Delphius1

On ‎7‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 9:37 AM, Ben01 said:

Mark Levinson is Harman-Kardon brand, and they probably used good JBL speakers (their common speaker brand) rebranded, so I don't think you find in "Mark Levinson Lexus" any frankincense and myrrh. BTW Harman-Kardon is Samsung subsidiary now.

I am not familiar with Bose, but "as low as 0.5ohm" sounds for me like marketing babling based on "creative data pick up". If sort-of normal speaker has average 2 ohm, like simple old pioneers in lexus, lower saddle on curve is less than 1ohm, about 0.5ohm. If Bose has average 0.5ohm, not 2 or 1.8ohm, OK, this is something. I have no idea, why anybody prefers heaters in form of speakers, but it is other issue. But only if we talk about average impedance, not down-peak.

Nope, thery are definately 0.5 ohms, I've had to order the things on occasion for customers (£170 quid each!) and explain why you can't get standard head units to work.

Rather than picking a standard line level and speaker impedance that all manufacturers can design their amps to drive (4 or 8 Ohms) with closed systems like Bose, Mark Levinson H-K, B&O and others on high end cars the designers can pick and choose speaker placement, design and impedance along with amplifier design to produce what they think are the best results. The effects are subtle but do improve the sound. Of course such intricacies are lost on a partially deaf old duffer like me, only youngsters with fresh ears would have the aural ability to hear the difference. If the impedances are close then you can swap for standard impedance speakers, but the sound quality may not be quite the same. It all depends on the installation.

Then you get closed system amps that can't be driven by standard line levels. Oh the joy of interfacing a standard head unit to one of those whilst still retaining audio quality.

The other thing to check is to make sure the Stereo system isn't a Mark Levinson one. Closed systems like that use different impedances to get the best sound quality for a given speaker size and position, and impedances can vary a lot from the "standard" 4 or 8 ohms. So standard speakers from a car audio specialist may not be a straight swap.

I'm more familiar with Bose systems where the speaker impedances are as low as 0.5 ohms! Yes, half an ohm...

But on the web it looks like the Mark Levinson speakers vary all the way up to 16 ohms.

:-D

Hi,

It should be the same as my RX300.

You don't do anything from outside the car, it's all done from the inside of the tailgate. You don't disturb the camera as the lamp units are separate.

The plastic trim has to come off the inside of the tailgate to get at the number plate lights. It just unclips but try not to bend the plastic too much in case it snaps. Once the sides are unclipped I tend to put my hand under the trim as close to the mounting clips as I can and prise it off. Watch out for the courtesy light in the trim, the wire for that needs disconnecting once the trim is loose. Until it's unclipped, support the trim to avoid snapping the wire. Don't let it dangle.

With the trim off the tailgate, you can look inside the tailgate and see the top of the two number plate lamp units. The bulb holders just need a quarter to half turn to release the bayonet fitting and come out of the lamp.

Then you replace the bulb and fit it all back together.

Here's a picture of the tailgate with the plastic trim removed back when I replaced my camera:

It's possible the LED lights are causing radio frequency interference and interfering with the DAB signal. With digital if you get interference you lose the signal completely, no hissy interference.

If you try FM you might find an increase in background hiss when reverse is selected.

Cheap LED units use electronics to convert from 12v down to 5v or so for the LEDs and don't always have the interference supression components they should.

On 6/19/2018 at 6:24 PM, TigerFish said:

 

Yeah, That’s my point. There is a legitimate reason to keep the details in order to uphold your responsibilities. At the point you have no further responsibility to the customer (warranty expired, guarantee expired, loan paid off, whatever) the customers can exercise the right to be forgotten. But that is exactly that, and they no longer have any right to anything when you don’t know who they are anymore. That’s why in theory, the use of this unique number, as soon as the customer presents that number, you have established who they are as an individual again against your records, which could be treading a fine GDPR line. A customer cannot have it both ways, they are either forgotten, or not. But it is the data owners responsibility to ensure they refuse an unreasonable request in order to comply with their obligations, be that legally, regulatory or any other legitimate reason.

 

 

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Tigerfish, you are right there are opt-outs for certain reasons, such as contractual or legal ones, but in our case we can still fulfil those obligations with anonymous data as long as the customer understands they have an obligation to hold onto the anonymous serial number.

Keeping the links between their orders but changing the data to mr 1234 at 1234 street, 1234 town, postcode 1234, telephone number 1234 and email address 1234 still gives you the ability to trace their activity on our system but not identify them. 

But then you give them the serial number and it's up to them to hold onto that and use it for any further correspondence. Otherwise you cannot identify them, which is the whole point of GDPR.  If they lose the serial number tough, you cannot deal with any requests from them.

But that's the consequence of the ill-thought out legislation. 

