Problem With Radio/cd Player

[Daytona]

This was asked of me on another site (NJgasprices.com) and I didn't have an answer apart from "Maybe it's a short" or "check your fuse box". Can any of you help? I've used a cleaning CD in mine once or twice without incident but maybe I should go back and read the manual.

Message Posted: 9/27/2005 11:13:16 AM midget05

Does anyone know if you can fix the CD player on an alero. I have a 2003 alero. Didn't have a lot of miles when we got it. But all of a sudden it CD player stopped working. I read in the book and it said not to stick a cleaning cd in it. WHY NOT?

[smlzalero]

First I think you'd need to know if the cd player works at all. Is it the whole unit or just the player? Does it act like it's reading a disc or just do nothing?

Second.. I will personally never use a cleaning cd again. I usd one with my old stereo (not a car stereo) a long time ago and it scratched the laser lens; this happened with the this happened with the first walkman type cd player I ever had, too. I don't know if there are new kinds of cleaning cds now, but this was the kind with the little brushes on it. Bad idea IMO.

I would think it's under warranty? I'd tell him to just take it in.

[doubleN0alero]

i'll sell whoever it is mine pretty cheap

[mikegett]

There are a couple of issues with cleaning cd's. The brush won't scratch the lens very often, but it will loose the fibers inside of the unit. These get lodged inot the cd and drive mechanism. The most common issue is how it loads. A indash unit loads by griping the side of the cd. A cleaning won't load correctly and either becomes lodged or can strike the lazer as it passes. If the car is a 2003 the HU may still be under warranty. We manufacture OEM HU's for Toyota and GM. Most of the units are covered under the manufacturer for a extended tilme past the GM three year warranty. The GM units are new to our plant, but the Toyotas carry a five year warranty through Fujitsu Ten. If it is not under warranty then list the issues the HU is having. The most common issue is damage due to a misloaded cd. Many problems will show up as a error code on the unit.
double0alero, please be aware that most GM Hu's cannot be placed into another vehicle. If the car is equiped with a CAN system (most aleros are) then the HU is given a serial number from the network. If the serial number does not match it will not power up. I am uncertain as to what year that they started placing the security into the HU, but I can verify that all 2003 and ups do. Even if your HU did not have this feature, the owners 2003 alero network will. The only option that either of you will have is to find a dealer that can flash the unit. With your permission, most will send it out but very few can do it in house. The HU uses a serial stream that requires a flashing computer and dedicated software that is extremely expensive.

[Daytona]

^Um... ok. Will let them know. They still haven't responded back as to what exactly is wrong, relative to Smlz's questions. Just posted your info, Mike, and will see if they respond to this, too.