So I brought in my tl to the dealer the other day bc out of nowhere the radio and navi quit working.

Before I brought it in it said "cannot read hard disk" or something to that affect.

Well they fixed the radio.
But instead of fixing the navi, they just took the drive tape out of the back.

The mechanic said that I would need a new navi because my drive tape was damaged >80

Why couldn't I just buy a new tape if that is what is broken?

Anyone know if its possible to purchase just the drive. Because when I ask them they basically ignore me and blurt out something to the affect of NO NO NO MONEY MONEY OUR WAY MONEY.

And say I need to replace the entire navi and pay them 300 bucks in labor to solve this.

What's an alternative to replacing the whole thing for a rediculous amount?

 

Do you have a 1999 TL?

If so, it sounds like the hard drive failed.

You can buy a replacement from Paul Mooney for $135:

http://navhelp.com/

Paul sells solid state replacements for the hard drive that are made with a 512 MB Compact Flash card and a PCMCIA adapter. I built one of these myself for my 1999 TL.

You can also try to build one of these yourself for about $20. Search the forum for "PCMCIA" for many threads with details on how to do this.

You can also buy one of the navigation DVD drives used in the 2000-2003 TLs. This will be more expensive but the DVD drives hold much more data and you can still get updated map data discs. These units are plug-n-play replacements.

 

You can also make one yourself with some simple parts...

-512MB Compact Flash Card (17 bucks)
-Compact Flash to PCMCIA adapter (12 bucks)

You just need a laptop or computer with a PCMCIA slot. Then you can upload the region you need to it. Some dealers will do it for you. This fix only applies to 1999 TL nav systems...

However, I'd really recommend upgrading to the DVD nav system, which I did. It's worth the money. I paid $75 for the unit and it came with the DVD, but I got lucky I think. Ebay is your friend for those units, they are plug and play and all it takes is a screw driver and about 15 minuets.

Whatever you do, don't pay the dealer some ridiculous amount to do this. It is a common problem and you can take care of it, search around the forum and you'll find a lot of topics on the subject.

 

i read that we can all use the same region files... if my hard drive is damaged to where it wont read on the computer... cant i just upload the region files from another user onto the flash card, put on the adapter and plug and play from there out?

 

That is incorrect. The United States is broken up into eight regions. So you'll need to find the files for your region. See Paul Mooney's navhelp.com site for more details.

And yes, if you can obtain the files for your region you can just load those onto the compact flash card. Then you snap the CF card into the PCMCIA adapter and you should be good to go.

Be aware that some people, including myself, have run into problems with the particular CF used. This first one I tried didn't work but the second worked perfectly. Some have speculated that this is just a formatting issue.

Here's one thread to get you started:

https://acurazine.com/forums/ramblings-12/damn-bulldog-142326/

And I agree with xconradx that replacing the entire navigation unit with one of the DVD drives is a superior solution. But the $75 price that he paid was unusually low. More typical prices are $200 to $400. And many of those units will not include the DVD data disc. A brand new disc costs something like $150. Older discs, with older map data, can be found for less.

In my case, I found a DVD drive for about $175 and it did include an older data disc.

Good luck!

 

Yes, mine was very low. The reason for this is that it was pulled from a wrecked car and sold as untested, so I was taking a risk. However, I asked the seller if he would offer me a return if it did not work, and he said he would with a small restocking fee.

Lucky for me it worked like a charm and had a newer version of the DVD in it. It's really worth the extra money for the DVD unit, especially if you live on the border or a region or drive on rural roads often. Plus as you probably already know, roads have expanded a lot over the last 10 years, and with the 99 system I was constantly off the map. These woes are fixed with the DVD system and a newer disk.

 

Well that was an awesome deal, especially since you also got a newer DVD disc.

 

Version 2.30! I think it's from 2006. The guy didn't even know if had a disk in it when he sold it. I couldn't believe my luck when I hooked it up and popped out the DVD. It was one of the luckiest finds ever, being that the disk is worth more than I paid for the entire unit.

 

i agree and add to that because the PCMCIA/CF solution only gets you up to 2002. DVD is as current as possible.

 

Im having a problem on mines where it seems the door sensor or whatever on the Navie DVD player is loose or broken due to my sub woofer. I keep getting the message saying the navi door is open. to solve the problem i just tape the door shut and it works for a period but ass the heat in the trunk rises the tape loosens over a period and im back to sqaure one.

 

For a while I was getting the same "Door Open" message on my DVD navigation box. In my case, I was able to eliminate it by spraying electronic contact cleaner on the small mechanical door sensor switch. I think I removed the cover on the unit to access the switch.

So that might be worth a try.