Hey guys, my CD player gave up the ghost a few months ago and I'm tiring of the radio.

It seems like I've lost power to the changer and player motors. Nav works, A/C works, radio works fine. I always get a "Push eject button" message when it powers up but when I hit the button there's no indication that the motor is running. I could always hear it before but it's dead silent now. Nothing happens except that eventually the "eject" message comes up again.

Is it possible that there's a bad connection in a harness somewhere that won't involve dismantling my whole dashboard to find? I don't have high hopes but figured if there's a solution that doesn't involve dropping it off at a dealer or a system installer (both $$$$$) it might be found here.

Thanks!

 

Just give up hope of using the CD player portion. Mechanical failure of that mechanism is a known issue. You can go with one of the AUX input options, but those rely on your (failing) radio to stay working in order to be useful.

My advice is to just start saving up for a headunit replacement and enjoy the FM stations in the meantime. Once you can afford it, it's fairly straightforward to install the replacement, and will add some great new features as well.

 

+1 to what he said ^

Its a known issue with the factory cd deck. On my 6-disc changer, only the first 2 discs work; it won't accept discs on slots 3-6. Its only a matter of time until it completely dies (like yours did).

For the meantime you can try a Aux-to-FM adapter, which is what I use. Or you can try connecting on of the other AUX options suggested by Wrathernaut in the Audio section.

The best way is to just replace the cd/stereo deck with an aftermarket unit. This can cost from $200-800 depending on the deck + labor costs. I have not switched mine yet, but I will as soon as mine croaks...

 

Thanks for the replies, gentlemen. Normally I try to tend threads a little better but it's been a helluva week.

I thought I might be looking at new hardware but am a little up in the air as far as how long I'll have the car.

I need to dig around here some more (there is a lot to absorb), but I think what I'd *like* to do is replace the head unit and keep everything else (amp, speakers, and nav if possible. that latter is one of the things I'm unsure of. Elsewhere it's been suggested that if you replace the head unit you have to ditch the nav, but maybe that's just that supplier's requirements.

Also lost all of my audio controls (left side of wheel) today. Is it likely that's just a symptom of the original problem? There doesn't seem to be a bt connection with my phone which makes me wonder if I've got another problem too....

Sorry for the questions that I suspect are already answered in some of the stickys.

 

Yep all symptoms of failing headunit.

Yeah they are answered, but with a new headunit, you'll keep the nav, but lose the nav voice.

 

Yeah, I did see a reference to just losing the voice, which I normally mute anyway, so that would be fine. Honestly most of the time I use my phone for nav but I hate to remove an expensive piece of factory equipment. I'm just wired that way.

 

I gutted the lift portion and had a tablet in there for a bit (detailed here), but since the tablet needed to be tethered to my phone for GPS and network connectivity, I eliminated the tablet, lined the interior of the screen space with ABS plastic and black felt and ran a USB power cable in there too. Much better use of the space as a phone holder.