stereo issue

lee331 · August 8, 2019

I've recently bought a fully loaded 57 plate LS 460 LWB with 79k miles on the clock and i love it but it's got an annoying habit with the stereo. Sometimes the stereo will turn itself off or on and auto eject a DVD if you go over a bump in the road. Doesn't have to be a big bump but it's happening a few times a day now. I've done some searches on youtube but couldn't see anything come back from the search. The nav screen stays on but the stereo just turns off (if it's currently on) or turns on (if it's currently off). The power / volume button also stops working for about 20 - 30 seconds and then everything goes back to normal.

Is this a known issue? It's a Mark Levison equipped car, if that helps.

Thanks in advance

lex - eleven · August 9, 2019

Doesn't seem to matter what car the Mark Levinson system is in - They go wrong! CD, Cassette, and radio packed up on my 430. Plays one minute then goes off for weeks! Eventually nothing. Plenty of chat on here about them and nothing simple to understand or fix unless you're well up on electrics. For such an expensive system they sure seem to be a pain in the *****.

Sent from my EML-L29 using Tapatalk

royoftherovers · August 9, 2019

If you bought from a Motor Trader Lee, then tell him to fix it, if you bought privately, then ask the Seller why he did not tell you about the problem.

Good luck.

ambermarine · August 9, 2019

This sounds like a dry solder joint on the power pcb and unless you are a expert in this type of technology, unfixable.What basically happens is the dry joint breaks the circuit on the slightest vibration and causes a momentary loss of continuity in the power circuit causing a reboot of the system.

The fix would require a strip out of the audio system and a trace using sophisticated electronics equipment.

lee331 · August 9, 2019

Great. Well before I cut my losses and buy a new head unit, guess I'll have to rip it out and test everything I can before throwing it in the bin. Good job I have a week off work soon to spend time on it.

Can you recommend a decent double din head unit to replace the one in the car? I'm assuming that the amp will work with other head units? Will I need a cable adapter though for steering wheel controls. Will the rear screen still work with other head units too? Be a shame to lose that as the kids love it on long journeys.

lee331 · August 9, 2019

7 hours ago, royoftherovers said:

If you bought from a Motor Trader Lee, then tell him to fix it, if you bought privately, then ask the Seller why he did not tell you about the problem.

Good luck.

I did buy it from a trader so I'll get on touch with them about it. Doubt it will be covered by any warranty I have left though.

royoftherovers · August 9, 2019

58 minutes ago, lee331 said:

I did buy it from a trader so I'll get on touch with them about it. Doubt it will be covered by any warranty I have left though.

Lee, if you bought the car from a Trader within the last 6 months,then it is his STATUTORY responsibility to fix the problem at his expense. Any warranty that you were given or sold is totally irrelevant.

Good luck and please do let us all know how you get on.

MLW · August 9, 2019

4 hours ago, royoftherovers said:

Lee, if you bought the car from a Trader within the last 6 months,then it is his STATUTORY responsibility to fix the problem at his expense. Any warranty that you were given or sold is totally irrelevant.

Good luck and please do let us all know how you get on.

I do believe that is the position, but it might be dependant on what your contact of purchase included, or did not.

As with others here, I really do think the mystic' of Mark Levinson is way way over the top. A good £150 Pioneer or Sony from Halfords would knock spots of it.

The problem is it is embedded with air-con etc, so is very difficult to change. If it were a DIN slot, I would change mine tomorrow..

lee331 · August 10, 2019

Contacted the trader and he said I need to check the warranty. Warranty covers up to £500 of stereo repairs, which we know isn't going to cover the cost of replacing it for another ml unit. When I mentioned that I would take it out and try and repair it, he said he knows someone that repairs them and will contact them Monday morning (assume he means auto electrician).

I don't mind loosing nav functionality if I replace the head unit as I tend to use my phone anyway as the maps are way more up to date. How integrated is the head unit to the rest of the display? What functionality would I lose?

I've seen head units on sale on eBay but most seem to be from left hand drive cars in the US or Latvia. Costs are between £200 and £400.

The-Acre · August 10, 2019

I don't know how much difference there will be as far as removing the unit goes, but removing it from an LS430 is very easy, 10-15 minutes to take it out. A new system will cost an eye watering amount so I'd definitely look at taking the unit to a professional.

royoftherovers · August 10, 2019

1 hour ago, lee331 said:

Contacted the trader and he said I need to check the warranty. Warranty covers up to £500 of stereo repairs, which we know isn't going to cover the cost of replacing it for another ml unit. When I mentioned that I would take it out and try and repair it, he said he knows someone that repairs them and will contact them Monday morning (assume he means auto electrician).

