Fixed 6 cd player 2004 Forester (Long)

[Souperoo]

My cd player was dead when I bought the car.  Trying to eject cd's it sometimes made a little click sound but not much else.  I finally took it out today and removed the top.  Looking in the left side and left front I could see some of the lower cd's were not lined up with the upper ones so using a small screwdriver I popped them into place.  Plugged it in and I got some more noise out of it.  It appeared to be cycling the cd's up and down but it sounded like a bind when it did 4 or 5 "clicks" and stopped, then after 10 or so seconds did that again.  After 3 times it quit and I had to turn the key off and on till it tried to cycle again ... or sometimes I pulled the main plug out and in again, found that putting it in half way it was easier to pull the plug out and in again.  Kept repeating this over and over.  Then when it got as low as it would in the cycle, I pulled the plug.  I managed to pull a broken cd out of the lower slot in pieces.  Who knows how it broke, it was a home made cd and it looked like it may have seen too much sunlight.  Now things were moving up and down the full 6 slots but it wouldn't eject.  It would run a gear near the front right up top but the gear had a crack in it and I think it was just spinning on the knurled part of the shaft that pulls the CD's out so when in that mode I managed to push all the cd's 1 at a time out of the player.  I found another piece of the broken cd and removed it.  Back to the eject, I slid the little white cracked gear to the left about 1mm, sprayed the shaft and side of the gear with some carb cleaner.  A drop of super glue and slide it back in place.  Now it tried to pull the cd's in and out but slipped.  This is a bit overboard so don't try this at home.  It looked like the rollers to pull it in and out were on the top, so I sprayed some carb cleaner on a cd (shiny side up) and worked it in and out.  After the second time the cd came out sort of melted on top.  When the cd dried I popped it in and the sucker grabbed the cd and tried to play it, but of course it didn't play since it was upside down.  Put another cd in and it grabbed it and voila, it played!  I added a couple more cds and they all worked except one and it didn't look scratched or dirty.  From previous experience I knew sometimes the center hole is just a tiny bit too small so I "bored it out" a tad.  Now that cd played also.  The insert and eject sounds a bit funny from the broken gear where the space between the teeth at one spot where it's cracked is a bit larger than it should be, but it seems to be breaking itself in.  Played with it a bunch putting cd's in and out and playing them and all seems well!

 

I'm really glad I didn't have to remove the next "layer" of the top because there are a lot of springs attached to it.  Now thinking about it, I suppose I should have tried to measure the gear and count the teeth.  Maybe someone here knows a source for that little white gear?  Although it looks like replacing it could be very difficult.  Maybe with a little bending of the part of the cover over it I could get it in and out, but for now I'll just see how long it lasts.

 

Edit: I think I got the eject part half working to where I could push the upper cd's out before I got to the broken cd and got it out in pieces.

Edited April 9, 2018 by Souperoo

[Souperoo]

The op here.  This morning it didn't work again.  Oh well the FM booster I accidentally bought from an Asian shipper arrived early today so I have to pull it anyway to hook that up.  I know superglue doesn't always work with plastic/nylon, so if the cracked gear is slipping I'll *try* to epoxy it.

 

I don't understand how shipping from China or around there is so inexpensive?  The part was cheap and shipping was free.  I'll have to pay more attention to the shipping from location since it still took 11 days and part of it's trip was air mail.  Does our USPS loose money on shipping like that?

[gbhrps]

Souperoo,

 

I can appreciate your tackling the internals of a multi disc CD unit to find a fix. I've done a few of them myself over the years, mainly finding broken rubber drive belts to various load and drive mechanisms. Its not difficult work, just time consuming ... and a challenge. All those tiny screws and ribbon cables.

 

I would suggest that you find another unit in a wrecking yard, and either swap out your unit, or use it to scavenge parts from to get yours  working again. I would imagine any model subie from the same age as your car would have Radio units that came from the same supplier, hence the same internals or close to it. Good Luck!

[Souperoo]

Since the eject is the only problem now, I couldn't give up.  I managed to gain access to the broken gear fairly easily and ordered 3 different gears, hopefully one will work.  I'm one of those who will sometimes spend an hour on a $1. part, that is if I don't have the part.  Fixing things like this gives me pleasure, it's not work.  Well sometimes it's work, but I still get pleasure out of a good outcome.

[msmithmmx]

$40 Shipped

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2004-2005-2006-Subaru-Forester-XT-6-Disc-CD-Player-Radio-Receiver-Head-Unit-OEM/323195322484?fits=Year%3A2004%7CModel%3AForester&hash=item4b3ff14074:g:luoAAOSwLdBaIILF&vxp=mtr

[Souperoo]

Must have sent the wrong one, it's $66.11 shipped.  Still a good deal, but I already ordered the gears so I have to wait.  Plus I don't know if the gear that broke in mine is a common problem and this one won't last long?  If the gears I ordered don't work out, I go the ebay route.