Do NOT put paper labels on your CDs if you are going to play them in the car. If you have ejected a freshly played CD, you know it is warm. When a CD gets warm, the adhesive get loose and the CD jams on ejection. The edge of the label will catch on the lip and start to peel back. This is quite common, and it's a disaster, often leaving sticky stuff in the player, even if you are able to pull the disc and the label out.

Also, the labels add a thickness that often puts the CD out of specs, and it will not load or eject, or worse, it will load but not eject.

Finally, the paper throws off the balance and the CD spins at incorrect speeds, or the weight causes the motor to work harder to keep the correct speed, which gets everything hotter, and no good can come from that.

Use a Sharpie on your CDs, or get a "Lightscribe" drive; I've had one of these for a few years and it's great fun and lets you label a CD (or DVD) with graphics and text without the inherent problems caused by stick-on paper labels.

 

Good point!

Don't put paper address labels on your CD's - they will throw the balance off and may be peeled off by the ejection mechanism. Use only regular CD labels that are designed for use with discs. These may be matte finished or glossy but be sure, particularly in the case of glossy labels, that they are compatible with your brand of printer and ink. I bought a bunch of glossy labels on eBay that rejected my ink, causing it to bead up on the surface - fortunately I was able to return them.

When placing the labels on the disc it is critical to use the little jig supplied by most label manufacturers - no "eyeballing" it. These labels will NEVER peel off - believe me I've tried to remove a few "accidents" immediately after sticking and it is impossible to do. You just burn another disc and use the first one as a coaster for your coffee cup. Address labels are another matter, and will peel off pretty easily. As tfischer said, these can be deadly to a CD player.

I've used Neato labels by Fellowes on my 5" discs, (conveniently available at Office Depot) they adhere well and I've never had a label peel off - and we ship well over 1,000 of a variety of discs every year.

Jigs are available either packaged with your labels or separately. If you use full size discs, just about any jig will do the job well - I prefer the simplicity of the Fellowes product. If you label 5", 3" minis, or business card CD's the jig from Dupsonic can be configured to handle all of these - with only a shade more complexity.

If you need somewhat larger quantities, of say 100 or more discs and labels, I've had good experiences with online sources - from Meritline and Allmediaoutlet and can recommend both for product, price, and service.

 

Hi,
I have read all the posts and it seems like error 4 is a cd load error. But other members can clear this error by turning off the car and restarting. My problem is I can not eject any cd even when power is refreshed. When I push the eject button, it goes to radio mode. How can I eject the cds.
Thanks

 

^^^^

I ahve the same problem. What i did to get m CD's out was to press eject the after a few seconds shut the car off and turn to acc or on without starting again....it eventually pops out or just keep pressing eject, it'll eventually work. Common problem from what I heard. Only way to fix is service locally or new deck.

 

BokChoy.. if I read your post correctly, are you saying to keep pressing (or hold down) the Eject button and then shut off the car and then turn it back on? Anyone else please chime in, I'm trying to get my CDs out and its displaying 'Error 4'. Thanks!

 

turn the vehicle off. then turn the key to acc or on but not start the car. then press eject to eject the disc. basically try this a crap load of times until the cd's pop out. sometimes it takes a while....good luck!!!

 

I had a problem with my CD player and the dealer asked if I had labels on any of the disks, (I didn't). They said never put any type of label on a disc going into your Lexus CD player.

Dave S.

 

this action did not work for me. dealer wants $800 to replace the entire unit. I'm furious.

 

Are you out of warranty? If you are, better get an aftermarket...than dumping that amount of money.

 

You know I also had the same problem with my RX 2005 330 and Lexus gaveme the same excuse of the RW discs and my CD player started the same exact problem listed here even with brand new CDs. I took it in and Lexus changed the complete Cd changer to just get rid of the problem so....if its under warranty I would definitely take it in and make them give you a new changer before it runs out as I did.

 

I have RX300'04 and seems a problem with CD changer is very common. I've got Error3 and Error4 probably 20 times already. Sometimes CD changer starts working after one or several restarting of engine but when it doesn't help I fix the problem by myself. I want to share my experience hoping it will help and help you to save money from dealership as well.
1. Take out the CD changer. For removing CD changer first need to remove Upper front trim panel (transmission gear panel), then lower finish panel (seats heating), than remove whole Radio (CD changer) box. All steps I do without tools because all panels sit just on clips but I'm not sure about your car. Don't forget to move gear to D -position to make space for moving central panel. Disconnect all connectors from changer.
2. Remove 6 screws from top cover of your changer and open. Next is a hardest part: carefully release out from the upper metal cover 4 springs and make their upper end hold temporary on a side avoiding to disconnect lower end from the base. Usually I use 4 hair pins for that. Don't worry If you disconnect spring from the base, need to spend more time to put them back. Than remove carefully metal cover, than trays and CDs.Sometimes CD or CDs are stacked on the lower trays. You are smart mechanic If you can find a way how to release stacked lower trays but I just cut CD inside to half and take them out. I don't care about CDs because I use re-writable ones and can burn the same CD again.
3. Put everything back and that's it. My CD changer always works after that as suppose to! Fixing changer in this way takes about 10-15 minutes!
Good luck!

 

This is so JUST IN TIME for me. I am having problems with my CD player not on the RX but on the SC. And the solution is to take it apart and free up jammed CD's.

Thanks for the tip.

And welcome to CL!

 

Dont happen to have any pictures?

 

I gave my car to my friend for a few days so I'll try to post some pictures or even make a video when he'll be back.

 

Do we have progress on this repair?