Can’t turn off AC, ML screen dead

[Ishaq]

Hi All

Don’t know what is going on with my Lexus 😞

You may remember last month my AC compressor died and was replaced.

Now, today I got in the car and it was really hot so put the AC on full blast. Immediately realised I forgot my house keys so turned the ignition off.

Came back to car, the AC came in blasting but the screen is dead and all the buttons are not working on either side. The radio and the CD player all works and sound is also working.

Just the screen and the buttons are not working so I can’t turn off the AC which is on full blast 😞

Anyone know what has cursed my car, and how I can turn off the AC and get the screen back to life. Is there a fuse or something and if so where? Thank you 🙏🏼 

[cruisermark]

How old is the Battery?

I would get the Battery checked/charge if needed.

[Ishaq]

Battery is not that old, say 2.5 years. Everything works as it should.

The Mark Levinson, screen started playing up for last few days… it would come on or go off for a drive. Then maybe stay off on the next drive to as very intermittent, I just never knew when it would be on or off.

while the screen is blank the buttons on the side and the climate control do not work, however the radio/cd player works which is the unit just below.

Few weeks ago when the screen went blank and came back on it was like it did some sort of auto update and changed everything and all my settings. 

 

[AntC]

If the Battery was taken out during AC compressor replacement, this would have reset all of your settings.

As for the screen, it is possible that it's a faulty digitizer or a flat cable connection. You can take out the center console abd open it to see if all cables are properly connected.

A digitizer you can buy off eBay.

The console is really not hard to open up, you just need to gently take it out of the car so as to not damage your dash. Preferably after the dash has stayed in garage temperature and not in the sun since it makes it more brittle.

I also posted a thread a while ago where I also have photos of how to open the console. You can search my profile, I think it's like my first thread on here.

As for turning off the AC, if voice commands still work, you can say "climate off". Press the climate button before doing so. And you may have to say it a few times since it's an old system.

[Linas.P]

As well use tape on the dash surrounding head unit and vents, ideally double or even triple layer of tape. Dash is extremely easy to chip.

As for why could it be - I would look at connectors to the head-unit. You should have separate buttons for A/C control, so I can't see how broken screen can make it impossible to switch it off. Which makes me believe maybe other electrical connectors issue going to head unit.

[Ishaq]

Thanks guys, I’ve disconnected the Battery and reconnected.

The AC is off now but the screen is still dead.

just noticed while the sun was shining in the screen and black line going across the screen. Don’t know if this means it’s knackered.

Is there a fuse I can check aswell before taking the unit out and buying a new screen etc.

Thank you

[Ishaq]

9 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

As well use tape on the dash surrounding head unit and vents, ideally double or even triple layer of tape. Dash is extremely easy to chip.

As for why could it be - I would look at connectors to the head-unit. You should have separate buttons for A/C control, so I can't see how broken screen can make it impossible to switch it off. Which makes me believe maybe other electrical connectors issue going to head unit.

That’s right all the buttons on the left and right are not working and completely dead.

[Linas.P]

Has the head unit been taken out before? If yes then my theory would be that some connector was not fully plugged in and wiggled itself lose over time. 

[Ishaq]

16 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

Has the head unit been taken out before? If yes then my theory would be that some connector was not fully plugged in and wiggled itself lose over time. 

Never taken out. Also when they changed the AC compressor I don’t know if they disconnected the Battery.

The problem with the screen going on and off started before I booked in to have the compressor fitted.

Read somewhere else in the US that the screen strip can damage in extreme heat.

[Linas.P]

11 minutes ago, Ishaq said:

Never taken out. Also when they changed the AC compressor I don’t know if they disconnected the battery.

The problem with the screen going on and off started before I booked in to have the compressor fitted.

Read somewhere else in the US that the screen strip can damage in extreme heat.

Yes, but that does not explain why physical buttons do not work. As Anton said - screen digitizer faults are common and relatively cheap to fix (£18). By "dead" do you mean it is black or simply that touch controls are not responsive? 

[Ishaq]

31 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

Yes, but that does not explain why physical buttons do not work. As Anton said - screen digitizer faults are common and relatively cheap to fix (£18). By "dead" do you mean it is black or simply that touch controls are not responsive? 

Yeah the buttons are not responsive along with the screen. 
 

[Linas.P]

The A/C replacement would have no relevance to this. Either the entire unit gone bad (which would be strange), or connector got loose. I guess you can check the fuses for head unit, but my expectation would be that if fuse is blown it would be completely dead - no radio or sound at all. 

[Ishaq]

5 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

The A/C replacement would have no relevance to this. Either the entire unit gone bad (which would be strange), or connector got loose. I guess you can check the fuses for head unit, but my expectation would be that if fuse is blown it would be completely dead - no radio or sound at all. 

