Need help with CD player

[RedRam1]

I need help with my factory CD player, here's the story:



I've got the factory radio/cassette/CD player in my truck, it's the variety with the little 3 band equalizer and joy stick style balance/fader control.



From what my six year old tells me, my five year old force fed a cd into the unit while there was already a cd loaded and playing. I can't verify this, but do not find it at all hard to believe.



This is my wife's version: She and the kids were driving the truck when she noticed they were low on fuel, she pulled into the fuel island to fill up, mama got out and started refueling, the RADIO was playing, so she left the switch in the ACC position so the kids could listen. When she finished and got back in the truck, the big one immediately tattled on the little one for screwing up the cd player.



All I know is the cd won't do anything now. No sound comes out, if you hit the eject button, you hear some mechanical "whirring" like the cd(s)are spinning, but nothing ejects. I can't see anything thru the slot, so I don't know if there is one, two, or a half dozen cds in there. Although it's a pain, I'm sure I can get the unit out of the dash without much trouble.



Does anyone have any advise? If I pull the unit out of the dash, can you remove part of the case to facilitate getting the disks out? Any ideas on how to get 'em out without removing the unit? I wonder if there is any chance the unit will still work if I can remove the extra disks?



I'm still under warranty, and am tempted to take it to the dealer, and play dumb... just say the cd player quit working. I'll bet they would just order me a new one - I would feel sort of bad doing that, but would probably get over it!

 

[pnwradar]

You might try dropping into a local audio installer -- if they aren't busy they might help you out cheap/free. They usually know all the tricks, and I'd trust them more than the stealer . . .



That said, all the CD players I've seen have a small hole somewhere near the opening/door, just large enough for a straightened paper clip. Insert the tool (paper clip) properly, and the carriage/tray lock inside should release. With a thin set of forceps (roach clips, for you hippies), reach inside the opening and try to remove one of the CDs. Chances are fair that you'll break the CD player mechanism, removing the CD. So you might be going to the local audio installer eventually . . .



-jon-

 

[PHX ATC]

Give your five year old a big pat on the back and throw in an extra Happy Meal for 'em. That radio/CD player is a piece o' poopoo. This is your ticket to go get a decent CD player.



Have your five year old call my daughter (also 5) and give her the lowdown on how to do it so I can have the perfect excuse to go buy a better unit.



Toby

 

[Rob Thomas]

Whats the problem with the factory CD players? My last 2 trucks had 'em, and have been trouble-free, am I just lucky?



Then again, I don't have any kids!





Later ,Rob

 

[JCockrell]

cd jam

I have not the children aspect of the problem but I have had the cd "jam" in the player. When you hear the whirring noise after you hit the eject button try slipping another cd in about halfway. wiggle it and pull straight out. This worked for me enough to free the jammed cd. This has happened 3 times. If there are 2 in there, forceps, hemostats, (roach clips, hee hee) maybe the other option. If you take it somewhere pnwradar said it all, Just Say No to Dealers.



Sorry, Good luck,



Jeff

 

[jwdeeming]

Ah, those were the days. My daughter, then six, ratted out my son, then five, for feeding the VCR his peanut butter and jelly sandwich.



On inspection, I see there's a tape in there, but see no signs of food. I asked little miss tattle tale about that and she said, "Oh, it's in there alright. But he didn't believe me when I said he ruined it so I put a tape in to show him it wouldn't play. "



I love my kids!

JimD

 

[RedRam1]

Thanks for all the advise, guys. I have not had the chance to mess with the cd player yet, but it may not be as bad as I had thought. The little one swears that there is only ONE cd in there. She says it was the radio that was playing when she shoved in the cd.

I am halfway inclined to believer her, my wife said that it was the RADIO that was playing when she got out to pump diesel. Also, it seems like you could see some evidence of a second cd by looking in the slot.

I'm going to try Jeff's cd extraction method tonight. If that fails, I'll try the forcips/roach clip method.

If I could determine for a fact that there was only one cd in there, I'd just take it to the dealer and tell 'em I want it fixed, or replaced. I need to take it in for the clock spring recall, and for a warranty replacement of the center console hinge/lid before my waranty runs out anyway.

Believe it or not, the five year old can usually insert, eject, swap disks with no problem, could be the unit just crapped out.

 

[IdaH.O.Train]

RedRam, my son once fed several coins out of my ash tray into my CD player. It was an aftermarket unit; however, it wasn't too difficult to take out, take apart and remove the money. That is, if it comes to that for ya. Good luck with the aforementioned ideas. By the way, a large hammer works perfectly for those OEM CD players, for some reason.

 

[Extreme1]

The radio can play with a CD stored so there probably are 2 in there.



The unit is held in by 2 or 3 screws once you get the dash cover off. Disassembly to retrieve the CDs is a piece of cake. I've had mine (from a 2001 Dakota) apart because it misfed on a rough road when I fed it a CD once. The one I had before (2000? Dakota) would keep the CD if you turned the key off with a CD in and not playing. There was a bunch of them that year that did that.

