'04 Rx300 Se-L No Audio Or Sound From Stereo

[trousers1000]

hi

i have a 2004 RX300 SE-L in the UK.

the sat nav is working perfectly including the audio.

the functionality of the stereo system (cd, radio, cassette) is fine....but the problem is that there is no actual sound coming out of the speakers.

the SE-L is fitted with the Mark Levinson sound system inc amplifier.

i've gone into the diagnostic menu on the touch screen and i see that "DSP-AMP" has the error message "NCON".

This is short for "no connection".

ive had the leads from the head unit checked at their input end to the amp and they appear fine.

the local Lexus Dealership are going to take a look at it later this week. According to them (and many posts on various websites) it is likely that the fault lies with the amplifier. Lexus dealership reckon the car actually has 2 x amplifiers.

Personally i am not qualified to comment on this, but thought it was odd as there is no mention on any forums of them having 2 x rather than 1 x amplifiers.

Has anybody else heard that they can have 2 x amps?

i have also spoken with a local hifi repair engineer. he said he will take a look at the amp for me should i want him to (prob will as Lexus says a new amp will set me back around £900!). the stereo repair man has not worked on a Mark Levinson amplifier before.

Does anybody know where i can locate a schematic drawing for the Mark Levinson amplifier?

The repair guy also reckons that as the car has 11 speakers, it is strange that all 11 outputs have failed at once, and that if this is a common problem (and according to various posts it would appear this it is not an uncommon problem), he suggested posting to see if i can find out what is the actual fault in the ML amp that causes it to fail. if we can find this out, there is a chance of repairing the amp rather than having to consider a replacement at circa £900!

Does anybody know what the common fault is that causes the Mark Levinson amp to fail?

Does anybody know anyone who is reliable and repairs these amplifiers?

i have considered that if the cost of ML replacement is too high, whether or not i could replace it with an aftermarket amp...problem is...the wiring if the car is specific to the head unit and the amp and speakers.... meaning to consider swapping out with an alternative model of amplifier is no simple task.

Has anybody else done this or knows somebody who is capable of doind so with a quality job?

Lastly.....does anybody know where i can buy a used or reconditioned Mark Levinson Amplifier? i've already tried eBay and the local scrap yards.

thanks in advance for your replies.

[NickS]

Did you ever get a solution to this, I wonder?

I had the same thing last weekend. Everything tunes as normal, the CDs play, but no sound. No display of volume up or down, nor of the sound position (driver, all, etc) but otherwise it all is working as you would expect.

It's going in for annual service early in October (6 years old) but I hoped I wouldn't need to pay Lexus lots of money to investigate if there was a simple solution. The only other thing I found was here http://www.justanswer.co.uk/questions/1miiq-battery-died-on-my-2001-ls430-battery-cables-were-completely but not the clearest posting I have ever seen (and is muddled up with exchanges about subscriptions too).

Has anyone else ever has no sound from their CD or radio?

[NickS]

Sure enough the main dealer has confirmed radio etc will need to be removed to look at this. I haven't plucked up the courage to ask for an estimate yet.

Pleased that 60K service and MOT went smoothly but still at a loss to know why the radio should simply stop 'sounding'. Any clues please?

[Garry.L]

Sure enough the main dealer has confirmed radio etc will need to be removed to look at this. I haven't plucked up the courage to ask for an estimate yet.

Pleased that 60K service and MOT went smoothly but still at a loss to know why the radio should simply stop 'sounding'. Any clues please?

Stereo removal (very easy)...

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=62405

Try a search for your Amp problem on the Yank RX forum...

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showforum=96

RX sold much better over the water than here in the UK so lots more info...

[NickS]

I tried the links, thank you. The removal guide is great, though I'm too wary of modern cars to attempt that. Last time I fitted a radio was about 25 years ago in a Fiesta! Nothing about the symptoms, though, which surprised me. As you say, many more sold elsewhere, so maybe just unlucky?

Two weeks ago, the Battery was flat. It had only been serviced the week before, but the dreaded lights switch was left on Auto, which I had read could cause issues. The AA man said the Battery had given up, and as it was 6 years old, I got him to replace it on the spot. £110 with 3 years warranty, versus Lexus dealer at £99 with 12 months.

