Alright...let me get some FAQ's solutions started here.

This is one of the most common fault on the Altezza's expecially pre 2000's. The only way to resolve this is to send it down to a stereo place down in Wellington and it cost around $300.00-500.00 to get it fixed, as far as I know all of our members had gave up and got a new aftermarket replacement headunit and din. Sorry I m no hi-fi specialist but for a OEM Toyota Stereo braket please contact me and I will be glad to help. I hope you guys has got warranties on your cars!

Matt =)

Cheap answer is to only load 5 CD's!! It's the 6th CD that causes the ERR3.

or just get a new aftermarket head unit guys! :lol:

Oh gosh, doesnt this sound familiar. I scored a new headunit off the dealer i bought my car off after this happened to me, although i was without a cd pplayer for close to 3 months due to the As*ho** not wanting to cough up. It only happened within about a week of me getting the car!

I was told it wasnt fixable, not for a reasonable price anyways.. so new head unit i recommend. As for getting a second hand stock one, bugger that, the problem will just happen again eventually when some winner in the passenger seat who doesnt know the 6 cd rule, stuffs it up again!

Ecc0

To I would say amazement from most of you I have had no problems with my unit. I have now upgraded to a single CD Unit, but that is for power and RCA outputs rather than anything else.
My car is a stock 98 RS200, so for me to drive it using the stereo everyday with CD's for 6 months and never have a problem I guess is a good thing.
I would however recommend replacement of unit, especially if you like your music. Although the factory set-up is very nice and does have some punch to it, you can never go past a set of high quality components and sub!

why was this such a common fault ...
My car just clicked in on 4 years old ....
and I still manage to get the dealer to fix this even though it was no longer under warranty ...

Im guessing the lexus dealers know something we dont ... ;)

Also 4 years on....however, no problem so far....touch wood! And yes, I do use the CD player :P

err3 happened on the second day I had my car.. It took the dealer nearly 6weeks to get a replacement unit in!!!! :angry: Thats a long time with no CD player..

However when they finally got the unit in, they swapped it out in less than 1hr (including a wash & vaccum).. Then i just had to wait a week before i got my cds back.. :angry:

Since then (4months ago) I have had 1 "err1" .. but that sorted itself out ? I'll get an aftermarket unit when the warrenty runs out..

got err3 for the first time a few days ago.. and now CD3 is stuck inside.. lovin this new suspension setup.. good excuse to rip out the stock audio unit and fit in the double din plate..

do you think there could be a possible world wide warrenty on these units as it is such a common fault? i know that there are a few companies that do have these recalls but some times they dont like to tell you

to be honest, I 1st saw this err3 prob last week..
well, during the weekend I encountered it..
nothing major though..
got err3 and I turned the CD player off and back on..
sweet as..

then again, yesterday.. I got somethin else.. err1..
then I changed the CD and back to it.. it solved :)

as long as they come n disappear.. no worries..
but if my CDs get stuck in the stacker.. :unsure: it'll be a prob.. :(
I shall use copies instead of originals..
I meant, I was using the 'originals' (all o' them) before.. ;)

Be careful! Mine was only giving the error intermittently, but then it started gouging CDs! So lookout for scratches appearing on your CDs...

now these are not good symptoms it seems..
I might have to buy one of those mp3 players which fm transmit so I can listen to mp3s on radio.. ;)
coz the radio is not much use as its shorten Japanese :angry:
there's no point fixing this with high cost..
I wouldnt mind buyin a stereo off an Altezza/IS200 with MiniDisc (so it has to be 2001+ ??)

:huh: Why does it hve to be 2001+ I've seen the mini disc's in 98's up

oh, I thought it only came after 2000 or 2001..
I wasnt sure at all.. :blink:

wots the market price for a 2nd hand stereo anyway?

For what it is worth, I too have had disc gouging and err3. Found my own way to the 5 disc solution (this was 18 months ago), then it started err3 again with disc 3 being the problem. Unit would lock up on err3 for days at a time. :( Was ok for a while with only 2 discs in, but then rolled over and died completely with 2 discs locked inside. :angry: Got the same info others have had that Fujitsu in Wgtn could repair at astonomical cost with no guarantees, so now have single DIN Sony headunit. Had PK Auto Electrical in Penrose do the conversion, would highly recommend them to any Aucklander wanting someone to trust with their pride and joy. :D Used a nice IS200 dash conversion kit they sourced from USA.

Don't suppose you can get some pics online? I'm going through the process of hunting down an aftermarket replacement too... Err3 is solved for the moment, but the unit is starting to skip on pressed CDs (not to mention massive skipping on CDRs and a complete refusal to play CDRW)

yea i had this problem in 1999. Where the whole CD stacker jammed up, and it ate my CDS, i had to send the car into lexus to get a head swap. waited for about 2 weeks for them to cough my cd's back up.

