Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) Radio/CD Player Problem

[MBNicholson]

I have had my 1996 Dodge 3500 w/5. 9 since Feb 1996. We are now on a five week trip from Sequim, WA to Denver to Durango, CO seeing friends and enjoying a vacation from this hectic retired life. Yesterday, I was taking a nap on a street bench in Farmington, CO while the wife was in a Quilt Shop adding to her stash of fabric. In addition to fabric, she brought a CD out and as soon as we got back into the truck, she popped it into the CD slot and all it reflected was Pause and then Err. Brought it back to the 5th Wheel and it played fine. Figuring it was just this "Quilting" CD that wouldn't play in my truck, I ran out with a good old Willie Nelson CD, but just my luck it did the same thing. This is quite a shock to me. It's the first thing on my truck that just won't work. We really don't use the CD player very much as the radio has a very strong tuner and the six speakers always have sounded fine. However, if anyone has any suggestions, I would appreciate it. Please don't suggest I get a new truck.

 

[Loren]

This may not be what you want to hear, but I would recommend an aftermarket stereo. They are reasonably priced and you will probably get better sound from an aftermarket unit than you get from your factory one.



I'd volunteer my 1995 truck's factory stereo (I'm sure it's in a box around here somewhere), but I didn't buy the CD player with that truck. I knew when I ordered it that I wanted an aftermarket unit.



An alternative to a new in-dash unit is to get one of those tape cassette gizmos that you can plug into something else. I have used one of those to play CD's on a Walkman-type CD player through the truck's stereo. I think you can still get them at Radio Shack.



If you and I ever get to the same diesel event, be sure that our wives get together. They'll have something to talk about. My wife has an entire closet full of quilting fabric. She can pull just red fabric in a stack a foot high.



Good luck.

 

[PBJ2500CTD]

Dirt or dust on the laser? Try a bit of compressed air (gentle) in the CD slot. Was it hot in the cab? Wait - That error would display "CD HOT" followed by "PAUSE". Certain players have an overheat protection circuit built in.

Self diagnostics that cause "ERR" to be displayed are Excessive Vibration, Disc Inserted Upside Down, Damaged Disc, or Water Condensation On Optics. This is from the owner's manual.

If it comes down to needing a new AM/FM/CD/Cassette (RAZ) radio I think I have an extra one laying around that used to reside in a 97 Ram. I may consider letting it go for a very reasonable price.

 

[MBNicholson]

I wanted to post some follow up to my CD problem. I got a can of air and tried to stir things up in the CD slot to no avail. Still an Err warning and no CD. I did discover a solution though. Before this trip, my wife had purchased an Ipod. What a neat little device. We stumbled across a Belkin device which holds the Ipod and has a built in cigarette lighter with the whole thing plugging into your dash cigarette lighter. With one button push it automatically aligns with a FM freg and you can play the Ipod through your six speaker stereo. We don't use it that often, only when we can't get a decent station. $99. Sure beats the one at a time CD player we had.