lowblustang00

So this morning I get in the car. Gonna put in a Christmas cd for a little jolly on my morning ride to work, and the stereo is flashing CD Error. In attempting to eject the two discs in the shaker 500, it gives an ejection error message. Frustrated went back inside to finishing getting my stuff together. Came back to the car open the door, and disk 1 just pops out of the stereo. Still have one disk left, and it won't spit it out.

After doing a little searching this looks like it was common on some earlier models.

Does anyone know of anything that's changed?

How long before the CD player, constantly trying to cycle, drains down my battery?

Does this mean I need to start looking at a new head unit? (I rarely even use the CD player anyway.)

Comments? Suggestions?

Thanks,

lowblustang00

Found a video on you tube, that looks like it might help me fix the issue. Looks very similar to our 500 head unit, but it may have come out of an f-150.


In some other searching it looks like I can remove the changer, and not suffer any ill effects else where in the car, so if I royally screw it up getting the last disc out, I may just not worry about putting it back in. I won't have a CD player, but like I said, I rarely use the CD player anyhow.

I'd like to try it when I get home, but 12 hour shift, dark when I get home, and the low is around 30.

IDK, can it wait till I roll off in three more days?

Both physically (the battery) and my need/desire to not ride around with something tore up? It irritates me knowing its sitting there malfunctioning.

lowblustang00

Couldn't leave it alone last night. The video was spot on in what I found when I took the head unit out of the car. Removed the cd changer and got everything back in the car. No errors on the head unit, unless you press cd, then it just gives you a brief CD error. (Of course because there is no changer.). I will try later to unjam it and clean the switches like the guy says in the video.

On a sadder note now my HVAC controls are out. I hooked up the battery to test the head unit, when it worked I went into overdrive to get it all buttoned up, without unhooking the battery again. I think I shorted the electronics behind the HVAC controls. They won't even light up with the rest of the dash lights. Tried to check all the fuses I could think to check last night, and couldn't find any failed fuses. So I put the cd changer back in. Didn't fix it. (Not that I thought it would, but had to try.). Being it was after midnight, and needed to get back to work today, I just put it all back together, and will be dropping it off to get looked at during my break today. Maybe they can fix my screw up before the end of this work week.

stupidgenius36

I try to only use 1 CD slot, even though it holds 6. It always seemed to jam up on me when I try to switch to different slots. But if I keep it on the same slot, I rarely ever had problems. When I would get the CD Error message, it never lasted longer than 24 hours for me.

As far as the HVAC controls...Are you sure you plugged them back in?

lowblustang00

Thanks, and yea me and the wife both thought it was plugged in fully. The plug behind the vent selector switch was inserted and locked in (it wouldn't come back out and it wasn't wiggling in its slot), but apparently wasn't fully seated. 20 bucks later the guy I dropped it off with had it plugged in right. I felt a little stupid, but was glad it was a simple fix.

At this point I can't decide if I am going to try to fix the changer, or just leave it unplugged. I rarely use the changer, but I don't like knowing something in the car is messed up. I think I am going to revisit it after Christmas.

akdoggie

lowblustang00 I've got a spare changer out of the damaged (dropped Shaker) if you want it, just send me $6.00 for USPS postage, and then it's yours. PM me if you want it.

lowblustang00

PM sent :-)

lowblustang00

Big thanks to AK Doggie. Switched out the cd changer in the head unit and all is good.

TripleBlack14

I've never used the CD in my '14. One of my few give-ins to technology is an earlier generation, hand-me-down iPod Nano.

lowblustang00

Here ya go. Not the video I used, but it seems better put together.

Rob O

Just figured out my CD unit is not working, this looks way over my head but maybe with some friends it can be done!!

Paris MkVI

My Shaker 500 still works (knock on wood). But I have learned that, if I burn discs, I should only burn them about half to two-thirds full. Otherwise, they'll get rejected fairly quick, or play poorly at best on songs near the outer edge.

But I too am planning to replace the unit this year, probably with something completely based on USB playback. Several units out there support WAV files. So I can rip the library to an uncompressed format, put on a a couple of nice 16GB USB sticks and color it done. Looking at a Pioneer unit with adjustable color front end, so it can match the MyColor in the dash.

lowblustang00

If you want you can disconnect or remove the CD player.

Here is a video to show you how ( ).

I used this video to pull out a jammed cd and disconnect the CD player altogether. If your crafty, you can follow the video and repair it too.

I got lucky and was given a replacement unit from a generous member here.

Greyeagle

Mine in the 08 has been replaced??? My guess is the previous owner had an after market system and some one at the dealer removed it. Tail tail signs are wiring left in the console, and the wifi buttons on the dash...
I also had to replace the on in my 02. It too was CD Error and would not eject the last disk. Replaced it with a $100 system from Crutchfields. Never a problem after that.