Car CD player - anything I can clean besides the lens?

What a bunch of great information. Sorry I've missing in action here. I took it off, cleaned the lens again (and lots more times)... and it's kind of livable now.

It plays often on first try, sometimes 1 or 2 more. Once in, with the next start, it often does a CHECK CD but then within a minute or two it starts playing. All music CDs played the 1st time.

It played two homemade CD-Rs just fine, and two wouldn't play with many tries. So I don't play them much in the car anyway, and could copy them to CD+Rs if need be -- or get modern and get them onto a ipod or such device.

So I'm stoked!

I'm still tempted to do more but don't want to mess it up accidentally. I have another CD boombox that's broken, so I may try working on that, now that I have the courage.

On this CD the possible additional fix seems to be turning over the player, and from the bottom taking out the tiny screw on the box that goes up and down the spirally thing (to give it a technical name). The other side of the box is the mirror. So I'd guess that opening it up (by unscrewing), will expose the mirror. And that since cleaning the lens helped, likely the mirror would make maybe even the rest of the difference. My worry is that there's adjustments that will get knocked out just by unscrewing that box. ....??


----

Makeup applicators - hadn't thought about it, but that'd be much better than q-tips. Also I probably have some sponge-type paint brushes from the hardware store.


Sam who set up this forum writes that CD cleaners can damage the player. It answered what I was wondering - how does anyone know how to build a brush close enough in distance and high for all the variety of CD players, to work? So very useful to hear the read experiences and feedback you all have had. I had tried one and got lucky that it didn't damage anything.
 
Jeff
Initially, I didn't know that tobacco
tar was the problem because the outside of the case was totally clean.
However, when I tore it apart, the problem was obvious.

That's quite a story :). Applies here and interesting that it looked clean on the outside, and inside it was that brown...
 
Dave:
The difficult case is if the CD player has been exposed to tobacco
smoke (and I suspect cannabis smoke is about as bad). Tobacco-smoke
tar is pernicious: it gets into almost everywhere and forms a nasty
film on the surfaces it touches. From what I've heard it will even
get into plug-in connectors and can cause the contacts to become
intermittent with time.

Light dusting won't touch it, and I don't think isopropyl alcohol will
dissolve it. Consumer Reports uses it as their "difficult to remove"
surface contaminant when testing things such as window-cleaning
fluids. I'm not sure it's possible to get it off of CD-player lenses
without the use of damaging detergents and/or scrubbing.

As I'm reading, I will work harder next time (!!) to make sure I'm not buying a smoker's car that was fixed up well, so I can't smell it. There's only one givaway in this car, a slight grey mark up where a person would hold their hand out a window. When a detailer steamed the roof, he showed me on cloth that it had been a smoker's car.

The 91% seems to have cleaned off the lens. It's not 100% working, but it's much much better. Though it was cleaning a tiny surface by rubbing it many times in different directions. Then thinking I was done and doing it a few more times later on.
 
I know I got my found on the sidewalk blu-ray player working by cleaning
it with a q-tip. It played DVDs fine, but not blu-rays. Cleaning the
blu-ray lens got it going, it's been fine for a few years, though I don't
yet have many blu-ray disks so that laser isn't getting much use.

Michael

That's fun. I may just find myself picking up things ... and fixing them.
 
Ian
Attacking the lens with a Q-tip is the last resort, the lens mount is very
fragile.

I was careful. It moved, but in a normal way, so was able to swipe at it :) I lot of my repair time was spent staring at the unit before making moves, lol.
 
On Tuesday, May 31, 2016 at 4:18:29 PM UTC-4, Dave Platt wrote:
I usually get it at Fry's, in the electronic-tools section.

Online... Amazon or eBay would probably work.

I'd also like to find something that won't leave lint like a qtip has.

There are foam-tipped swabs (look a bit like Q tips on steroids)
designed for just that purpose.

I had no idea CD books are done with a less expensive method similar to
home burned.

These days, burning is used for a lot of smaller CD production runs.
I haven't priced things lately but I suspect it's more economical for
any single-run batches of less than a thousand copies.

No Fry's near me. But Microcenter is like Fry's, and has it, turns out.

Foam-tipped swabs - will have to keep an eye out now that I know they exist.

I'm sure burning is cheaper for smaller runs. Can even be done at home by a starting artist musician (which is several of my albums.)
 
Found some 99% on Amazon for $ 14.05 for 3 pint contaniers.

http://www.amazon.com/99-Isopropyl-Alcohol-Antiseptic-
Solution/dp/B00BWYNIDO?ie=UTF8&psc=1
&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

Need to order other things to make up about $ 50 total for free
shipping. As my wife likes certain Yuban Gold coffee that is not in
the local stores any more, I ordered lots of that and the 99% for the
free shipping.

It seems to be 99% as I put equal ammounts of that and some Walmart 90%
in some open containers (about half a teaspoon) and kept checking on it.
The 90% still had something left in it after all the 99% was gone or
almost gone.

Thanks for the link Ralph! I don't normally buy from Amazon so shipping adds up, but my sister buys there all the time, so I have her get select items for me.
 
Jeff
Alcohol is hydroscopic (absorbs moisture from the air). Your 99% will
go down to 91% if you leave the bottle open. Fortunately, it takes
some time so you don't need to be fanatical about replacing the cover.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azeotrope
Note that 70% alcohol is what you want for a disinfectant because some
water is needed to kill of hydrophylic bugs.

I should probably buy some 99% alcohol for lens cleaning, but have
been getting away with using the 91% stuff without streaking.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=99%25+alcohol
Ugh... about $8/pint

Wouldn't have guessed Alcohol is hydroscopic. Or that water in 70% is needed to make the bugs go belly up (or blow up).

