I have a rather ancient CD player in my car that will play fine until
about track 20 or so. At that point, regardless of road conditions or
CD, the song will skip and won't play properly. It will improve after
track 21 and then play about normal for the duration of the CD, with a
little extra sensitivity to bumps on the road.

I hate to go and buy a new CD player, mainly because they are all
chinese junk and have too many buttons, options, menus, and other
unnecessary distractions.


73,

Tim

1. Remove the cd player from the car.
2. Open it up so you can see the cd mechanism. Clean lens if necessary.
3. Wire it up so you can watch it play.
4. Play a disc and watch what happens around track 20 or so on a disc
you know will skip.
5. Make note of where the sled mechanism is located when it had the
problem.
6. Visually inspect the sled mechanism and gear for smooth motion at
that point.

Pay special attention to the nylon gears as they do crack over time and
you could be out of luck getting replacement parts due to the age of
the unit, but call the manufacture to be sure.

If the gears are all intact. Clean the old grease carefully, remove
all dirt and debris, regrease with nylon safe grease (non-petroleum
based).


7. Play a disc again, check the speed of the spindle motor and make
sure it is able to spin smooth. Sometimes the spindle motor will have
problems at the slower speed required when playing the outside of the
disc. Occasionally the clamper will become warped and it causes more
problems at the outside of the disc.