I don't mind loosing nav functionality if I replace the head unit as I tend to use my phone anyway as the maps are way more up to date. How integrated is the head unit to the rest of the display? What functionality would I lose?

I've seen head units on sale on eBay but most seem to be from left hand drive cars in the US or Latvia. Costs are between £200 and £400.

Like I have said Lee, the Warranty is irrelevant. It is his lawful responsibility to effect the repair at his cost under,The Consumer Rights Act 2015

The-Acre · August 10, 2019

11 minutes ago, royoftherovers said:

Like I have said Lee, the Warranty is irrelevant. It is his lawful responsibility to effect the repair at his cost under,The Consumer Rights Act 2015

Although, I bought my Volvo from a main dealer and the warranty did specify that in car entertainment wasn't covered, so it may come down to small print.

royoftherovers · August 10, 2019

1 minute ago, The-Acre said:

Although, I bought my Volvo from a main dealer and the warranty did specify that in car entertainment wasn't covered, so it may come down to small print.

Morning mi amigo !!

If as I keep saying the Warranty is irrelevant, what does it matter what it says?

A Statutory responsibility is determined by Parliament,in this case under The Consumer Protection Act 2015. It cannot be overridden.

Enjoy your muesli !!

The-Acre · August 10, 2019

7 hours ago, royoftherovers said:

Morning mi amigo !!

If as I keep saying the Warranty is irrelevant, what does it matter what it says?

A Statutory responsibility is determined by Parliament,in this case under The Consumer Protection Act 2015. It cannot be overridden.

Enjoy your muesli !!

MUESLI! I think not. Now muesli should come with a warranty, these broken teeth repairs don't come cheap. I'm not so clear on warranties, if the company you buy the car from gives you a third party warranty, does that mean the seller is liable if the warranty provider doesn't play ball?

royoftherovers · August 10, 2019

Phil, the issuing or sale of a 3rd party warranty is an attempt to distract the purchaser from the seller`s lawful responsibilities. No 3rd party warranty will ever cover existing problems or problems which develop within the first 6 months of ownership. So, when the unsuspecting buyer is told by the 3rd party warranty organisation, that he(buyer) is not covered he tends to just shrug his shoulders and feels unlucky and hard done by..

The seller meanwhile escapes his lawful responsibility, because the buyer does not realise that he has been LED up a blind ally by a seller, whom the law has decreed, MUST be responsible for problems which develop within 6 months of purchase, or were deemed to have been developing at the point of sale.

It all goes to show that one must NEVER buy from an organisation which in order to escape its legal responsibilities,offers a 3 or 6 months warranty via a 3rd party.

I do hope all of that makes sense, mi amigo.

Soon be time for dinner.

Regards

The-Acre · August 10, 2019

14 minutes ago, royoftherovers said:

Phil, the issuing or sale of a 3rd party warranty is an attempt to distract the purchaser from the seller`s lawful responsibilities. No 3rd party warranty will ever cover existing problems or problems which develop within the first 6 months of ownership. So, when the unsuspecting buyer is told by the 3rd party warranty organisation, that he(buyer) is not covered he tends to just shrug his shoulders and feels unlucky and hard done by..

The seller meanwhile escapes his lawful responsibility, because the buyer does not realise that he has been led up a blind ally by a seller, whom the law has decreed, MUST be responsible for problems which develop within 6 months of purchase, or were deemed to have been developing at the point of sale.

It all goes to show that one must NEVER buy from an organisation which in order to escape its legal responsibilities,offers a 3 or 6 months warranty via a 3rd party.

I do hope all of that makes sense, mi amigo.

Soon be time for dinner.

Regards

Yes it does make sense, just off the let the dinner wine breathe!

Geoffers · August 10, 2019

royoftherovers is absolutely correct - it is also a reverse burden of proof on their side to prove it was working.

Now, 'proof' (I use the term loosely here as it gets pretty grey area in cases like this with electronics) can be that it could be you haven't mentioned it in a reasonable amount of time therefore they would argue that it probably developed some time after the sale.

How long was it before you first noticed and mentioned it?

royoftherovers · August 10, 2019

17 minutes ago, Geoffers said:

royoftherovers is absolutely correct - it is also a reverse burden of proof on their side to prove it was working.

Now, 'proof' (I use the term loosely here as it gets pretty grey area in cases like this with electronics) can be that it could be you haven't mentioned it in a reasonable amount of time therefore they would argue that it probably developed some time after the sale.

How long was it before you first noticed and mentioned it?

Thanks Geoff.

The law provides that a problem which occurs within 6 months of purchase is deemed to have been present or was developing, at the point of sale. Thus proof is not required. So, there is no grey area. It is the responsibility to do what is required.