I was thinking of asking on Freecycle for a thimbleful, if I decide I need it. I'd certainly offer if I'd bought a pricey bottle and someone asked.
 
On Fri, 3 Jun 2016 22:18:25 -0700 (PDT), curls <borskyc@yahoo.com>
wrote:

Jeff

Alcohol is hydroscopic (absorbs moisture from the air). Your 99% will
go down to 91% if you leave the bottle open. Fortunately, it takes
some time so you don't need to be fanatical about replacing the cover.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azeotrope
Note that 70% alcohol is what you want for a disinfectant because some
water is needed to kill of hydrophylic bugs.

I should probably buy some 99% alcohol for lens cleaning, but have
been getting away with using the 91% stuff without streaking.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=99%25+alcohol
Ugh... about $8/pint


Wouldn't have guessed Alcohol is hydroscopic.

Yep. The water absorption for ethanol and water stops at a 95.6% mix
(by weight):
<http://www.chemguide.co.uk/physical/phaseeqia/nonideal.html>
or for denatured alchohol at 91%.

Incidentally, water absorption in ethanol fuel is a potential problem
in high humidity marine environments:
"How Ethanol Gas Attracts Water from the Air - Demonstration"
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeCyFxoWPpo>

Or that water in 70% is
needed to make the bugs go belly up (or blow up).

Yep.
<https://www.quora.com/When-is-70-isopropyl-rubbing-alcohol-better-than-91>

I was thinking of asking on Freecycle for a thimbleful, if I decide I
need it. I'd certainly offer if I'd bought a pricey bottle and someone
asked.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
 
- Sam's write up says there may not be a turning mirror, if there's enough vertical space to skip it.

http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/cdfaq.htm#cdcompop

- The pickup seems worse in hotter weather. Is there a logical reason for this?
 
On Tuesday, May 31, 2016 at 11:19:23 AM UTC-4, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

Hope your power is on and staying steady that way!


Can you see in the photos, where the glass mirror would be?

I have no idea. The photos are too small and cover too large an area.
Look for something like this:
http://g01.a.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1Cm2ZKXXXXXXWXFXXq6xXFXXXJ/Original-Replace-For-font-b-Pioneer-b-font-DEH-P7400MP-font-b-CD-b-font-font.jpg
The mirrors are behind the lens.
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/audio/cdplay.html


The box with the lens looks very much like that first link of an optical pickup. It moves up and down a spirally thing. I cleaned the circular glass button in the middle which I assume is the lens, including the edges. I couldn't get access from above and had to reach from the side from an opening in the casing.

However, that box has a screw on the other side when I turn the player over.. (It's one of the photos of bottom.) So I'm guessing the mirror glass is in there. Where exactly is the mirror in that link? In the second link, nothing is marked mirror. There are two flat squares that look like they'd be it.

My worry is that there are adjustments, and they'll be messed up just by opening the box. Seems like it should be openable without damage, but I'd want to know it's usually not a problem to open the box.


It's 2012 Mazda 3 iGT Hatch.

My point is that the drive is NOT easily replaced. No clue on parts
but unless the CD drive mechanism can be identified, finding
replacement parts is going to be difficult.

Yes, replacement parts would be hard to find unless a company lists them by car model. I did find a number of Mazda 3 radios on ebay. It's always risky that they didn't test them well, or who knows what. Some were cheap but the better feedback ones were over $100, and often $160 or so. Some cheap ones seemed to be because the faceplate was scratched which of course isn't a problem for me. So if I get too frustrated... that's my backup plan.



Read the repair faq section on "CD players in vehicles".

I had before posting here. Did I miss a section or anything in particular?



I know this car was a smoker's before me for 4 years.

Bingo. 90% rubbing alcohol works well to remove the tar.


Okay!


So if most of the time problems have been smoke on the lens, do you
mean actual smokers? It'd been hopeful for me, if that's the case.

Yes, but there are plenty of other sources of oil, grease, tar, soot,
and such. Just look at the windows. Do they remain perfectly clear
when you're driving? Of course not. Well, some of that also gets
into the CD player and makes the optics looks much like your
windshield.


Good point about the windows getting dirty on their own.



Taking a photo sounds like a good idea. It'd be very hard to
take a photo since it has to be in the box, where the beam isn't
directly visible. Maybe the more cleaning that I've done
will do the trick.

I don't take a photo. All I do is check if there's anything coming
out of the laser or if it looks wrong.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df70YVAg-iI
Fast forward to 2:10 for what it looks like. Not all digital cameras
can see 780nm light. (DVD are 650nm and BluRay are 405nm).

There are also photo diodes on a stick that can be used to measure the
laser output. For some odd reason, I can't find the magic buzzwords
and URL. Anyone?

Good to know. It'd be impossible in this case to see. But for that non-car one I want to fix.


Oh crap. Power outage... save, post, and run...

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
 
Alcohol is hydroscopic (absorbs moisture from the air). Your 99% will
go down to 91% if you leave the bottle open. Fortunately, it takes
some time so you don't need to be fanatical about replacing the cover.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azeotrope
Note that 70% alcohol is what you want for a disinfectant because some
water is needed to kill of hydrophylic bugs.

Well, good to know. Also that 91% is good enough for this job. Stuff I wouldn't even think to think about, turns out to be very relevant.

I tried to find and clean the mirror. No success getting in far enough.

Now it often reads when first loaded. But has trouble after it's loaded, and stopped, on finding it to read again. Can't imagine what causes that?
 

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