Hi. A few months ago I posted with problems on my car cd player (Alpine
CDM-7861). I seem to have finally fixed the problems once and for all. I
just thought I'd post back with the final results. The original problem
description is below this message. I did replace the whole CD mechanism
in the process (which didn't fix the problem), but may have had to
happen sooner or later anyhow. It took 3 years of my use, plus who knows
how much more before that since it was a Circuit City demo unit. Anyhow,
this week (finally got a week off from work and school) I finally got
time to sit down and deal with it. I was suspecting either a thermally
sensitive component, or bad/cold solder joints. I took out the mainboard
(not an easy task either), and there definitely were some suspect solder
joints, especially the big ones. I redid all the suspect ones I could
find and all the ground points also. And, with this radio, four ground
points to the chassis is all that holds the board in. Well, after
getting it all put back together, lo and behold, I absolutely cannot get
it to mess up. It seems to be working *perfect* now. *smiles like a
child on Christmas morning* The cold solder joints seem to also explain
the problems I had from the beginning when I hit a huge bump/pothole.
I'm not gonna go drive over one though, to test that theory, I'll just
wait and see. Of course, the solder joints just got worse over time, to
the point where it would mess up at random times. After all this work,
here's my opinion of Alpine. They do seem to use good quality
components, and overall good built quality. I do question their
soldering though. I wonder if I just got a "bad" unit, or whether, this
is common amongst Alpines. I'd be interested to hear other people's
experience.




ORIGINAL POST:

Hi. I have an Alpine CDM-7861 car cd reciever I bought I about 3-4 years
ago. The radio part works perfect as does the playing the external cd
changer. Ever since I first got it, sometimes when I would go over a
large bump/pothole the cd would sometimes start playing a static sound
along with the music. It was very rare, so I didn't do anything about
it. Now, in the last year it's started to get worse (and, I've also
switched cars recently, so I doubt it's a problem with the cars
electrical system/wiring). Now, at random times (mainly after it's been
playing for about 15mins or more) the cd player can do one of three things:
1) start the static sound along with the music and the track time slows
down to about 60-70% of the normal speed.
2)start the static sound, then within a few seconds no sound and the
track time stops.
3) sound stops and the track time display stops.
To get it back playing again I can either cycle back to radio then cd or
whack the side of my dash. But it will only play then for a short period
of time. Up until about a month ago I could put in a full (~80min) cd
and cycle between the end and beginning a few times and that would "fix"
the problem for a week or so, but now even that doesn't seem to work.
About 1.5 months ago I took the player out and cleaned up the cd player
mechanism and relubed the sled rails with some high quality silicone
lube. It still does the same thing. Guessing from the fact that I used
to be able to temporarily "fix" the problem by cycling between the end
and beginning of a cd I suspect the sled motor is the problem, but would
like more opinions before buying a new motor. I can get the motor fairly
cheap (around $15) and if that's the problem, great. Also, I can get the
entire CD mechanism (drop in replacement) for $72 (still a *lot* cheaper
than buying another $200-300 radio.) Thanks in advance for the help!