I have a Clarion DXZ545MP car receiver. Recently it does not eject CDs. It makes a repeated clicking sound as if the mechanism can't move & then gives up. I opened it up (past the point of no return even though I don't know what the hell I'm doing; I usually could just disassemble electronics & put 'em back together and they magically start working again). The mechanism will eject the CD if I press upwards on that whole gear array. I'm guessing the sound is the gears slipping or something.
Does anyone have any info on how to troubleshoot car CD players? Or what my problem could be? I've heard of the term "limit switch" mentioned through searches on here, but cant' seem to find it on my receiver.
It's possible you have a warped rack gear. Does it get unusually warm behind your dash (or wherever you have the unit mounted)? If it's under warranty, put it back to together precisely and clean up any grease smears you may have created (and/or fingerprints) so as not to invalidate the warranty and return it. Of course, if you've damaged any tamper-resist stickers or screwlock glue, you're SOL as far as warranty.
Unusually warm? Not that I know of. I live in Chicago & it's Winter (past couple days have been around 20 degrees Fahrenheit). Hell, I still don't get any type of decent heat in my car!
It's far from under warranty; I bought it 2 years ago. And I really had nothing to lose (reason being is cause 1) out of warranty 2) nothing to stick into the aux-in rca jacks and 3) radio sounds like crap & don't like it), so, it's either try to fix it myself or just live without music [which I can't].
The thing is, I take it apart, and just see all these different parts. I don't know what's supposed to do what. I do know that after I press the eject button & stick a screw driver under the gears (the gears are like screwed to the "ceiling" & covered by a plastic cover...so if I press up on that cover), it'll eject the CD like it's supposed to.
I just haven't found any info on the net on how slot-type CD mechanisms load a CD (which is the most common type in cars). If I could just find some graphical representation of how a slot-loading CD mechanism looks, that'd be really helpful.
Background on my problem:
I use my MP3 player 99% of time, plugged into the aux-in of the car radio.
Recently had to send the MP3 player back cause of a hard drive failure.
So now I'm stuck with the CD player & radio.
I load a CD in, play it, but when I hit eject, it makes clicking noises & doesn't eject. It tries about 3 or 4 times to eject, then gives up with an error "Error 2" (which in the manual means the CD mechanism is stuck & cannot be ejected)
So now, no CD.
I have no antenna on my car, so radio sounds like crap.
Now, nothing; I can either take loss trying to fix it myself & failing, or just not doing anything. I'm an EE major...that is, once I get accepted to my school of choice, so I know a little about electronics, but recent days have made me realize I don't know anything :(
If you think you don't know anything, then at least you're not a teenager, eh? :) :)
Dunno how helpful it may be, but a few years ago I had a CD stuck in a GM cd player. 'twas a burned one, with a stuck on label. The edge of the label lifted and separated just enough that it caught on the edge, and no eject.
Discovered the prob by lifting the flap with a pencil, and peeking inside with a flashlight. Once seen it was easily fixed just by pushing the edge of the label down again with a jewellers screwdriver while it was ejecting.
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