We've even had people place orders on the phone and then refuse to give their details under GDPR. At that point we politely inform them that they will not be placing an order with with us over the phone because as yet we can't post orders to an anonymous person at an unknown address. However they are welcome to come to the shop to place an order anonymously and pay for it by cash, although wearing a balaclava in the shop might be taking things a bit too far and invite an unwanted reaction. :-)  Anything else would contravene our responsibilities to them under GDPR.

Hi, the power wire (red & black) for the camera goes to the reversing light. The black lead for the video connects to the black wire coming from the original camera. Don't cut the black wire, just tap the black wire from the new camera into it as the black, red  and white wires from the camera stay as before. 

The only wire you cut is the yellow wire. 

Connect the yellow wire from the new camera to the yellow wire that goes back to the car.

When you select reverse, power gets applied to the reversing lights and the camera  so it's not on all the time.

The problem is the customer has the right to have their personal details erased. You have to fulfill their rights under GDPR  AND under consumer law. One cannot exclude the other. So the only way to fulfill both is to anonymise their data but have a way of retrieving the list of orders placed. Don't forget a registration number can be traced and ultimately used to identify an individual and link them to orders. The only way to fulfill GDPR and consumer law is to link orders with anonymous data, hence the anonymous number approach. 

We've had the GDPR talk at work. If a customer asks to be deleted from our records we delete their name and address telephone number etc. from our records and instead we replace all personal details with an automatically generated number. We give that number to the customer and it's up to them to keep it secure.

That way they can have their personal data erased, but still have an order history for warranty claims etc. However, without that serial number, we cannot identify their previous orders and can't honour any warranty. They get informed of the importance of the number when we anonymise their data. The last email they get before we delete their details from our email sever is the one with the number on it.

It should be easy for garages then to keep a history of the vehicle, but have no details of the owner.

But I guess it's easier just to delete the data completely rather than use our system. :-) But it'll be an interesting conversation explaining to a customer that you can't honour the warranty on the car they bought or the service they had last week because they asked you to erase their data. Not sure how that fits in with consumer rights legislation.

I forgot to say taking the information is okay at the front end as long as the customer is explicitly asked if it's okay to keep their data and you keep it secure. So you can still write their name and address, telephone number etc. on a fag packet, as long as that fag packet is kept secure and is destroyed upon request from the customer.

I'd recommend soaking the mounting bolts in penetrating oil for the next few days before you do the job. :-)

Front bushes arrived today. Now I've just got to find out how to fit them using the limited space available without dismantling half the car.

Used to see plenty of diplomatic plates whilst commuting into London down the M4/A4 way back when. All being ferried from Heathrow to the various embassies.

Not seen one on a private car not owned by a diplomat before. There was one particular big Merc that used to park up in the same place in the West End of London and attract parking tickets, but I bet none of them were ever paid. Diplomatic immunity... :-)

Those fuses are a bit tiny aren't they and the fusebox isn't easy to get to unless you lie on your back in the footwell, so I know how you feel. I used the fuse extractor tool in the engine bay fusebox to remove my blown fuse. But now you've located the fuses you can employ a small child or very supple adult to replace them. 🙂

The gripper sockets I used on the undersized bolts are like these: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/11X-3-8-Drive-Socket-9-19mm-Damaged-Nut-Bolt-Remover-Stud-Extractor-Locking-SY/123145599664?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

Got me out of a sticky situation more than once when bolts have rusted so much they have reduced in size smaller than a standard socket.

I put a 12mm 12-point socket on the anti roll bar bracket bolts and I could feel the socket just about to slip. Put a 6-point on there and it still moved too much. The head of the bolt had rusted so much it must have eroded a millimetre off the head size. Just enought to not allow a standard socket to hold. Gripper sockets don't care what size the head is, they are able to deal with odd sizes and just grip the head.

Drilling the seized bolt out will be tricky on the left hand side because space is very tight on that side. I hope the snapped bolt is on the right hand side.

Another option may be to unbolt the whole arb bracket off the car and work on it away from the car. The brackets look to be bolted to the subframe by a couple more bolts. But I'd bet they would be seized solid too as they wouldn't have been undone since the car was made. Lots of penetrating oil soaking in for a long time needed I reckon. :-)

On LHD cars it's by the steering wheel on the left of the car. On RHD vehicles the fusebox stays on the left of the cars under the glovebox. If you look directly under the glovebox you should see a removable panel.

On the rx300 the fuses for interior circuits are under the glovebox, but the fusebox is behind the cover under the glovebox. To expose the fusebox you have to unclip the cover above the passenger's feet. I'd assume the rx450 is similar. Looking at the owner's manual it looks like it's the same.

Arharh, glad it worked for you. It's nice having a working camera. Even better when it hasn't cost a lot to fix. 🙂

The rear ARB bushes are held in by bolts, the nuts on the back are welded to the bracket. I'd soaked mine in wd40 for a couple of days to make things easier. The two top bolts had corroded so much a 12mm socket almost rounded the heads. I had to use special gripper sockets to get them out.

The new link came in the post yesterday and today I had another lunch break at work rolling around under the car, to the amusement of my work colleagues.

