cd player repair or time bomb
Submitted: Sunday, May 02, 2010 at 13:08
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bob & judy
Cd player packed it in on 1998 Prado, after having a look on the net about repair of the CD player it seemed 90% of the problems with them are a dirty lens.Tried disconnecting the power to see it all was needed was a reset,nothing.I wont you bother with quotes to repair it after mentally hearing the repair guy planning his next trip away OS , might as
well forget about playing CD's in the car again.
All Web sites said CD cleaners are a waste of money & the only sure way is to physically clean the lens & not just move the muck around with a mechanical cleaner.Now to get at it you have to remove fascia panels,wiring etc & it took a few afternoons with stubbie in hand to sus it all out & of course build up a bit of Dutch courage to tackle it. After removing the combination radio,CD & cassette player I very slowly pulled it apart as that is the only way you can access the lens, felt like I was defusing a time bomb as one false move could wreck the lot. It was very dusty & had some ingrained muck inside & the lens had a very small film of dust on it. After very gently blowing out the dust with low pressure I cleaned the lens with a medical swab, the type used for cleaning wounds.According to the Web sites you should use Isopropyl alcohol to clean with.
Put it all back together & with tongue firmly in cheek turned on the ignition & inserted a CD.
Bloody worked.Guess who's pretty chuffed with himself.
Reply By: disco driver - Sunday, May 02, 2010 at 14:21
Sunday, May 02, 2010 at 14:21
Goodonya Bob,
As you probably worked out, the majority of the cost involved is in getting access to the offending item.
Once that it accomplished the actual "fixing" is usually a straight forward job, then you have to put everything back together again .
Well done
Disco.
AnswerID:
415101
Reply By: Tenpounder (SA) - Sunday, May 02, 2010 at 17:08
Sunday, May 02, 2010 at 17:08
Hi there. Very interested in your thread - guess who else has a 98 Prado??
My question to you: now that you have actually done the job, and worked out precisely what's where, is it possible to clean the lens without removal of the unit?
I tied a similar task on a free standing unit, and got absolutely nowhere before damaging the very fragile components.
AnswerID:
415119
Follow Up By: bob & judy - Sunday, May 02, 2010 at 19:42
Sunday, May 02, 2010 at 19:42
Hi Chris, The entire unit must be removed, suggest you invest in a Gregorys Workshop Manual which will be of assistance to you not only in removal of the audio unit but in other areas.Basically you remove the radio surround panel, disconnect wiring to cig lighter & acc outlet so as to get the surround panel up & out of the way, remove 4 screws holding the audio unit, pull out until you can disconnect audio wiring, remove unit. Working in a clean area remove the top of the audio unit,(2 screws at rear & lever (gently) side clips away) You will see the lens( looks like a small bubble about 5mm dia.). Blow out the unit WITH LOW PRESSURE AIR then GENTLY wipe the lens over with an alcohol swab, do it again with another swab , neither need to be big, I wrapped
mine around a cotton bud.
Reassemble & install back in car, take a deep breath & try it, hopefully all's
well.
Take your time,look at it carefully & treat the whole thing gently.DONT PULL ANYTHING APART THAT DOESNT NEED TO BE.
I know a pro will laugh at me but I don't give a rats, like Dora, I Did IT, I DID IT.
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Tenpounder (SA) - Sunday, May 02, 2010 at 21:12
Sunday, May 02, 2010 at 21:12
Thanks very much for your careful description. Makes me hope the car wears out before I actually have to do the cleaning job you describe.
Have fun!!
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685328
Follow Up By: Busy Bee - Sunday, May 02, 2010 at 22:52
Sunday, May 02, 2010 at 22:52
I've seen a CD lens cleaner that looks like a CD with an eyelash on it, if you were lucky all it needs is a run with that in it.
If that doesn't work you could get more invasive.
As far as repairs go, unfortunately in our throwaway society it is cheaper to get a new one which might include an auxiliary or USB plug.
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685332
Follow Up By: bob & judy - Monday, May 03, 2010 at 10:01
Monday, May 03, 2010 at 10:01
Every site I looked at re cleaning the CD player gave the CD disc type cleaners with wipers(or eyelashes if you like) the thumbs down claiming they do more harm than good. Eg scratching the lens & in MHO they could probably whip up a duststorm inside the unit with their wipers acting like fan blades.Agree with you re throwaway society but if you can fix it, why not keep it, still perfectly good.
God, I hope I don't
breakdown & the
cook throws me away.
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685360
Follow Up By: PeterMandy - Monday, May 03, 2010 at 10:37
Monday, May 03, 2010 at 10:37
Bob, I spent many years earning my living servicing audio and video gear, including car CD players. I'm not laughing at you - you followed all the rules and obviously did a good job. Your best piece of advice above is "DONT PULL ANYTHING APART THAT DOESNT NEED TO BE." You appear to have a basic aptitude that's not very common, and you have a right to be proud of your achievement. All too many amateurs just keep removing screws until the whole thing is just a pile of bits. Then they take the remains to a service tech :-))
BTW, servicing consumer electronics didn't ever earn me enough for an overseas trip. I'm sure that you spent a number of hours removing, repairing and re-installing the unit. If you cost that time at a reasonable wage rate and then add allowance for the costs of maintaining a workshop, plus rent and the appropriate insurances, you'll possibly find that quoted repair rates are very reasonable.
Peter.
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Follow Up By: bob & judy - Monday, May 03, 2010 at 17:52
Monday, May 03, 2010 at 17:52
Hi Peter, I have no problems with building a Harbour
Bridge or a machine gun for that matter, my trade in engineering is of some help but electronics for some reason has me baffled, maybe my fingers are too big.I certainly would not pull someone else's unit apart.As it was I went too far in dismantling the unit (only separation of the CD unit from the main frame). It became apparent the lens was easily available after the top cover was removed.As it was it took me about 4 hrs to remove,clean & replace, bearing in mind I did'nt want to want to damage anything (time bomb mentality). Reckon I could do it all in under an hour now.You may have seen my posts about CD cleaners, whats your take on them?.Totally understand your BTW, I have seen some shocking/disgusting efforts re machining, welding,fabrication & structural design in my time & any fool can pull something apart but its the putting back of it all in a working condition that's the problem.
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Follow Up By: PeterMandy - Tuesday, May 04, 2010 at 14:12
Tuesday, May 04, 2010 at 14:12
Bob, I thought you may have an engineering background. I enjoy playing with mechanical things. One of my lighter hearted projects was to
turn an old floppy drive into a steam engine:-))
As mentioned in the post below, the "eyelash" cleaner CDs can work, as long as the dust is only on the outer surface of the lens. Some argue that these cleaners can damage the lens servo
suspension, but I've never seen any proof. I've had a few cases where dust had found its way inside the servo and the only chance of recovering the unit was to apply low pressure air, as you did.
Sadly, most consumer electronics has become throw-away, and the service business is becoming less viable.
Peter.
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Cruiser 2091 - Monday, May 03, 2010 at 17:20
Monday, May 03, 2010 at 17:20
My Cd player also stopped during a very dusty trip. The first town I came to i brought one of those CD cleaners with Eyelashes. Followed the simple instructions and moments later everything was working fine. That was a year ago and it's still going fine.
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