Intermittent Button Backlighting Issues

[steve2006]

I noticed when the dark winter nights arrived that the control buttons and switches didn’t always light up when the external lights were switched on but the cluster dimmed as normal.

Not a major problem but if I wanted to adjust, for example, the cabin temperature I couldn’t see the button.

Having done the usual trawl of the Internet I discovered that it was a known problem but with no specific solution. Some owners had replaced the dimmer rheostat, others the light sensor on the dash without curing the fault.

The other day I was watching a YouTube video from a guy called “The Care Car Nut” who has purchased a 600,000 mile LS430 and this particular episode covered similar symptoms to mine but also no tail lights.

I have attached the link should you wish to watch it.

Following the video I accessed the unit and found the green wire mentioned and confirmed there was no 12V output but rather than try and repair the unit and the risk of causing more damage I ordered a secondhand one from an eBay seller in Lithuania ( I did contact the guy in Lancashire but he wanted nearly 3 times as much!)

I am hoping when the other unit arrives I can fit it and confirm the fault is fixed, at that point I will open my old unit and see if I can diagnose the cause and rectify it. Hopefully something simple like a bad connection.

https://youtu.be/H_cuB6KOmBA

 

 

 

[Cotswold Pete]

Fascinating video, as his videos usually are.  I had no idea about the concept of dimming via the ground wire, which sounds to me like a weird way of doing things.

Best of luck with replacement unit

[BigBoomer]

Pioneer audio systems were available in non-ML LS430s. They were considered the "budget" system.
Nakamichi used to be high-end audio but they moved towards mass-market and no longer fitted the Lexus "image".
The ML system is very good in terms of sound quality, even exceptional, but it suffers from age with speaker foams that disintegrate and amps that have the lead-free solder issues.

As for ground-dimming, it's common if you want to electronically control the brightness.
 

[Razor61]

3 hours ago, BigBoomer said:

Nakamichi used to be high-end audio but they moved towards mass-market and no longer fitted the Lexus "image".

Their tape cassette decks cost a pretty penny back in the day when HiFi was in its prime, £1000 iirc for the 1000 series cassette tape deck and it was the last word in cassette tape decks. There are various used ones for sale…………few hundred quid up to a few thousand quid. It was quality stuff back then, along with other makes that probably now only exist as brand names.

[BigBoomer]

I have a 90s separates stack system at home (Kenwood M-93) and back then Kenwood were upper-middle market, much like Pioneer and Technics. Still sounds great after all these years but I have had to replace the CD and Cassette players, and replaced the speakers too. These days, like Nakamichi, Kenwood they make a few little bits and pieces, especially in car audio but no full systems.
Home audio now seems to be all about Home Theatre or "smart" speakers. 

[Cotswold Pete]

6 hours ago, BigBoomer said:

Home audio now seems to be all about Home Theatre or "smart" speakers. 

Not in my house, every room has a proper music system, even the TV room has the TV plumbed into a non-AV amp along with the 40 year old thorens record deck, a Yamaha cassette deck and an aging CD player (which I will now upgrade) played through some decent transmission line speakers .

On the car front I had the Pioneer system in my 400, and in my current Merc 350 it has the Harman system.  I would say the LS system had a better sound but part of that may be down to more solid build of an LS over a 350.

I always wanted a Nakamichi cassette when I was young and poor with a mortgage, so never achieved that, but still have 600 cassettes to play, and though not as HIFI as the vinyl or CD.

IMHO any car without a decent sounds system is never going to be a relaxing drive