Mark Levinson Amplifier Replacement

[ceel56]

my mark levinson amplifier (86280-ow40) in my 2001 ls430 is kaput

I cannot afford to pay lexus prices or even the silly money that breakers want for a used one!

does anyone know where mine could be fixed or is there a later model that would work?

[steve2006]

If you could drop it off at Coalville I would be happy to take a look at it for you.

Send me a pm if interested.

[cruisermark]

one just been listed on that auction site

HTH

[Bluesman]

If you could drop it off at Coalville I would be happy to take a look at it for you.

Send me a pm if interested.

That's what I love about this motoring club, I have belonged to about 6 in my driving life and this club knocks all of them into a cocked hat (what ever one of those is) when it comes to offers of help. Well done again LOC. Mike

[ceel56]

thanks steve.

pm sent

[Cotswold Pete]

If you could drop it off at Coalville I would be happy to take a look at it for you.

Send me a pm if interested.

That's what I love about this motoring club, I have belonged to about 6 in my driving life and this club knocks all of them into a cocked hat (what ever one of those is) when it comes to offers of help. Well done again LOC. Mike

Mike, totally agree with your comments about this forum, really friendly bunch, always willing to help.

Maybe all that chilled driving around keeps us sane in the first place and we all have more time on our hands, as we are not having to spend every weekend patching up our 15 year old workhorses.

Which means I ought to get along to a meet sometime to see the some of the faces. But so far dates have always clashed.

[steve2006]

I think you may be right,mine has just had its 20th birthday (1st registered 05/01/1994 in Japan) and with routine servicing (DIY) and a few wear and tear maintainance parts (2 lower font ball joints and a NS UCA) has never let me down.

[Angel123]

Japs or German. They know how to build cars. Japs have the edge thou.

[Maduggo]

If you could drop it off at Coalville I would be happy to take a look at it for you.

Send me a pm if interested.

That's what I love about this motoring club, I have belonged to about 6 in my driving life and this club knocks all of them into a cocked hat (what ever one of those is) when it comes to offers of help. Well done again LOC. Mike

Knocked into a cocked hat is the proper terminology. Literally means to beat severely.

A cocked hat is usually a hat with brims joined to make 2 points or even 3 points, bicorn and tricorn

[webster]

The dreaded clicks announced the demise of the Mark Levenson Amplifier in my 4 year old LS460GL with just 27,000 miles on the clock.

RRG Stockport told me repair wasn't a possibility and a replacement would be £2,000 but Lexus would contribute 35% to the cost. I spoke to Lexus Customer services and they had no other suggestions. RRG insisted they would have to keep the defective unit despite the obvious salvage value. Lexus say this was simply confusion as that was the procedure for Warranty claims.

If you Google "Mark Levenson Amplifier repairs" there are at least two reputable firms who will pretty well guarantee a satisfactory repair for less than £300 all completed wiithin 4 days!!

Unusually poor advice and service from Lexus refusing to contemplate a repair or exchange unit (which is what happens to returned units from Warranty claims) and with RRG Stockport sadly one of and endless stream of problems.

For anyone with Amplifier problems the message is to Google for a repairer as my experience is that Lexus and their dealers will deny the possibility of repair even though they will attempt to snaffle your defunct unit for reconditiioning with the only recompense an alleged discount gesture (less than the obvious salvage value of the defective unit) for being a longstanding customer!!

The misinformation and whole experience ended my relationship with RRG and after 20 years of Lexus ownership I have also ended the discussion about the purchase of the new LS460 model. I am sure that things would have been different even five years ago but it sadly seems that at Lexus things are a changing.

[normski2]

Someone on this forum used this company to repair their ML amp and wrote favourably...be worth contacting and asking a few questions.

http://www.car-audio-services-rushden.co.uk/

I kept a note for my own peace of mind in my Favourites at the time as you never know when something may go wrong.

Hope you get it fixed OK

[webster]

Many thanks. I think it just a question of which one of many. I posted the note in the hope of saving someone else money just as you have done. Thanks again.

[normski2]

Well, if you get it sorted. Do share the contact and your experience. The knowledge/experience and sharing thereof is what it's all about on this forum.

[webster]

Just received my Amplifier back all up and running at a cost of £285 and I also had to pay for the Recorded Delivery of the Amp but the redelivery was in the price.

Absolutely first class people to deal with and I received a report about the reasons for my particular problem and a method of reducing the risk of repetition of this common fault in my unit.

The repairers were Sound and Vision at 284, Leith Walk, Edinburgh tel 0131 5532126 - Internet link below:

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

Chris who I dealt with suggests that you telephone as some Amps are more problematical and he is happy to advise.

For my own part I am raising some issues with Lexus and what happens next depends on their response.

[normski2]

Nice one...thanks for sharing....and lets hope the amp behaves from now on.

[cleverdick]

Out of interest, what was the symptom and the cause?

Funnily enough, the guy from whom I bought my '94 LS had switched to a 430 and claimed to prefer the Pioneer system of the former.

(I never got to experience the ML system so I can't comment.)

[webster]

Out of interest, what was the symptom and the cause?

Funnily enough, the guy from whom I bought my '94 LS had switched to a 430 and claimed to prefer the Pioneer system of the former.

(I never got to experience the ML system so I can't comment.)

cleverdick - I have sent you a PM

[Jock666]

Hi. I know its been a while buy having the same problems with wifes ML amp/sat nav unit - no volume on radio. Followed up on 1 tech post that showed a blown resistor repair - but ours was fine.

Did you ever post/share the details of the fault report you got for yours?

Jock

[webster]

Jock ring Sound and Vision on the number quoted and they will advise the likely cause and possibility of repair. Never had any more problems and now a distant memory.