75ZT Community

(This post from a complete non-techy - ask my young son!)The jammed cartridge/caddy problem is a common one - a good "how to" remove the player from the glovebox here cd-player-jammed-caddy-repair.html

However my problem with my Alpine player was that the cartridge would eject - but it would not play and kept reading "No CD". I could hear it clicking and trying to read the CDs but to no avail. I tried a spare cartridge - still no good. I searched the forums and found 4 other posts with apparently the same problem - and "helpful" advice about the sticking cartridge or even spraying the innards with WD40 - but no-one appeared to solve the problem.

Firstly, anyone with a CD player problem is advised to remove it, take off the top casing, then reconnect in the footwell of the car with the innards open for inspection. watching what is or isn't happening can be very revealing. It showed that the machine was trying to read each CD by rising up and down the cartidge - but couldn't pull the CDs across to the player.

The big cog which is revealed when the lid is off can usually be turned by hand ( eg to release a sticking cartridge)but mine had seized solid. And the car has done only 27k...

THE FAULT - was simply a drive cog not meshing with a worm drive (see Photo 8 - sorry the photo is taken after the problem has been rectified - note there is plenty of lubricant around the mechhanism too!). The worm had somehow risen on top of the cog it was supposed to be meshing with - and just would not budge. You'd think any vibration would have made it reseat properly (but no) - all it took to rectify was a slight nudge with the tip of a screwdriver and heypresto - all working as it should. I have to say that both son and I thought the motor "B" had packed up - until his sharp eyes spotted what might just be a fault that others have experienced?
Note - to remove the player from its chassis you will need to push out the 4 rubber suspension bungs - not too difficult to replace when you re-assemble.

What a thoroughly useful post! I've got a CD changer in the garage that failed to work one day - I might open it up and take a ganders around with this new knowledge as it might just bring it back to life

Good stuff! This needs filing away somewhere for future reference....you'll be back to your Black Sabbath and Dana collections now then I take it?

At risk of stating the obvious - the player "floats" on its own suspension in the chassis. As well as removing the rubber gel bungs you have to disconnect the springs either side of the player - see photos 2 & 3. Be warned these can fly away! Long nose pliers are useful and a lot of the tension in the springs is removed by moving the spring pulley to the position shown in Photo 3 before attempting to disconnect them.

Zeb wrote:Good stuff! This needs filing away somewhere for future reference....you'll be back to your Black Sabbath and Dana collections now then I take it?

Cheek! It's just Fairport, Ralph McTell, Iain Matthews, Jackson Browne, CSN&Y, Feast of Fiddles, The Oyster Band....oh and the magnificent Four Tops and of course, The Searchers (Eh???)

Excellent post, well done.

For anyone taking the lid off a CD player, just have a thought for the laser. As a rule, if a disc is loaded properly there's no problem, but it is possible the laser might actually shine out of the open casing and into your eyes. As the light is infra red, you won't see it and it could in theory cause eye damage. Never heard of it actually happening but lets not be the first!

Duncan wrote:Excellent post, well done.

For anyone taking the lid off a CD player, just have a thought for the laser. As a rule, if a disc is loaded properly there's no problem, but it is possible the laser might actually shine out of the open casing and into your eyes. As the light is infra red, you won't see it and it could in theory cause eye damage. Never heard of it actually happening but lets not be the first!

There is normally a label that says:

DO NOT LOOK AT LASER WITH OTHER EYE

You can see said label on this unit, however it's not in English. Alright if your'e Danish (?) though.

Duncan my posting was meant to be humorous:

DO NOT LOOK AT LASER WITH OTHER EYE

Paul

This excellent Know How has been added to the Know How Database in the Ice and Navigation section.
Thanks Robert.