macarong

Hi,

I hear a strange sound like some moving parts of the CD changer cartridge inside a glove box even after I turn off everything.
the sound comes out not often.
The CD works fine.

What went wrong and how to fix it?

Thanks,

kedmunds

Take out the CD cartridge and then see if you still hear the problem. It could actually be the cabin air filter behind it. You could have leaves and such causing the noise as the air blows past it.

Just a thought,
Kirk

deepz

Hi I had the same sounds coming out from somewhere behind the glove compartment.I removed the glove compartment and started to trace out where those sounds were coming from ,I started checking out the parts that were loose by moving them gently,I finally realized the ac pipe going into the door trim is a long extention right from the middle of the dash board center.the sound was prominant during bumpy roads and is actually located behind the cd player towards the top side.Once you know the source of the sound it is then easy to solve the problem.

carguy07

Search "air mix servo".

99rx

iTrader: (6)

It is definitly the air mix servo. Mine is doing the same thing. Too lazy to fix it and im afraid if i do attempt to fix it i will break something since all it is are a bunch of gears....

yeuemhoai

iTrader: (1)

Got the same noise in my 2001 RX300 for only certain settings but too busy to fix :-)

macarong

I did take out the cartrige, the noise is still.
As long as it did not harm the car's performance, I can stand.
I am not sure what the cause is but I got to fix it later.

Thanks,
MCR

alaskaty

haha, it's funny that so many people have the same problem. I had NO idea what it was, we took out the cartridge to no avail. It's so infrequent that I just said screw it. Looks like from the above answers I'll continue to say "screw it"

vantoan

Oh Yes .
My 2000 Lexus RX300 has the same problem . The sound like from CD case.
How to fix it?

carguy07

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/4135902-post12.html

code58

I think carguy is right. If it sounds like little rodents have taken up residence a while after you have shut it off, it's likely the infamous "air mix servo". I've done a couple of them and it's the motor getting weak and not able to overcome the the "coil" spring that keeps the one air valve over center. Don't understand exactly why it does it a while after everything is shut down (don't think that's the ONLY time it does it!) If the motor wasn't so hard to get apart (the way they "spike" it together makes it hard to get apart, though it's not made to come apart at all) I just wanted to see if it's brushes badly worn down like the door lock actuator. The motor works but doesn't have much power, not enough to overcome the fair amount of resistance the spring has.

Preppyboy1

Chances are it's NOT the CD changer it's 3 little b!@ch Servo motors that are located near the CD changer. There are 3 of them. I had 2 of them that were acting up and it sounded like I had a Gerbil running around inside my dash. Take the glove compartment out. This is not difficult, however there is one screw (hex head) in the corner on the bottom of the glove compartment on the left side that is a REAL F-er to get out. There is no room to get much of anything inside there to get a grip on it with. You will need a 10mm socket for the two bottom screws. Tops are just standard Phillips heads. Once you get the screws out there are small clamps holding the compartment in place on the top you can just pop them out with your fingers (do NOT use a screwdriver as you may crack the plastic.). Once you get that thing out of there, look up and to the left and you will see one Servo as plain as day, then there is another near 2 silvery pipes which are the heater pipes (if car is on they are tootin hot, be careful) then there is another Servo motor up behind the CD changer which is a real B**** to get to. Anyhow, all I did was clean the gears off with electronics parts cleaner and disconnected the Servos and cleaned out the contacts, plugged them back in and by Jove the Gerbil in my dash is gone! Also lil tip for you, while the compartment is off, turn the car on, and play around with the settings on the heat/ac and turn the fan up and down as well as the temperature then re-circulate to non and the same for the front defroster turn on and off. This will cause the Servos to keep moving, while they are moving back and forth opening and closing vents, I sprayed the gears off to clean them further with the electronics parts cleaner then silicone sprayed it to keep things running smoothly and so far so good.