Its been 5 years now, the Err 3 is starting to creep up again. I loaded a CD into slot 5, but it thinks its in slot 6. *shrug

Guys! i know most of us wanted to keep the factory looks! But i will highly recommand replace your factory headunit to a aftermarket one,sounds so much better after i replaced mine,the whole system costs me around $1500(i know compare to alot of people this is nothing),but the different of the sounds quaity and enjoyment are "priceless" :D

Hey Jason, Pic attached.

Also, just to add to Alex' (Alee79) comments, it does not take a lot to improve on the quality of the standard audio in the Altezza ... I was blown away by two things - firstly how much better radio reception is without having the JDM original squeezed thru a band expander, :D secondly the sound of my CDs improved out of sight ... and the Sony headunit was just $400!!!! :lol:
David

Hey David! how do you know my name? :P

From the Introductions thread!! :P

if you manage to get the lexus repair manual it shows how you can do diagnostics checks on your cd head unit.. VERY COOL

hey blacktez wheres ur trac button ?

My what?? :blink:

traction control and snow buttons

Oh them!!! Down here, but Trac is not not quite like yours ... its connected to that big round shiny thing and is sometimes referred to as a sludgebox :P :lol:

Hi,

Pretty new here, well new to posting anyway. Was wondering if anyone has had problems when changing HU to aftermarket ones??

I have an altezza with the MD player and the amp and have the ERR3 problem. Now most car stereo places don't know sh!t about the altezza let alone the IS200! So am finding it hard to find an ISO block connector to allow me to use an alpine HU (ipod ready as well!! :)

Any ideas ppl? :huh:

Cheers!

Just on the ERR3 issue - i have had it occur once (nearly twice) in the last month. From reports here, sounds like the 'ol girl is on the way out then?! Yes, i have a female OEM head unit... :blink:

From all the noise that the changer makes, it sounds like there's that many moving parts in there. So i guess it's no wonder they wear out after a while.

Mine has played up twice on slot number 4. In both cases, for those who don't know, you go to eject the CD and it just whirrs away with nothing happening, and then flashes up ERR3... i assume this is standard procedure for an ERR3?

First time, I switched the unit off, switched it on and selected another disc, then switched back to the problem one, and ejected it without a problem. Second time, it came up with ERR3, and it seems like there's nothing you can do. Switched car off and on again, then selected another CD, and carried on as usual.

From reports above, i can only assume it will get worse from here on in?

Yeah that pretty much sounds like the standard "err3" behaviour

O.K its finally happened to my car, i got the ERR3 message this morning.. my car is still under the warranty, i've read through what the warranty covers but doesnt say anything about CD players etc you think i could still take it back and get them to fix it or something???

has anyone taken it back to dealers under warranty and got them to fix or replace?

Lexus has agreed to fit a brand new head unit in the car :D
I hope its the one from the newer models and that the ERR doesnt occur again.

Call me pessimistic, but i think you'll find it's a design 'feature'.... most CD stackers tend to go that way eventually, depending upon how much use/abuse they get.
Should last you a few years though, if it's a new one. But listen to the way they handle CD's, it sounds like there's about 600 little gears and levers in there!

I dont know so much about the ERR3 prompt as I replacement with aftermarket before I had any issues.
What I can say is that if they are covering under wty, as they should- if they tell you it is a new 1 make sure that it is. In NZ i think they get send to Wellington and for a cpl hundred $'s and the few day turn round you get your old unit back again. I hear this only lasts for so long before they crap again.
NEW IS ALWAYS BETTER!

All the best

i am still waiting for my HU after 1 week (orignally they said 2 days!) :( i want my music back

I think it should be a new one coz they havent yet taken the old one yet, and said that when it arrive they'll fit it for me then and there, then i gotta wait a few more weeks till i actually get my CD's that got jammed back. So yes hopefully it is new!

Does anyone use Apple iPods and the iTrip that uses FM transmission to play the music?

hey black tez i got the same one!!

what does err1 mean? is this the same as err3?

got the new head unit fitted and now its err1 problems..

I have come across this before, but think it was back in the days of LOC.
I cant remember sorry, but it is a different fault. Greeneyes or Frylai may remember what the issue was with that one.

Otherwise, I'm sure some other bright spark will post shortly and let you know. My deal was, replace before it broke- so I did!

What are the symptoms exactly? When does it occur?

had the err1 msg appear, then after that all tracks that landed on 11, 12, 13 would start playing up..
and now it has difficulty reading all CD's, burnt and original.
(new one was replaced 3-4 months ago)

LOL i may need lexus to replace another one, taking advantage of my warranty ;)