 

[dcash]

i am not sure about this on a stock radio, but on all aftermarket cd players there is a way to reset them which will make the cd eject. try holding the eject button down for 10 or 15 seconds and it should make a noise like what youi describe however it should spit it out instead of trying to verify if it is there or not before ejecting. if that fails try same procedure with the power button. there is some way to reset it. dont know if this will work for your situation but it has made my aftermarket spit out 2 cd's that were jammed in it due to a temper tantrum i threw. good luck,



du$ty

 

[RedRam1]

Well, I tried Jeff's "hit eject button & slide another cd half way in" method last night. All that did was make the whirring sound a h@ll of a lot louder, I was encouraged by all the noise, though sure a couble of disks were going to spit out any minute, but it didn't happen. Could not get ahold of anything with forecips either, the slot is just not wide enough.



I'll try some of the other "non destructive" suggestions this afternoon. If nothing works, I'll take the unit out. Since Extreme1 was able to disassemble the unit in his Dakota, I should be able to do the same with mine.



The timing is terrible on this problem. We're in the middle of a house building project. The wife is "overseeing" the construction, She is using the truck every day hauling stuff around, picking up construction materials, etc. Lot's of times she does not get in with the truck till nearly bedtime, therefore, I have not had time to get serious with the cd player problem. This weekend is going to be pretty busy too, but hopefully I'll have time to yank the unit out and extract the disks.



Assuming there are two disks in the unit, I wonder if there is even a remote chance it will work after I get 'em out?

 

[Royk]

Lot's of times she does not get in with the truck till nearly bedtime, therefore, I have not had time to get serious with the cd player problem. This weekend is going to be pretty busy too, but hopefully I'll have time to yank the unit out and extract the disks.

It takes all of about 5 minutes to pop the dash cover, remove the radio and put the dash back on. Just pull the radio out when you have a few minutes, put the dash back on and bring the radio in the house to work on it when you have some time.



-Roy

 

[RedRam1]

Royk,



I didn't realize it was quite that easy to remove the dash cover. I guess this is the only vehicle I have ever owned that I have not had the dash cover off of yet. I promise I will pull the unit over the weekend, and report back Monday (not on line at home)with the results of my autopsy on the cd player.

 

[RedRam1]

Well, here's the latest: I pulled the cd player out over the weekend - royk, is right, it's a very simple job, takes around 5 - 10 minutes, tops. Guess what? There were NO disks in the unit! I have given up on figuring out what happened, my daughter freely admits that she "teared up" the unit, but I'll probably never know exactly what she did to it.



Once I fugured out the unit was not jammed full of disks, I tried puting in a cd. The unit makes a loud "whirring" sound, and "Err" appears on the lcd. The disk will eject just fine, just won't play.



I'm going in for my first trip to the dealer today. In addition to the cd player, my clockspring finally turned loose over the weekend, at least I'm 99. 9% sure it's the clockspring - my airbag light on the dash won't go out, and the cruise quit working. At 19,800 miles, the clockspring is the only problem I have had so far, unless you count the cd player - I'm going to try to get that warrantied too, even though it probably had a little help getting "teared up".

 

[RedRam1]

Well, my first trip to the dealer turned out to be a fairly pleasant experience. They replaced my clockspring in about 30 minutes, and ordered me a new cd player without batting an eye.



They also performed this work WITHOUT looking under the hood. I thought for sure my boost/egt gauge would peak their curiosity, and they would take a look, but not this time. Guess I took my EZ out for nothing.

 

[JCockrell]

Say it ain't so.....Ethyl

RedRam, I know I repeat others and I mean no disrespect by this, the first time you leave the EZ on a trip to the squeler..... :{



Removal was not for nothing. Saves face, grasshopper... .



Glad that it was a pleasant trip.



Jeff

 

[RedRam1]

Jeff,



Yeah, I figured it was worth the 5 min's or so to remove the EZ just in case. I have no idea how my dealer would have reacted - I was really surprised that the mechanic did not look under the hood. I was in a waiting room with windows looking out into the shop, I had no contact with the tech who worked on my truck, so he had no idea if I was watching him or not. If, as some have reported, the techs have been instructed to look for bombs on CTDs, I would have thought the presence of my one puny little guage would have got them to looking.

Maybe I'm paranoid, but I even patched up and re-installed the OEM clamp on my boost elbow hose. If you are careful with the factory clamp, you can reuse it. If the wrong tech were to see just that lone worm gear clamp on the elbow, he would know some sort of waste gate disabling device had been installed, may not be able to prove it, but he would know... what other reason could there be for changing the clamp?

 

[JCockrell]

RedRam,



Not paranoid, just smart, since you probably haven't passed the 100K requirement.