2013 RX350 NO RADIO and Naigation screen is blank

Asked by GuruYFQSN Mar 31, 2018 at 01:18 PM about the 2013 Lexus RX

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Hello,
My Battery positive terminals had lot of tar. So I unplugged positive terminal only (didn't unplugged negative while cleaning) and cleaned it. Now my Radio is not working, navigation screen is blank, Can't reset time. Other things like power windows, side mirror, air condition, etc are working properly...
I tried unplugging battery and wait for 20 min, checked fuse box..Still not working
Please let  me know if you have any suggestion..

14 Answers

You should have used a code saver before disconnecting the battery. Read your owners manual for the procedure to input the radio security code.

16 people found this helpful.
90

I have the same issue, my screen went dead after I started the car ( on December. 27th 2017 ) and every 10 minutes I get a system loading screen. Did you find any better solutions?

9 people found this helpful.
90

Disconnected the battery for 20 minutes and voila! My navigation display, clock and recirculation light are back on!!!! Thank you. Thank you.

9 people found this helpful.
570

I changed my battery in my 2013 Lexus RX350 and now the navigation/radio/backup camera screen are all black. Checked all fuses and disconnected the battery for several hours. Still does not work.

57 people found this helpful.
185

Hi @gurxs5vs, I'm having the same issue, how did you resolve it? Thanks.

10 people found this helpful.
70

During the pandemic, I didn't drive my 2013 RX 350 for about 3 weeks...Now I'm having the same issue as you all. I tried disconnecting the battery for 20 minutes (didn't know about a code)...didn't work. I took it to Lexus dealership and they say it has a short and needs to be replaced...for thousands of dollars!!! WTW?!?!

7 people found this helpful.
185

I just want to share how I resolved the same issue here. I took my car to the Lexus Dealer, and they said the radio head unit was short-circuited. And the cost to replace it was about $2200 but they offered me 1700 discounts via Lexus goodwill program because my car was a few months past warranty. So I ended up paying about $550 with a new radio head unit. So this was the most expensive battery change EVER by me LOL.

8 people found this helpful.
30

I had the same thing happened to me! Absolutely ridiculous I’ve never heard of this about replacing a battery that it destroys the radio!

3 people found this helpful.
50

I'm having the same problem with my 2015 ES350. I changed the battery about a month ago and everything worked fine until a week ago. One day it was working and the next day I start the car and the navigation screen is black, radio doesn't work nor does the blue tooth. However, the back up camera does work. Took the car to the local Toyota dealership (they think it's the radio unit) and they recommend that I take it to the Lexus dealership. I can not believe that so many people are reporting the same/similar issue.

5 people found this helpful.
70

I got the same issue on my 2015 RX350 after replacing the battery. My car has only 27K miles but out of warranty because of the age. I brought it to the closest Lexus dealer. It took them a day and a half to figure out the radio/navigation unit is dead. That cost me over $700. Then I waited three weeks and spent over $1700 to get a remanufactured unit. The final result is good. All related symptoms are fixed. But this experience is simply unforgettable.

7 people found this helpful.
50

5/6/2021 I had the same issue with my 2016 lexus 350 rx, only it happened at the dealership when I took the car in for oil change and scheduled maintenance, also a NAV update. My husband's car had the same NAV update, my car apparently crashed and radio ect locked up. The service guy calls me and says we have an issue with your car and proceeds to explain it to me, them he says the replacement part is $2,000 but the dealership will take care of that cost (goodwill gesture). It will be about 2 weeks before I get my car back.

5 people found this helpful.
20

I had exactly the same issue with my 2013 RX350. The battery had been slowly going downhill over a period of a few weeks; I was forced to jump it twice. The third time it died, I was about to pick up a buddy and drive 250 miles to a gig. So, late on a Sunday morning, I jumped it a final time and drove one mile to an Advance Auto Parts, where I asked them to sell me whatever battery was OEM or equivalent. $200. The guy rolled the battery out on a little rolling unit and he and I worked together, briskly but accurately, to take out the old batter and put in the new one. When I got back in the car, it started right up and everything worked fine--except the nav screen, which was dark. So I had no nav, no stereo, and no heating/AC controls, although heat/AC still worked, there just wasn't any visual data. When I got back from the gig, I took it to the local Toyota place, which has done all my service since the beginning. (I live 80 miles from Lexus of Memphis, where I'd bought the car. FWIW, it has 175K miles and has worked flawlessly since the start.) I assumed it just needed some sort of reset. Toyota says, "Nope, we can't fix this. You need to take it to Lexus." Long story short: Lexus of Memphis tells me that replacing the hard drive ($450, incl. labor & tax) MAY work, but the other couple of times this happened, that fix didn't work. If it doesn't work, I'll need to buy a whole new unit. And that's what I ended up having to do: $2950, incl. tax and labor. Plus another $150 for the 2019 nav update. More than once the insisted that when the Advance guy and I changed out the battery, we MUST have briefly touched positive to negative and blown it out. I told them, "Look, I've had nothing but used cars until this Lex, and I've always changed my own batteries, and I've never once done that." So they claimed that the simple fact of installing a new battery must have created a power surge that blew out the old unit.

2 people found this helpful.

My radio is dead and screen went black after simply cleaning the terminals and jump starting my 2013 rx 350. Afterwards, I drove directly to an Autozone and found that battery was fine and charging properly indicating that the conductivity to terminal was the issue. Checked all fuses and they are good as well. Called Lexus dealer and local Lexus shops near by and all said they had never heard of this happening and that the fuse system is designed to keep something like this from happening. Looking for a replacement radio and frustrated as you all are on this feed.

10

I had the same problem with the RX350 2013 removing the battery may cause a sort in the radio navigation unit in the RX350, not all the time but very often in the model from 2013- 2015, I did the same as other people I took it to Lexus dealer and paid 178 $ and they say sort in the radio and navigation unit. I am in Canada they told me this unit is new around 10000$, and rebuilt is 3300$ My car is 10 years old I can't pay all this money. the best way if this happens to you is to find the nearest scrap yard buy the unit and install it yourself or find someone to install the cost will be less than 1000$. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v_Wh2nrXWw

1 people found this helpful.

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