Am now awaiting the AA again (!), as I haven't driven her since Monday evening, and virtually no juice; just enough to unfold the mirrors! So there must be something 'leaking' or not switching off. Also booked in to see nice car radio man tomorrow, as recommended by the AA chap. When new Battery had been fitted, the radio worked again, so clearly the basic bits are functioning. But as soon as I changed the Driver/Front position it went silent and hasn't worked since. I had hoped resetting everything with the new Battery had somehow sorted it, but no!

[carsparks]

Hi, I have a lexus rx300 04. I am a car electrician and i have wiring diagrams for the rx 2003 on. Send me an email address and i will send a diagram for the mark levinson system. I have known these amps to fail.

www.carelectrician.co.uk

regards Phil James

[Leswold]

Hi, New member here. Well, having read the above because my Lexus (RX300 - 04) has done the same thing......Radio and CD not 'sounding', has a fuse in the fuse box blown, which says AMP underneath, everything else OK, and keeps blowing as soon as replaced, does not show volume up and down, but all works OK on station tuning side....well baffled!!!!! Does anyone have any info pertaining to this????? All answers gratefully received!!!

Regards to all

Les

[steve2006]

Hello and welcome to the LOC and thanks for searching the old posts for your present problem before posting.

To eliminate a short on the wiring loom and also confirm it is the amplifier which is blowing the fuse I would disconnect all the connecting plugs to the amplifier itself.

If the fuse still blows then you have a short somewhere on the wiring to it and if it doesn't blow then this would confirm a fault has developed within the amplifier.

If it is the amplifier unit you may be able to get a local TV repair shop to have a look ( although these places are becoming rare within our throw away society).From experience it is normally the power amplifier output IC that fails causing the short circuit.

[Leswold]

Hello Steve, many thanks for the reply to my post.....I had thought that AMP on the fuse meant just that, although, I really don't know much about that there electrickery stuff,

apart from the fact that it can bite you!!! Being a brand new owner of the RX300 SE-L, where is the amp or amps located within the car.....the boot? under the seats?

again, any help would be much appreciated.

Regards. Les

[Leswold]

Hello all,

Here is a link to a guy in Edinburgh who repairs all Mark Levinson amps, (for those that don't know about him that is), has excellent write up's from

satisfied customers and a LOT cheaper than Lexus!!

http://www.svtservices.co.uk/lexus-mark-levinson-power-amp-repair-service/

Hope this helps others.

Les

[pbarrett]

I know this is an old post and it's probably fixed by now, but do you know that there are two fuses under the passenger seat?

One is a 12v supply fuse and the other is an audio fuse. The audio fuse is the one in the small black plastic box and the supply one is the one in a covered in line fuse holder. My power fuse had blown, but I still do not have power to the DVD player. Sorry for high jacking this thread, but if anybody has any ideas please ? The ACC power is still missing to the dvd player and monitor supply boxes.

[pbarrett]

Sorry, my previous post was presuming that there was a ICE system with DVD player under the drivers seat. Please disregard, but if anybody has any ideas about my missing 12v ACC supply and if there is yet another fuse, please post.

[Herny1]

On 8/5/2015 at 11:44 PM, pbarrett said:

Sorry, my previous post was presuming that there was a ICE system with DVD player under the drivers seat. Please disregard, but if anybody has any ideas about my missing 12v ACC supply and if there is yet another fuse, please post.

 

[Herny1]

I know this feed is a fue years old but just thought I would put this on. I'm on my holidays and out of the blue my radio has frozen with the volume, I can hear it but when your driving it is to faint to hear . It won't turn up or down but the on button and the button the other side you can access the bass treble fade and balance but it will not adjust. Been looking on the forums and depressing myself with a new head unit or amp. I've not got any tools with me but this afternoon I thought I would have a quick look. Found the amp then started looking at removing the head unit , I've stopped myself continuing and thought I really should try the fuses eventually found the 30amp (AMP) fuse in the fuse box looked at it and it seemed fine. For some reason (I never normally) I cleaned it and wiped it with WD40 the fuse and terminals and it worked a treat. 😁