I've had my Camry for about a year now and I've been using the AUX port to connect my iPod all this time (at least until I find a better way). Recently (the past couple of weeks) I have noticed that my sound will just die out and I have to jiggle the connection directly to the car in order to get it back up and running. At first I thought it might have just been coming loose but now that I have the cable bundled in the area with just the end for the ipod sticking out it will just drop out randomly even when I'm driving at a smooth pace on a flat road.

Are there any known issues with the cables for the aux port being poorly soldered? I really don't want to have to open it up myself as I have neither the time nor the tools so I'm hoping there's an issue so I can get my dealership to fix it for free (or very very cheaply).

This is really for my ipod so if anyone knows a better way to get my ipod connected I'd welcome those suggestions as well.

 

This might be a silly question, but did you try a different cable? That's the first thing I'd check. If you don't have another cable, can you hook up your Ipod using this cable to a different input - i.e. another car's AUX port, or your computer's line in. That would be another way to test the cable.

 

I'll try a different cable but the reason I didn't put that as my first suspect was that it's not the end that is constantly getting connected/disconnected (the one to my ipod) but the one that plus into the TCH itself. If it's something as simple as that I would be very happy but I'm thinking it might be something on the port itself as lately I literally have to jiggle it a little, it doesn't feel as snug as it used to.

 

There was a TSB out for the auxillary input plug and wiring. Mine was making a horrible whining noise, and they replaced the whole works for free!!

 

Ohhh.... would you happen to know the TSB? I'm planning on taking my car in for the brakes one which is why I was hoping this was something they would check/take care of for free so I'd love to do both at once.

 

I just had my aux port fixed for the whine issue. I have had my Harman Kardon Drive+Play iPod interface in the car for over a year with hat awful noise, and I am very pleased with the fix (they installed an inline filter and a new port). It also doesn't filter all of the bass out of the signal, like the aftermarket filter I tried in combination with the HK Drive+Play.

The work order lists TSB AU004-07

I am still waiting for the brake parts for the brake squeak TSB (it's been over a month and still waiting).

 

I have just posted the Canadian TSB2810 (= US TSB_AU004-07) covering this problem, titled "Noise from Auxiliary Port with External Device" in the thread "List of pertinent TSB's." There's a revised AUX socket assembly, connector cable, and in-line filter module that get fitted in place of the original AUX socket to resolve the noise problem that occurs when the auxiliary device is playing while being powered by the car's 12-V system.

Stan

 

I am curious about what is different in the Aux port itself.

The filter is self-explanatory, but what did they do in the aux port? Perhaps a better ground to eliminate a ground loop?

Any thoughts, Stan?

 

spiff72 — I was curious about this myself. I can't say exactly what the differences are, but the car's wiring harness has a 4-wire cable connecting to a 4-pin socket on the original AUX socket assembly: Left, Right, Ground, and a fourth wire that tells the radio when an AUX device has been plugged in. The new AUX socket assembly has an 8-pin socket with a (new) 6-wire cable running between it and the input to the noise filter module. The output from the filter module uses the car's existing 4-pin plug to connect to the radio. I assume that they have separated some of the common grounds to prevent the ground loop problems that caused the original noise. Are they using isolating transformers? Without pulling these items apart to investigate, I can't say exactly what the changes are.

Stan