Camry Stereo 'frozen' - Help Needed!

[Joolz100]

I recently bought a 2002 Camry, great condition, only 27000 genuine miles on the clock. It has a Toyota single CD player/radio inside the car, and a CD changer for 6 CDs in the boot. The stereo worked okay for a couple of weeks, but then the head unit inside the car 'frozen', and the player is silent, although the screen displays the seconds counting up, as though a CD is playing. The unit can be switched on/off, but the rest of the keys are dead, so it can't be paused, or switched to radio. The car was sold with a 1 year warranty, but the garage has refused to assist.

An audi engineer has told it could cost me £600 to replace the unit. Does anyone out there have any idea what's happening? Your help would be much appreciated! Thanks, Julie (Liverpool, England)

[camrys84GL86GLi]

Hi Julie, It does seem a bit harsh that the garage is not being very helpful with your problem.Are they a member of any recognized motor traders organisation?If not are you a member of the RAC or AA as they could fill you in on your rights.Failing that why not try the local citizens advice or trading standards.I would imagine even though it may not be covered under warranty you are at least entitled to receive goods of merchantable quality and 2 weeks is an awfully short time for an item like this to go wrong.However if none of these prove fruitful what I would suggest is to get a qualified auto electrician to have a look.It may be the memory has locked up or something and the power needs to be dissconnected to reset it.You will need to get the security code to do this(usually 4 digit)If you have the manual you can do this yourself simply dissconnect the Battery and follow the instructions.If you dont have the code go to your local Toyota dealer with your log book and they should have it on there records.Dont quite undersand why the head unit is a single unit is it the original factory fitted one and is the CD changer a non Toyota one added later?Maybe there is some sort of incompatibility between the two that has blown something.Be interested to know how you get on.Good luck Graham from Bournemouth.

[jamesholden]

Let's start with simple stuff, just try resetting it. I can't remember off hand which fuse it is but there is one under the bonnet that knocks out the radio, a few bits on the dash, the clock etc, its a big one on the right hand side if I remember correctly, this is how we reset my sat nav when that froze, take the fuse out give it a few minutes, put it back in, it comes up with some random stuff on the screen and after that it worked fine, I know it's not the same system but I would say it's worth a try, we found it out by just pulling all the under bonnet fuses out in sequence until we got the right one.

[Joolz100]

Let's start with simple stuff, just try resetting it. I can't remember off hand which fuse it is but there is one under the bonnet that knocks out the radio, a few bits on the dash, the clock etc, its a big one on the right hand side if I remember correctly, this is how we reset my sat nav when that froze, take the fuse out give it a few minutes, put it back in, it comes up with some random stuff on the screen and after that it worked fine, I know it's not the same system but I would say it's worth a try, we found it out by just pulling all the under bonnet fuses out in sequence until we got the right one.

Thanks James. The sole input of the dealer was to suggest that I take the fuse out, he didn't say where it was, and it took me a while to discover that it's not in the main fuse box, it's hidden away under the steering wheel. It didn't make a difference, but your message has prompted me to give it a try again, you never know! regards, Julie

[Joolz100]

I recently bought a 2002 Camry, great condition, only 27000 genuine miles on the clock. It has a Toyota single CD player/radio inside the car, and a CD changer for 6 CDs in the boot. The stereo worked okay for a couple of weeks, but then the head unit inside the car 'frozen', and the player is silent, although the screen displays the seconds counting up, as though a CD is playing. The unit can be switched on/off, but the rest of the keys are dead, so it can't be paused, or switched to radio. The car was sold with a 1 year warranty, but the garage has refused to assist.

An audi engineer has told it could cost me £600 to replace the unit. Does anyone out there have any idea what's happening? Your help would be much appreciated! Thanks, Julie (Liverpool, England)

thanks for the advice Graham, you are right in thinking that the head unit is a Toyota original, and the stack system has been added. I will get an audio engineer to disconnect it, it's worth a try. I will also put in a call to someone on the legal side, as they are banking on me not doing this

regards, Julie

[camrys84GL86GLi]

I recently bought a 2002 Camry, great condition, only 27000 genuine miles on the clock. It has a Toyota single CD player/radio inside the car, and a CD changer for 6 CDs in the boot. The stereo worked okay for a couple of weeks, but then the head unit inside the car 'frozen', and the player is silent, although the screen displays the seconds counting up, as though a CD is playing. The unit can be switched on/off, but the rest of the keys are dead, so it can't be paused, or switched to radio. The car was sold with a 1 year warranty, but the garage has refused to assist.