Geoffers · August 10, 2019

There is though, depending how the car was sold e.g as described with Warranty, the warranty doc that was signed could very well be with warranty provider so the contract is between them, not the seller as the car as as described. Similar to an insurance broker. The consumer rights are very broad with terms such as 'satisfactory quality' at the time of sale of a trader. All sorts of grey areas, for example satisfactory quality also takes into account the cars age, especially with electronics. I have been to court a few times. (As independent engineer with electronics, not my cases) and seen some people really shafted.

I'm not doubting you for a second - I'm extremely interested to see where this applies exactly in the law as I can use this myself. Can you point me to any legal docs please? There are two cases currently on the go I'm involved with directly.

Geoffers · August 10, 2019

sorry, it posted twice.

Herbie · August 10, 2019

1 hour ago, Geoffers said:

There is though, depending how the car was sold e.g as described with Warranty, the warranty doc that was signed could very well be with warranty provider so the contract is between them,

Imagine that you buy a car from Dealer A and as part of the sale, Dealer A gives you a warranty from Honest Fred's Warranty Services, which you duly sign and off you go.

If something goes wrong, you then contact Honest Fred to claim on the warranty and the claim is rejected. You feel wronged but can't do anything.

I think what John is saying (and I apologise if I've got this wrong John) is that the 'warranty' from Honest Fred means nothing and the paper it's written on can be used to line the gerbil's cage because you should go back to Dealer A, who shouldn't have given you Honest Fred's warranty in the first place, to get things sorted.

Is that correct John or have I, as usual, got it completely wrong?

royoftherovers · August 10, 2019

2 minutes ago, Herbie said:

Imagine that you buy a car from Dealer A and as part of the sale, Dealer A gives you a warranty from Honest Fred's Warranty Services, which you duly sign and off you go.

If something goes wrong, you then contact Honest Fred to claim on the warranty and the claim is rejected. You feel wronged but can't do anything.

I think what John is saying (and I apologise if I've got this wrong John) is that the 'warranty' from Honest Fred means nothing and the paper it's written on can be used to line the gerbil's cage because you should go back to Dealer A, who shouldn't have given you Honest Fred's warranty in the first place, to get things sorted.

Is that correct John or have I, as usual, got it completely wrong?

You have got it spot on Herbie, old bean!!

It is simply not possible to escape one`s Statutory responsibility. It cannot be transferred,or ignored, or delegated or whatever term one chooses to use.

The contract for the sale of the vehicle is between the buyer and the Trader (the seller). The seller provides the vehicle and the buyer provides the consideration ((agreed price). A 3rd party warranty is wholly irrelevant, superfluous, a red herring, but is often offered by the seller to confuse, mislead, hoodwink, the buyer.

OK Geoff ?

The-Acre · August 10, 2019

One thing to consider is distance. When I bought my GS the dealer was 100 miles away. They gave me a very attractive glossy third party warranty. Within a few short weeks I needed an o2 sensor but the warranty company said it wasn't covered, they said the same a couple of weeks later about drop links, wear doesn't count, only total failure they said. So to get the dealer to do the repairs would mean a logistical nightmare, some buy cars from dealers 400 miles away, so where does it leave them?

royoftherovers · August 10, 2019

4 minutes ago, The-Acre said:

One thing to consider is distance. When I bought my GS the dealer was 100 miles away. They gave me a very attractive glossy third party warranty. Within a few short weeks I needed an o2 sensor but the warranty company said it wasn't covered, they said the same a couple of weeks later about drop links, wear doesn't count, only total failure they said. So to get the dealer to do the repairs would mean a logistical nightmare, some buy cars from dealers 400 miles away, so where does it leave them?

You have had too much vino !

Avoid buying at a distant outlet.

Let your local Lexus Dealer bring the car to you if the car you want is within the Lexus Network

Agree with the seller that any problems discovered can be addressed locally to you prior to agreeing to buy.

Re the GS Phil,You should not have used the 3rd party warranty, you should have gone after the seller !!

The-Acre · August 11, 2019

9 hours ago, royoftherovers said:

You have had too much vino !

Avoid buying at a distant outlet.

Let your local Lexus Dealer bring the car to you if the car you want is within the Lexus Network

Agree with the seller that any problems discovered can be addressed locally to you prior to agreeing to buy.

Re the GS Phil,You should not have used the 3rd party warranty, you should have gone after the seller !!

The problem being the dealer 100 miles away had a beautiful example and a main dealer wouldn't have a car so old. They did eventually offer to do the work if I took it to them but the distance, time off work etc, it just wasn't worth it, maybe for a major component it would. My last LS was sold to a member who travelled from Yorkshire to Sussex, sometimes you've just got to travel, even more so for a rare car. Then distance can become a problem.