open at 6 AM PDT on Tuesday.

George

Shelley

I will be on the phone with Lexus first thing Tuesday morning, however, I am dropping off the car to have the problem "looked at" at 7am EDT on that day and Lexus doesn't open until 9am EDT, so I will probably just find out when I take the car in. Ugh. I did pull a vehicle history when I purchased the car. As I mentioned earlier, it had been titled first in 11/01, but not to an individual, as a "corporate car". Then sold six months later to the guy (a private party) from whom I bought 24 months later. He told me the deal about the car being Len's and that it only had 4K miles on it when he bought the car. As I mentioned also, the car only had 16.7K on it when I got it a year ago, so it doesn't seem likely that it was a real "demo" since it would have probably had more miles? ? I'm hoping my logic is okay. I'll be sleeping poorly the next few nights.

Carpe Diem

Unfortunately the question here has nothing to do with mileage, hard, demo or otherwise. The only thing that counts is time since first use.

Good luck.

George

rominl

iTrader: (4)

i think you should be able to get lexus to fix the whole sound system for you. i agree it shoudln't hav anything to do with mileaeg, it's the time of use. from 11/01 till now, that's no even 4 yrs yet

Shelley

As I hoped, the in-service date was 11/01, the same date as the car was titled/registered as a "corporate car" by Len Stoler. Now, I'll wait to find out whether the problem is warranteed. The dealer thought the problems were quite odd. ugh. I should hear something later today. In the meantime, I'm in a loaner RX, not terrible.

Carpe Diem

Best possible news and now there is no question it will be covered unless some non-Lexus tech has been tinkering with it.

Good luck,
George

Shelley

Good news. They have ordered a replacement "radio", which I assume means the entire stereo. It will take about a week for that to arrive. While I had it there, they also noticed the service bulletin on the "rear bushings" which they are replacing tomorrow, and they are doing something with a "door switch" to eliminate a rattling sound from the passenger door when the stereo is playing. Sound right?

Gojirra99

Hope everything works out well for you