Understanding radio in my 98 camry

[walt9064]

Just bought a 98 camry. Radio has markings on most buttons making reference to a cd player. The unit has ability to accept cassette tapes, but I am unable to locate a cd changer. Can anyone help? Thank you.

[71Corolla]

What's the number on the faceplate? Or post a pic.

[uibalnme]

That's common on most factory stereos. It could be connected to an optional CD player, in dash CD changer, or remote CD changer. An in dash unit would be very obvious, and the remote changer would be found either under one of the front seats or mounted in the trunk, and also obvious. They would be hard to miss.

Pics of the add on CD player...




Pics of the add on in-dash changer...




You can see that they are two separate units stacked one on top the other.

[walt9064]

The number on the face of the radio is 16408. I have checked under the seats and inside the trunk. I understand that its location should be obvious. I wouldn't have thought Toyota to install this model radio without including the changer, but is thought a consideration?

[carsrus]

Originally Posted by walt9064

The number on the face of the radio is 16408. I have checked under the seats and inside the trunk. I understand that its location should be obvious. I wouldn't have thought Toyota to install this model radio without including the changer, but is thought a consideration?

If yours has the small pocket below it, you dont have a cd player. Tracking down the add on unit isnt to hard but its not really worth the money. A nice aftermarket head unit is about $100 on Crutchfield.

Another option is to check out some junkyards. Look at the connections on your radio and match up another toyota radio. I got lucky like this and found one out of a 99 camry that was plug and play, took 15 min to install. Only 20$ too.

[uibalnme]

Originally Posted by walt9064

I wouldn't have thought Toyota to install this model radio without including the changer, but is thought a consideration?

It was much more cost effective for Toyota to manufacture one type of cassette deck that could
could connect to an add on CD player/changer, than to make multiple decks with different options.

[Mike Gerber]

I purchased a 98 Camry XLE new back in 98. It had what Toyota called the 3-in-1 radio, which was a radio, cassette player and single disc CD player in one double din unit. It too had controls for an add-on multiple disc cd changer. The Toyota OEM 6 disc changer from Toyota was very expensive. I did some research and found out Panasonic made an 8 disc cd changer that would work with that car's in dash unit and operate from it's controls with the help of an adapter cord. That Panasonic unit was model CX-DP88U. I custom mounted it to the back of the fold down rear seat in a vertical plain to save space in the trunk. Fold the seat down and you could change cd's in the changer from inside the car. It worked like a charm. You could actually load 9 cd's in all; 1 in the in-dash unit and 8 in the changer. Hit the cd button once and it gave you the in-dash unit's cd; hit the button again and it gave you access to the 8 cd's in the changer. Volume, tracking, changing from one disc to another, was all controlled by the main in-dash unit. It was a great setup. Great for long trips. Unfortunately it was totaled in a major rear end accident along with the car itself. My point is do some research. Talk to a few professionals to see what is available for your unit.

Mike

[walt9064]

Thanks to all for their input.