Do you know where the fuse is?

 

[chr15gb]

A few years ago I bought an updated Satnav disk off eBay.

Seemed to work at first but after a while I noticed I had lost all Voice functions, the steering wheel button beeped after pressing it but nothing would happen.
I also lost all those buttons around the edge too. None of them would do anything.

I've no doubt from my experience there is a relationship between the screen and those buttons, they must all feed the same ECU.

In my case, all I had to do was replace the Satnav disk with the original, disconnect the Battery for a couple of minutes, reconnect and it all came back.

[Mr Vlad]

How bazaar.

As our cars get older it makes one wonder about the cars reliability on the electrical side.

[Texas]

There must be thousands of electrical  connections within this car (especially a SE-L🙄) and All of them are pretty much essential, so if one fails ( even intermittently ) then some device or function is not going to work as it should. The likelyhood is going to increase with time and use so we should all have our fingers crossed and be thankful ( unlike me) we don’t own/maintain a Fiat 500 for instance😂😂😂

[H3XME]

I don't think it's a common issue, but the head units do break sometimes.. My car had a headunit/screen replaced under warranty in 2012.. just died, instead of trying to buy a new one, I'd just get the 9-10" android unit from aliexpress for ~£200

[Linas.P]

1 hour ago, H3XME said:

 instead of trying to buy a new one, I'd just get the 9-10" android unit from aliexpress for ~£200

If screen is dead this is the only option - what is the point of fixing trashy old-school sat-nav when one can have modern android system in place for less money. But if it is just digitiser or broken cable then it could be fixed relatively cheaply. 

[Ishaq]

1 hour ago, Linas.P said:

If screen is dead this is the only option - what is the point of fixing trashy old-school sat-nav when one can have modern android system in place for less money. But if it is just digitiser or broken cable then it could be fixed relatively cheaply. 

I don’t think it is the digitiser as if it was just that then the buttons on the left and right of the screen should work.

i have basically lost all functions (Climate, Map, Destination, Menu, Disp & Info) as in the image above and have a black screen.

Will open up the console to inspect the wiring. 

If the whole unit is dead then I have a choice of a second hand ML unit or the Android.

Anyone know if the Android is plug and play?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165432302811?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=6dLrYJRSROa&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=QTBP22E9T-K&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[Linas.P]

1 minute ago, Ishaq said:

Anyone know if the Android is plug and play?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165432302811?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=6dLrYJRSROa&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=QTBP22E9T-K&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Yes. BUT - you have to tell seller exactly what you have e.g. ML, non-ML, non-SatNav. The difference is only wiring harness and they should send you correct wiring harness based on what you have, the units are same apart of that. 

[toffee_pie]

On 8/6/2022 at 12:15 AM, Ishaq said:

Hi All

Don’t know what is going on with my Lexus 😞

You may remember last month my AC compressor died and was replaced.

Now, today I got in the car and it was really hot so put the AC on full blast. Immediately realised I forgot my house keys so turned the ignition off.

Came back to car, the AC came in blasting but the screen is dead and all the buttons are not working on either side. The radio and the CD player all works and sound is also working.

Just the screen and the buttons are not working so I can’t turn off the AC which is on full blast 😞

Anyone know what has cursed my car, and how I can turn off the AC and get the screen back to life. Is there a fuse or something and if so where? Thank you 🙏🏼 

Duff ZIF socket on a main board on the head unit - maybe.

- I had the same problem on my old Lexus - dead screen, I got a replacement board and put it back together myself - think there is a thread here somewhere.

[Ishaq]

1 minute ago, toffee_pie said:

Duff ZIF socket on a main board on the head unit - maybe.

- I had the same problem on my old Lexus - dead screen, I got a replacement board and put it back together myself - think there is a thread here somewhere.

Did you loose the functions of the physical buttons on the side too? As in they didn’t work.

[toffee_pie]

On 8/6/2022 at 11:17 PM, Mr Vlad said:

How bazaar.

As our cars get older it makes one wonder about the cars reliability on the electrical side.

You wont have to worry as EV cars will be past the sell by date when they reach 100k miles, you might even have contributed something to the environment by then also as a Volvo survey said they are damaging to the einvironment until over 90k miles, you would be lucky to have 50 percent capaicty by then

[toffee_pie]

3 minutes ago, Ishaq said:

Did you loose the functions of the physical buttons on the side too? As in they didn’t work.

Yep, dead

[toffee_pie]

3 minutes ago, Ishaq said:

Did you loose the functions of the physical buttons on the side too? As in they didn’t work.

If you are tech savy and can take it apart send photos, if the socket is indeed at fault I can do it at my work place and will only charge you shipping - assuming I can get a FFF replacement socket - otherwise you will need a new board