CD2 Changer on Lexus LS430

[DomTurner]

I was listening to some CDs today and accidently pressed the CD button on the centre console when it changed to "CD2 Changer" and allowed me to select another 6 CDs, of course it wouldn't play anything. Does anyone know what this is? Is it possible to have 12 CDs loaded?! 😄

 

Image attached.

[The-Acre]

I never saw this on any of my LS430's so now I'm as eager as you to know!  There's certainly only room for 6 discs, unless it's possible to have an external unit added....

[DomTurner]

12 minutes ago, The-Acre said:

I never saw this on any of my LS430's so now I'm as eager as you to know!  There's certainly only room for 6 discs, unless it's possible to have an external unit added....

I attempted to add another CD by pressing the Load button and it wouldn't let me add another - pressing eject simply removed the CD that I was listening to at the time (from CD1 Changer).  Edit: just to note; 6 CDs have been added to the 1st CD changer so it is full.

My car does have TV screens in the headrests for the rear and a DVD player in the boot which may affect this (previous owner), however by the shoddiness of the install I'd be surprised if they integrated this to the main console. 

Secondly, I'd love to ask about the park assist on this car. From what I have seen online most facelift LS430s came with a normal camera, however mine has a camera, but also different modes for the park assists computer. For example I am able to select parallel parking or bay parking, and it gives me indicators on the screen for both. I have not taken a picture of this yet, but in parallel parking mode when I turn the steering wheel it moves a virtual box the shape of the car on the screen as it "predicts" where the car will be. Turning too much left or right will give the "Steering angle too much" error. Is this a standard feature on the facelift park assist? Is it an active park assist? It's more similar to an LS460 than a LS430? Mine is a late 2006 model (one of the last produced).

[messi]

When I had a mk3 gs300, i did the same as yourself, and it came up with cd2, so I thought someone had added another cd changer, I checked the boot etc and nothing, then opened the arm rest console, and deep down I saw an aux cable someone had fitted, maybe previous owner, plugged it into my phone and I could play music from it. So every time I wanted to use my phone to play music, I had to press on cd2. Maybe someone has fitted aux cable 

[The-Acre]

8 hours ago, DomTurner said:

I attempted to add another CD by pressing the Load button and it wouldn't let me add another - pressing eject simply removed the CD that I was listening to at the time (from CD1 Changer).  Edit: just to note; 6 CDs have been added to the 1st CD changer so it is full.

My car does have TV screens in the headrests for the rear and a DVD player in the boot which may affect this (previous owner), however by the shoddiness of the install I'd be surprised if they integrated this to the main console. 

Secondly, I'd love to ask about the park assist on this car. From what I have seen online most facelift LS430s came with a normal camera, however mine has a camera, but also different modes for the park assists computer. For example I am able to select parallel parking or bay parking, and it gives me indicators on the screen for both. I have not taken a picture of this yet, but in parallel parking mode when I turn the steering wheel it moves a virtual box the shape of the car on the screen as it "predicts" where the car will be. Turning too much left or right will give the "Steering angle too much" error. Is this a standard feature on the facelift park assist? Is it an active park assist? It's more similar to an LS460 than a LS430? Mine is a late 2006 model (one of the last produced).

I believe It's standard park assist on the facelift model. At first I assumed it allowed self parking like the 460 but it doesn't. It just allows you to gauge where your wheels are but I never really got used to it. I have the same on my Volvo but I don't really find it that helpful. The camera of course is great, that's something I wouldn't want to be without on any car. In your boot, on the left hand side under the covers you have the control module for the rear parking, it says something like "computer park assist on it"

[Exdee]

It's a CD emulator. You have some sort of additional device connected.

Try scanning for Bluetooth Networks in the car.

You could always remove the infotainment system and inspect the wiring for clues. It is straightforward and you'll find videos on Youtube.

[TessierAshpool]

I have an aftermarket Bluetooth receiver installed in my 430, it plugged in to the back of the existing radio/changer, and it emulates a second cd changer. So by pressing cd button I can toggle between the real changer and Bluetooth, the screen shows the transition to both as you said. I'd guess you have some sort of aftermarket system like this, either Bluetooth or aux, or aybe the second changer is rigged to your existing DVD media installation's audio out. If the integration is as seamless as my unit, you should be able to use skip buttons, volume and so on using dash and steering wheel controls.

[DomTurner]

32 minutes ago, TessierAshpool said:

I have an aftermarket Bluetooth receiver installed in my 430, it plugged in to the back of the existing radio/changer, and it emulates a second cd changer. So by pressing cd button I can toggle between the real changer and Bluetooth, the screen shows the transition to both as you said. I'd guess you have some sort of aftermarket system like this, either Bluetooth or aux, or aybe the second changer is rigged to your existing DVD media installation's audio out. If the integration is as seamless as my unit, you should be able to use skip buttons, volume and so on using dash and steering wheel controls.

Cheers everyone, little update!

No Bluetooth devices were showing up on my phone so I dug a little deeper and couldn't find an aux either. Looking in the glovebox, however, I did find this (picture attached). I have somehow missed it every time before as it was covered by some documents, not entirely sure exactly what it is but I am guessing it's what is connected to "CD2", probably a parrot system or whatever. Personally I don't see the point in these, especially considering the car had Bluetooth calls from factory...

