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In an 2002 SC430 stock stereo, amp etc.... When the radio volume **** is very low it will play just fine. However, when you start to increase the volume the sound starts cutting off and on. Also the amp is seems to be making a high pitched wine. Have only had this car a month so wondering what is going out?
Classic symptoms of an amp failure. Side question, are all the speakers the original OEM Lexus Mark Levinson speakers?
I have changed out the bottom door speakers to an 8 ohm 6.5" and have replaced the sub with an 8 ohm woofer. I know that the sub should have been 16 but its the wifes car and she doesnt push the radio that hard so I thought it would handle it at least for a while, I just changed the sub 2 weeks ago.
The little fan is almost certainly on a thermostat or similar (temperature probe and electronics these days probably).
Amps get hotter when they are working more - so pumping out the sound will cause the fan to come on as the temperature increases.
No sound - No heat. So that could be one explanation why the fan isn't coming on.
You can get the head unit to do a self test to see what error codes are coming up so it will may you which part(s) may have failed.
If you look at one the pictures I attached you can clearly see the display, head unit, and Gateway (hub) are all fine but the AMP is not sending a reply - so is dead.
I've also attached the service menu 'hack' you need to do to get into it.
Would also be worth checking your ML Amp serial/model number to see if it was one of a dodgy batch Lexus installed.
I have changed out the bottom door speakers to an 8 ohm 6.5" and have replaced the sub with an 8 ohm woofer. I know that the sub should have been 16 but its the wifes car and she doesnt push the radio that hard so I thought it would handle it at least for a while, I just changed the sub 2 weeks ago.
Unfortunately, this is the post that feels like the long verified proof of a point I've been making in this forum in a long time; that adding anything but the recommended 8ohm for doors and 16ohm for subwoofer can damage the amp. Sorry it happened to you, but I've been trying to make this point for a long while and it's been a topic of discussion here for a long time. And the idea that you just changed the sub two weeks ago and it happened now... sorry to hear about your run of bad luck though. Now you can always do a custom system! Silver lining!
sometimes the aftermarket speakers/sub can overwork the amplifier, to the point where either the amplifier goes shorts out, or just cuts it off. If you still have the original speakers and sub, you can reinstall them and see if the system will operate back to normal. If not, it's like ShawnOk says, go custom audio system.
07-17-18, 12:06 PM
Radio or Amp gone out?
