Hi
Recently I brought an old Toyota, and needed a CD player, cheap... eBay provide a CD with its separate master radio/casstte unit, the CD was sold as not reading discs. Toyota compact Disc deck 34203
Firstly, thanks for the great CD FAQ:
This page was also invaluable for wiring up the radio/cassette unit to my bench PSU and a couple of old 4 OHM PC speakers.
I tested the unit, it loaded a disc but the display showed no track or disc info. the player spun up the disc, tried to focus a few times then ejected the disc and shut down.
So I opened it up, I cleaned the optics, feed in roller etc; reassmbled the top of the player and tried again, no change.
I removed the main PCB from the underside, it looked clean. I tested a few components around where the feed from the laser pickup came in, all ok. I reattached it and 'scoped it but couldn't see much happening and wasn't sure what should be where.
I was begining to think the laser pickup assembly may be defective.
Then on the main PCB, I noticed a 100uF 10v 85 degree Electroyltic capacitor,( its body was dark teal and it was made by ELNA), situated in front of where the Flexible flat cable from the laser pickup connected to the PCB. It appeared to be slightly buldging underneth. I unsoldered it and a leg fell out of it! Where it had been there was nasty black electrolyte! I cleaned up the PCB with 91% isopropyl alcohol on a cotton bud/Q-tip. As I am not working in electronics for a living anymore I didn't have a new replacement capacitor. An old Compaq motherboard kindly doanated a 100uF 16v 105 degree capacitor which was taller than the original. I mount it at an angle, facing the connector, to avoid it hitting the mechanism, on reassembly, (Note: a circle around the positive pin hole denotes polarity on this PCB). I reassembled the unit inserted a CD, it recognized it straight away and played it all without a problem! :)
Hope this helps someone in the future.
Best regards,
Robin