Cadillac Owners Forum banner

CD's Jammed/Player Dismantle Guide

31K views 27 replies 13 participants last post by  mattfranz 
#1 ·
Once you hace your unit out you need to remove the face plate first. There are 4 srews on the backside of the plate(don't ask me what size torq bit it is)
or you can use a small flat head screw driver. I recommend placing the unit on a towel so you don't mark up the face plate


Once the screws are removed you will need to disconect the wires to the face plate, there is one connection on each side, simply unplug them.


Now goto the bottom of the unit(the side with the changer) and pry up on the corner to remove the cover. Nows a good time to cut the "void warranty if removed" sticker.


Now you will have access to the four screw holding the changer in. They are the black screws, nevermind the brass ones.

Now slide out the changer carefully.

There is a wire to the changer. Once out if you turn the changer to the side you can unplug the ribbon cable(note the sticker side faces up).

Now with the changer out you can retrieve your cd's. mine shown here is empty. Pull up on the metal plate and remove the springs holding it down on each side.

They are held by small hooks on each side of the plate. When you remove one side the springs will release and probably go flying around, don't worry i'll show you how to reassemble them.

Now remove the tracks(with your cd's) remember how they are stacked and which direction they are facing. remove all of your cd's.

You can arrange the tracks or get the turntable out of the way by turning the gears on the side by hand. You may have to do this before removing the tracks. Just turn the gear untill the turntable goes all the way foreward and the tracks are in the center. If it is jammed because of the disc's don't worry just remove the discs and then it will move.
 
See less See more
10
#2 · (Edited)
Now with all of your cd's out it's time to reassemble. Put all of your tracks back in sliding them over the pins.

Now put the springs on each side of the metal plate and just let them dangle.

Put your player on the edge of a ledge/shelf so you can drop the spings through the brackets on each side of the tracks. You want to be able to get the spring through to the bottom of the player.

The brackets

Now with the springs fished through their hole, turn the player carefully on its side. Make sure the tracks don't fall out or the springs come off their hooks.

With the springs poking out the bottom just join them together.

Now you are ready to put the player back in. Connect the ribbon cable and carefully slide it back in, making sure the ribbon cable doesn't get snagged on anything on the way back in.
Now reassemble the way you took it apart.
 
#5 · (Edited)
Tommy I had a problem taking my radio apart... As you can see with the turn table it was stuck in the center...(SEE PICTURES) I tried turning the nobes but it didn't do anything I also tried forcing it but it wouldn't budge...

Now my cd player doesn't work... When I go to hit the source button the cd changer doesn't switch over its stays on fm.. It says somthing like CD MECH ERROR its the same message you get when the cd gets jammed.. By the way there is still that winding sound to eject a cd...

Any ideas... I followed your instructions step by step and I can't figure out what I did wrong...

Any help
 

Attachments

#6 · (Edited)
take out those two last black plastic tracks, it looks like the bottom one is not where it is supposed to be. maybe with them out you'll be able to turn the gears to get the turn table out of the way. once you remove the tracks and turn the gears so the turn table goes back in, you just stack all the tracks together and put them over the pins. your tracks are probably preventing the turn table from moving, it's probably jammed in the white plastic pieces on the side or the metal tray that moves. once they tracks are stacked the mechanisms will be free to work properly.
 
#7 ·
take out those two last black plastic tracks, it looks like the bottom one is not where it is supposed to be.
Ok Ill take it apart again tomorrow...

But I noticed that I had trouble removing the bottom one the metal piece and the turn table are blocking it from me taking it out...

should the turn table move when I spin those wheels?

maybe with them out you'll be able to turn the gears to get the turn table out of the way. once you remove the tracks and turn the gears so the turn table goes back in, you just stack all the tracks together and put them over the pins. your tracks are probably preventing the turn table from moving, it's probably jammed in the white plastic pieces on the side or the metal tray that moves. once they tracks are stacked the mechanisms will be free to work properly.
Ill try this

Also do you know why my CD player wont switch over?
 
#9 ·
those wheels/gears will move that turn table, but you must get those tracks out, once they are out you should be able to move the turn table. the cd mech error is causing you to not be able to select cd, once you fix the tracks and everything moves freely you'll be able to select the cd function again.
 
#10 ·
Tommy,

The gears did nothing in moving that Center metal piece and the trun table...

I moved them in both directions until the wouldn't go anymore it had no effect on it.. Maybe thats the problem...

I started to tug at that center metal piece back and forth until it caught and went into its normal state...

However, The CD Mech Error still appears and it wont switch over... :thepan:

I think its time for a new radio...:bighead:
 
#11 ·
thats beyond the scope of my repair. forcing the plate and/or turn table is probably not a good idea, they are probably in a set position in correlation with the gears. one side of the gears from what i remember moves the metal plate up or down, the plate must be moved all the way down, then the gears on the other side move the turn table in or out. when you can't move the gear s on one side turn the gears on the other untill in won't move anymore, then try the other.
but you may have had something else wrong besides the typical cd jam, sorry this didn't work for you.
 
#14 ·
hey, i think one of my Cd's is jammed in the 2nd slot. Funny thing i can add and remove CD1 but when i try to add the second it just gives me a CD MECH ERROR. To make a long story short i may have to undertake this procedure. Anyone knows if there's a FAQ on how to remove the actual unit???
 
#18 · (Edited)
As my previous post suggests I took the unit apart as per attached pictures. I figured that it was easier to take scissors and cut the CD rather then taking the prings off and stuff. It took me little time to cut the CD into pieces and extract them, then i retracted my steps and fitted the unit together. When I connected the wires in the car to the back of the unit it started to smoke so i had to unplug and take the unit appart again. It turned out that the ribbon cable wasnt connected properly so i guess it was touching the metal box or something. Once that was fixed the unit went back on exept i get a new error message CD COMM ERROR uppon pressing load button. So i guess at the end of the day cutting the CD out wasnt the quick fix i was hoping for. To make my long story short, since i didnt really touch anything inside the CD changer unit i just have to fix the initial problem of why the CD got jammed in the first place. Hence my question, is there an initial possition that the gears and turn table have to be set in???

TOmmy any ideas??? Or should i just take it appart as per you pictures all the way to the end??

Also i dont think the unit is burned cuz the radio works fine!
 
#20 ·
Tommy-great step by step instructions. I've been having trouble with my cd changer since I got the car and it has been replaced 3 times (going for 4-the whole unit). I did notice your part number is the same as mine, so I'll give this website to my audio guys, and they can work with it. Thanks
 
#22 ·
Interesting. I only have a single-disc player but this happened in the first month I had the car. (Thanks to my mother who left a CD in while driving and then added another to it later in the day.)

I never got a jam message and the CD that was last inserted played fine. But ... it wouldn't eject. That's when I realized what had happened.

I found a forum online that talked about using an emery board to coax out one of the discs. The trick is to get the emery board gently, but solidly, UNDER the first disc. I tried it several times, was about to give up ... and it worked! The original disc came out and then when I hit eject, the second one did, too. Never got any communication on it at all and it has played fine ever since.
 
#28 ·
Tip to anyone doing this: Make sure when putting the face plate back on you are very careful. The four plastic housings for the screws on the back are very fragile, I broke two on accident putting it back together.

On a side note, does anyone know how many volts power the stereo? I took mine out of my car that had been broken since I bought it and put a new one in. I want to see if it works now so I can sell it but I'd rather not tear my dash apart again and plug it in to see:p
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top