CD player "eating" CD's!

[scottydl]

For a long while now, several of my brand-new CD's were ending up with scratches and certain skipping tracks after a few weeks. Upon physically examining the CD's, I noticed that all the rounded scratches were in roughly the same place. I believe I have determined that something internal on my stock CD player is causing the scratches!

I'm currently doing some testing with some burned CD's I don't care about, to see if the same thing happens to them. I have already noticed that CD's do not always eject smoothly, and seem to get hung up about halfway out. *Something* is catching on the discs.

Anyone else experienced this? Is my only remedy to replace the head unit?

[Custom88]

I've heard of this happening before too. your best bet would be to take the headunit out and take it apart to inspect and see if anything is touching the cd. It may not be fixable though. The stock headunits are built pretty cheaply, especially when you think about how much they cost.

[BNICOV]

Get a stereo repair guy to take a look at it. It'll probably cost you a few bucks but it probably wouldn't be apparent to you as to what the problem is. Good luck.

[rollerbit]

A new C D player will only cost a few hundred -- probably the cost to have a technician open up your head unit and repair it. It will sound a whole lot better as well.

[bLACk AurOrA]

do the 99 aurora's play burnt CD's good? by good i mean u can skip fromt rack 1 to 16 and it will play in like 2 seconds? or does it error?

[erw38]

My 97 plays CD's I burn fine. No errors at all.

[Penurious]

My 99 plays them fine; it's more a matter of me keeping them scratch-free while out of the player. I don't have many, so for the time being they're just stuck in the center console.
Don't use those black plastic (or maybe any color other than standard) CDRs though. My radio has a pretty hard time playing those.

[bLACk AurOrA]

my CD player is actully learning how to play CD's.when i first got it they didnt play at all... then came that i couldnt seek just had to go in order, now its to the point where i can seek but to only about track 7 or 8. or maybe halfway through a CD... dunno, maybe i should look for a new stock CD player... or a bose.

[95mushroom]

my 95 bose 12-disc plays burnts awesome. Loaded a whole 80 mins on a CD. Its awesome seeing the stereo go up to track 19

BA, my brother's GTI does that too. It will only read a couple of tracks on the CD. Weird...

I think it might have to do with how you burn them. Are you just using like Windows Media Player or burning software?

[bLACk AurOrA]

media player.. the CD's are good, plays in my 03 ram and 03 taurus... my 99 dakota did the same thing, i guess its no biggie. im use to burning them in order now anyways

[stevensolds]

Time to get an aftermarket unit scotty. I was fed up with the old unit.

[TJM]

stock cd/radio from boneyard is $50

www.generalautorecycling.com

[scottydl]

stevensolds said:

Time to get an aftermarket unit scotty. I was fed up with the old unit.

I am actually considering this... something that will play mp3's. But I just don't like the aftermarket look of most players... if I could find something that was black in color and didn't have a bunch of annoying animation crap, I might go for it. But then again, $40-50 will get me a used replacement factory unit... decisions, decisions!

[Royall]

stevensolds said:

Time to get an aftermarket unit scotty. I was fed up with the old unit.

Are there any aftermarket units that work with the steering wheel controls and the automatic antenna shaft?

[scottydl]

royall said:

Are there any aftermarket units that work with the steering wheel controls and the automatic antenna shaft?

You need a $40 (I think) relay box to get the steering wheel controls to work. Thanks for reminding me, that's another reason I don't want to go aftermarket. Although many aftermarket units come with remotes that can be mounted on the steering wheel, it's just not the same. I don't think you should have any problems with the power antenna, as long as you wire it into the power wire (so it goes up anytime the radio is turned on and receiving power).

[95mushroom]

scottydl said:

royall said:

Are there any aftermarket units that work with the steering wheel controls and the automatic antenna shaft?

You need a $40 (I think) relay box to get the steering wheel controls to work. Thanks for reminding me, that's another reason I don't want to go aftermarket. Although many aftermarket units come with remotes that can be mounted on the steering wheel, it's just not the same. I don't think you should have any problems with the power antenna, as long as you wire it into the power wire (so it goes up anytime the radio is turned on and receiving power).

Yep, a little relay or box converter, whatever you want to call it would keep you a/c controls. Not totally sure that the radio controls would work. Probably would depend on the head-unit compatibliy.

You would need a common power antenna adpater as well. Even best buy has 'em.

My biggest reason for not using aftermarket unit is looks. Not the unit itself, but the way the unit doesn't fit properly, they sometimes stuck out a lot or have massive gaps around sides, or the Aurora's problem of having a double DIN opening. But one of the those double DIN-LCD screen units urbandaddy is pushing would be awesome (on my list)...

[stevensolds]

You are using a stock cd player with the aftermarket amps and speakers? Wow.

[95mushroom]

yea, I think I've posted the link to www.pac-audio.com about 20x. Plays awesome w/zero whine. The kicker amps have a remote bass knob I installed in the center console that does most of the tweaking, or I just adjust the amps themselves, no need for an af. head unit...

Steven, the 95 Bose w/12 didn't have an in-dash CD. The 12-disc is about 1' away from the 2 15" subs and it doesn't skip till after your ears are bleeding. Plays awesome too, can load a whole CD and not worry about it...