Thanks for all the help so far, please let me know if I am wrong!
     

[TessierAshpool]

Looks like an aftermarket iPod/iPhone connector for the older apple connector, yes it's most likely what's connected.

If you had bought a big collection of iTunes music this sort of adapter made sense (back when you briefly bought digital music rather than streamed), but obsolete nowadays now that Bluetooth/streaming is on everything. Bluetooth compatibility was iffy back then too, so a wired connection was probably more reliable. I've heard the Bluetooth on the facelift cars isn't the best by modern standards, possibly only does calls and not music?

The decade 2000-10 was a wild west of competing standards in audio, the Lexus designers tried their best by adding tape (bad choice!), CD and Bluetooth calling, and space for a CD2 expansion. There were so many competing formats though that there was plenty of aftermarket options to connect your BlackBerry, Nokia or apple device. It was far from clear that Bluetooth would take off for music when the car was built.

I think the CD2 slot was actually used by Lexus, the Japanese market Celsiors had an OEM option for a Minidisc changer, I suspect this ran as CD2. 

[DomTurner]

On 5/22/2022 at 5:51 PM, TessierAshpool said:

Looks like an aftermarket iPod/iPhone connector for the older apple connector, yes it's most likely what's connected.

If you had bought a big collection of iTunes music this sort of adapter made sense (back when you briefly bought digital music rather than streamed), but obsolete nowadays now that Bluetooth/streaming is on everything. Bluetooth compatibility was iffy back then too, so a wired connection was probably more reliable. I've heard the Bluetooth on the facelift cars isn't the best by modern standards, possibly only does calls and not music?

The decade 2000-10 was a wild west of competing standards in audio, the Lexus designers tried their best by adding tape (bad choice!), CD and Bluetooth calling, and space for a CD2 expansion. There were so many competing formats though that there was plenty of aftermarket options to connect your BlackBerry, Nokia or Apple device. It was far from clear that Bluetooth would take off for music when the car was built.

I think the CD2 slot was actually used by Lexus, the Japanese market Celsiors had an OEM option for a Minidisc changer, I suspect this ran as CD2. 

Yeah the facelift Bluetooth only allowed for calls so no music support. 

I have another update too, I selected Disc 1 on the CD2 selection and when I clicked the "TITLE" button, it displayed the CD and song title as "Grom" (image attached) - is this still the same thing as what's in the glovebox? I wonder why there is a button for the TITLE of the tracks on CD2 but not CD1, I'm too young to even remember Minidisc haha.

 

Edit: Just looked into it a bit more again, seems like it could be the same device as this https://xcarlink.co.uk/lexus-ipod-interface.html but labelled as a "Grom" unit - I couldn't find anything on their website, this was obviously done a long time ago as it uses the 30-pin connector.

 

Edit 2: Looks like I've found it, a snapshot of the product page from 2011!

https://web.archive.org/web/20101113085959/http://www.carputer-shop.co.uk/ipod-iphone-kits-c-1/ipod-iphone-adapter-toyota-lexus-p-31.

Even has the installation guide: https://web.archive.org/web/20130405105742/http://www.carputer-shop.co.uk/images/iPod_installation.pdf
You'll have to remove ?utm_source=LexusOwnersClubUK&utm_medium=ForumLinks from the end of both of these links to view them.

 

Finally, and for a laugh, would it actually be possible to add another changer (CD or Minidisc) somewhere that uses CD2 and have all 12 loaded 😄)

Thanks for the input.

[TessierAshpool]

Grom still make units for the 430, so yes that'll be one of their older adapters. They have Bluetooth ones now.

Oh and they often have 3.5mm headphone ports, so if you found the unit (it's probably behind the radio), you could remove the iPod cable and add a male to male headphone cable and then use it to plug your phone in!

You could in theory get a Minidisc setup secondhand from Japan, they come up rarely though. Adapting an aftermarket changer to fit would be more difficult as you would need the Lexus connectors and to figure out all the pinouts and commands.  Buying a secondhand iPod might also be an option.

Attached a pic of the Japanese Minidisc unit, it installs into the upper glovebox. Minidisc was pretty big in Japan, never really took off in the West though. They even had vending style machines in Japan where you could insert a blank Minidisc and pick tracks to write to it for reasonable price. Sony Europe/USA were not keen on the format though. 

[BigBoomer]

My CD2 is connected to a BlueMusic system that allows me to connect my phone (or any other Bluetooth audio source) to the audio system to play music.
You can get Y splitters for the 5+7 or 6+6 connectors and then connect whatever you like to them.
Some systems have USB sockets so you can play music from a USB memory stick and some have AUX input sockets to connect whatever you like to.

With the Bluemusic module I still have steering wheel control of volume and next/previous track.
https://www.musikimauto.de/BlueMusic-Bluetooth-Audio-Toyota-Lexus-6-6 (also available from amazon.co.uk)

With microphone so you can use it for handsfree.
https://www.musikimauto.de/BlueMusic-Bluetooth-Audio-Freisprecheinrichtung-Toyota-6-6 (also available from amazon.co.uk)

They also sell the 6+6 and 5+7 Y-cables that permit the use of CD2 as well as 5+7 connector versions of their Bluemusic module, Yatour modules, and other stuff.
https://www.musikimauto.de/navi.php?qs=toyota&search=