An audi engineer has told it could cost me £600 to replace the unit. Does anyone out there have any idea what's happening? Your help would be much appreciated! Thanks, Julie (Liverpool, England)

thanks for the advice Graham, you are right in thinking that the head unit is a Toyota original, and the stack system has been added. I will get an audio engineer to disconnect it, it's worth a try. I will also put in a call to someone on the legal side, as they are banking on me not doing this

regards, Julie

Hi again Julie, Your response has got me thinking.Normally as far as I understand these matters the arrangement for compatibility reasons is for the head unit and the disc changer to be of the same make . The lead between the two will only fit that partcular brand be it Sony,JVC,Kenwood or whatever.Of course the Toyota head unit may simply be a rebadged popular make. Normally one has a cassette/receiver(i.e. radio) head unit that has an option for an add on disc changer via a connection socket at the back with the appropriate lead.The other option would be a receiver with its own dedicated disc changer supplied as a package factory fitted or two units of another make fitted later via a universal so called ISO lead for a particular make of car.However to have a 6 disc changer connected to a single disc receiver seems a rather odd arrangement.Be interested to hear how you get on with the disconnection tactic and the legal root.Good Luck Graham(Bournemouth)

[jamesholden]

According to the brochure, all CDX Camry's had a CD-changer in the boot. If I remember correctly the head units are Fujitsu units, both the normal CD/Radio ones and the CD/Cassette/Colour SatNav units. The CD changers are Panasonic ones.

[Joolz100]

I recently bought a 2002 Camry, great condition, only 27000 genuine miles on the clock. It has a Toyota single CD player/radio inside the car, and a CD changer for 6 CDs in the boot. The stereo worked okay for a couple of weeks, but then the head unit inside the car 'frozen', and the player is silent, although the screen displays the seconds counting up, as though a CD is playing. The unit can be switched on/off, but the rest of the keys are dead, so it can't be paused, or switched to radio. The car was sold with a 1 year warranty, but the garage has refused to assist.

An audi engineer has told it could cost me £600 to replace the unit. Does anyone out there have any idea what's happening? Your help would be much appreciated! Thanks, Julie (Liverpool, England)

thanks for the advice Graham, you are right in thinking that the head unit is a Toyota original, and the stack system has been added. I will get an audio engineer to disconnect it, it's worth a try. I will also put in a call to someone on the legal side, as they are banking on me not doing this

regards, Julie

Hi again Julie, Your response has got me thinking.Normally as far as I understand these matters the arrangement for compatibility reasons is for the head unit and the disc changer to be of the same make . The lead between the two will only fit that partcular brand be it Sony,JVC,Kenwood or whatever.Of course the Toyota head unit may simply be a rebadged popular make. Normally one has a cassette/receiver(i.e. radio) head unit that has an option for an add on disc changer via a connection socket at the back with the appropriate lead.The other option would be a receiver with its own dedicated disc changer supplied as a package factory fitted or two units of another make fitted later via a universal so called ISO lead for a particular make of car.However to have a 6 disc changer connected to a single disc receiver seems a rather odd arrangement.Be interested to hear how you get on with the disconnection tactic and the legal root.Good Luck Graham(Bournemouth)

Thanks Graham, I will print off your mail and give it to the audio engineer. regards, Julie

[Joolz100]

According to the brochure, all CDX Camry's had a CD-changer in the boot. If I remember correctly the head units are Fujitsu units, both the normal CD/Radio ones and the CD/Cassette/Colour SatNav units. The CD changers are Panasonic ones.

Thanks James this is a help, as there is no indication on the unit who manufactured it! regards, Julie