lili43

Now that we've had negative temps, in the morning on these extreme cold startups, there is a spinning sound coming from the radio / cd that goes for about a minute then doesn't come back. (No cd inside.)

Any idea? (I'd like to know something before I go into dealer)

And no, it's not a subtle sound. Sounds like a cd is trying to eject. And yes, I'm positive it's coming from the radio.

kitlz

Are the lights on the side of the CD slot flashing green or red when this happens? Have you tried turning off the radio? How long has the problem been going on? Just trying to find out more information. I haven't had anything like this happen myself.

lili43

There are no lights flashing.

Yes, when radio is off the sound goes away. (It comes back on when the radio starts up again. I have volume off. After a few minutes of a warm car, I can turn radio back on and spin sound doesn't happen. I never use the CD, but thats where the sound is coming from and what it sounds like.)

It has only started recently now with overnight frigid temperatures below 0. If its a "warm" above 0, then it never happens.

60 seconds of a warmed up car, there is no spinning sound coming from radio.

litzdog911

What happens if you actually put a CD into the player?

NateJG

I believe it to be the navigation system's hard disk fighting to warm up the platter's bearings. Mine exhibits a similar-sounding "feature".

I am more concerned over a data read/write error resulting from disc platter dimensional changes as the system warms up - and the resultant "huh?" from my Service Technician.

lili43

You have to be right. The hard drive spinning to warm up must be it. Since I'm not the only one, I won't worry about it. It only does it when the garage temperature is near zero during an extreme over night cold temperature.

lili43

Does anyone else have this happen to them? It only happens to our car in extreme cold (below 0) start ups in the morning. It sounds just like a cd spinning (theres not one in there) or hard drive whirring... lasts 30-60 seconds then goes away.

I can't find any where else that claims this is a warm-up navigation system feature and that this is normal...

JT4

At the end of Oct I posted the following in the LX forum;

(My neighbor has a 2013 and when the weather turns colder he gets a buzzing / hissing type of electrical noise (if this makes sense) that is coming from behind the Nav / Infotainment screen. It usually only happens after the initial morning start-up. He hasn't had the noise since last spring, but now that the last couple of mornings the weather has been colder (low 40's overnight) when he starts it up in the morning the noise is back.

I heard it this morning and it's not the blower / fan motor because I had him turn off the HVAC system, but the noise was still there. Drove for about 10 mins and the noise goes away when it warms up.)

A few days after I wrote the above post the weather warmed up and the noise went away for a month. Then at the end of last week the overnight temps dropped again and the noise came back.

Since I didn't get many responses in LX forum I assumed no one was having the issue. In addition I guy at work has a 2013 Land Cruiser and he has the same exact noise upon start up in the cold. He said he had left it at Toyota a couple of times last winter and they couldn't find anything wrong.

Reading this thread may me wonder if this is the same noise RX owners are hearing??

vlad_a

I had taken my RX in early on for testing when the Nav started to sound like a cooling fan was having issues when temps hit below 0F. Dealership was not able to duplicate and the noise eventually went away and hasn't come back.

Considering these are small computers in their nature, and we all know life expediencies on those, it baffles my mind that Lexus would decide to run its climate control functions through a device intended to be obsolete in 3 years time.
Most spinning hard drives have an operating temperature range above 0C/32F. I've ran a PC in my car for more than 10 years. There were times when the hard drive would fail to spin-up in extreme cold. After a couple restarts, it would be back to normal, though.
It lasted 8 years and was on its last leg when I replaced it with an SSD.

I plan to replace HDD in my Audi with a compatible SSD at some point. Not sure if I want to spend time and effort trying it out in the Lexus, though.

User 41924

This is cool! We have just started hearing this sound in our 2013, although I have not yet connected it to temperature. It's interesting to me that I've not heard this before, and this is the 4th winter for the car. It seems to me that since this is the first we've head this, and some people in cold climates still have not heard it, there must be another consideration. Are some of the CD readers simply more temp sensitive?

More importantly, understanding the noise only makes it easier ignore. Is there a solution, or do we just have to deal with it?

MellonC00

I've begun hearing this also here in Southern CA. It got down to a super cold temp of 40 degrees the other morning....

Macca37

I started getting this problem about 2 months ago. It happens every morning provided the temperature is under about 68 degrees. If I turn the engine off in the first few minutes after startup the noise continues for about 7 or 8 seconds. Service dept does not have a clue as to what the problem is. I am in Melbourne, Australia so it is summer here.

Skier76

This same issue comes up in our 2013 with nav when it's started in very cold weather after sitting outside. As other said, has to be a function of the computer and something spinning along in there.

CanadianRX

Wow the same thing happened to me a few weeks ago in cold temps for the first time on my 2013. I thought I might have to bring the car in but it went away after warming up. I thought my cd tray was broken even though I never use it

Skier76

We take the RX up north to go skiing. So it'll sit outside on some pretty cold nights. That's when the issue seems to pop up.