Once I've finished all the bits and bobs that need doing, maybe I'll do a post with pictures of all the mods and work done.

I know you guys ahave been interested in the various links of parts I'm ordering, so here's a bit of a catch up so far. The rear ARB bushes have tamed the knock from the rear, but there's still a thump from the front ones. The front ARB bushes ordered off eBay are due later this week. Looking under the car it looks like access is a bit tight. Looks like the front wheels come off at the very least to get at them from the side. I might have to actually pay a mechanic to get it up on a lift and do them.

According to Mazda's compatbility Matrix, some front bushes were not suitable for my car. Not sure that's whether there are different ones for different specs of car, but it sounds plausible that the air-suspended SE-L might have different anti roll bars to my springy-sprung SE.

The front ARB bushes I ordered are here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FITS-LEXUS-RX300-350-400H-2003-2008-FRONT-STABILISER-ANTI-ROLL-BAR-D-BUSHS/252063387858?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

Fingers crossed they put an end to the clunk from under my feet and I get a Lexus-like ride. Well, I will when I sort the annoying rattle from the dashboard area. Seems to be related to the wipers somehow.

The height sensor link is ordered as well. Initially I looked at this genuine one on eBay but baulked a bit at the cost for such a simple part : https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Level-Height-Link-Sensor-Lexus-RX300-330-400h-for-89407-48030/132597305839?hash=item1edf6a51ef:g:908AAOSwk-1Z8zab  I'm sure 30-odd quid is good for a Lexus part but thought I could do better than that. But handily the link above gave me the rough sort of length I need to be looking for when searching for generic non-Lexus parts.

After putting a few different search terms in eBay I found this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Xenon-HID-light-Ride-Height-Level-Sensor-Linkage-Connecting-Rod-125-135mm-M6-RJ/263729764788?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

It's a little longer than the standard one, but a little work with a hacksaw can sort that if necessary. And at £15 less than half the price!

It might save someone else a few bob if their height sensor links have snapped but the sensor itself is still working, like mine.

Hopefully once this is all done I can relax a bit and enjoy things.

Hi,

The ones I got are here on eBay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FOR-LEXUS-RX300-350-400H-2003-2008-REAR-STABILISER-ANTI-ROLL-BAR-D-BUSHS/263697308537?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

But make sure they are the correct ones for your car using ebay's compatibility matrix. When I checked for mine there seemed to be different ones.

Okay, so the reversing camera is sorted as per my other thread, I've fitted LED reversing lights, a USB socket in the dash and today I replaced the rear anti-roll-bar bushes during lunchtime at work.

Yep, less than half an hour to do the bushes. I had to do it at work as the car park is the only level parking space the car sees! A couple of the bolts had eroded so a normal 12mm socket spun on them. Out came the gripper sockets and they won the battle. 

Anyway, while the rear of the car was jacked up, I checked out the rear suspension. Then the car gave me another job: the link for the headlamp height adjuster attached to the offside wishbone had sheared. Looks like one of the joints had seized and snapped the arm. I've doused the thing in penetrating oil and I'll have a look at it over the weekend. Hopefully I can strip it down and fit a new threaded bar.

Although the rear ARB bushes have gone quiet, there's still a small clunk from the front ones. so replacements have been ordered (£16) and will be fitted in due course. Not as simple or accessible as the rears though so maybe not a lunchtime fix....

This car does like to keep me busy.....

Yep,

Here's the link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reversing-Mirrored-Non-mirrored-Guideline-Waterproof/dp/B0725ZTLWP/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1528360825&sr=8-2&keywords=car+rover+reversing+camera

They are currently £9.99, I got what they advertised as a used camera a quid cheaper but it turned up basically brand new. The ability to switch the gude lines on and off by making/breaking the wire links and have a mirrored/non-mirrored view makes it a handy camera for any application really. Arrived next day because I have Prime membership.

Okay, here's an update: I actually shelled out £9 (including delivery: how do they do that??) for a Chinese camera that has the ability to switch between normal and mirror views and also gives you the option to have the guide lines or not, just by making or breaking wire links. For reference it's mirror image, without the guide lines: they muck up the parking assist system.

I fitted it at the weekend and it seems to be working fine at the moment. No system failure messages so far. The green box for the parking assist does it's thing and floats across the screen as I turn the steering wheel.

So all is good at the moment. Better than the £500 at a Lexus dealer and £120 from a breaker I was quoted for a genuine replacement.

Thanks Guys, I just thought it might help someone in future to either diagnose a camera problem or to actually replace a faulty camera.

You can specify any number of variations of the things so it should be pretty easy to get an NTSC camera without the guide lines.

It just shows how far technology has progressed in 15 years, when you see the complexity of the Lexus camera with lots of chips, to the Chinese one with virtually everything built into a single chip and on a single PCB.

Reversing is great now. It's a shame there's no provision for a front facing camera, I could do with one because I can't see the front of the car over the bonnet.