stereo upgrade / cd player will not work

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Oct 18, 2011 | 10:32 PM

Fleet Guy

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stereo upgrade / cd player will not work

Hopefully someone out there will recognize this problem as I can not find any specifics when I search.
I have a 98 explorer with a factory tape deck. I have purchased 2 factory single cd players from f150's to try. Both have the same pugs in the back but when I try them the cd player will either only work for a few seconds or not work at all. Both units were suppose to be in working order.
According to the wiring diagrams I do not see why there would be an issue.
Has anyone run into this before?
Thanks

Oct 19, 2011 | 06:28 AM

shorod

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From: Cedar Rapids, IA

Do you get an error code on the display when the CD player stops working/doesn't start up? For the short time the one works, are you getting audio? What happens when they stop? Can you switch over to the radio and it works, or does the whole thing shut off? Were you having any issues with the tape deck on the original unit, or did everything on it work just fine?

-Rod

Nov 1, 2011 | 07:48 PM

ptf18

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shorod: I see the OP didnt get back to you. Perhaps you can give me some help. My '02 Ranger has the Factory Stereo AM/FM with the 6 Disc CD Player. Everything works fine. The CD Player works great with store bought music CDs. Heres my problem.

I listen to a radio program on the weekends and D/L it to my computer HD. Its a MP3 file. I use Windows Media Player to burn it to a RW disc so I can reuse it the following week. The issue is that sometimes the disc will start to play for a few seconds then it will skip a few seconds then that repeats until I get tired of hearing it and eject the disc. Other times it will play only 35 minutes of a 50 minute recording (in a differert slot). Other times it wont play at all (different slots).

Maybe its the disc?

Thoughts?

Nov 1, 2011 | 07:55 PM

shorod

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From: Cedar Rapids, IA

I'm actually a bit surprised it plays the RW disc at all. I cannot say I've ever tried this, but it doesn't seem unreasonable that it would struggle with the RW discs. Have you tried a regular CD-R to see if that works well regardless of slot? You would probably need to finalize the CD-R so you'll be wasting a lot of CDs that way. You might consider getting one of the aftermarket line in adapters that will allow you to connect an MP3 player to the factory deck using the "Sat" button. I think both PIE and PAC make these.

-Rod

Nov 2, 2011 | 07:16 PM

ptf18

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CD Player

Rod: Thanks. The player plays CD-R I have recorded my radio programs on just fine but I end up using alot of CDs and of course they are not reusable.

Why do you say you are surprised that the CD-RW discs I "burn' play at all? If your correct I geuss I should be happy with what I can get.

I'll look into one of the "adapters" you mention.

Thanks again.

Nov 3, 2011 | 06:33 AM

shorod

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Joined: Jun 2009

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From: Cedar Rapids, IA

I don't know the exact physics of the re-writeable discs, but I remember reading somewhere that due to their composition some CD-R drives will not be able to read them. My recall is it has something to do with the metallic medium being more malleable and less reflective which is one of the features that allows them to be re-writeable. If the laser pickup is not real sensitive because it was designed for production CDs it wouldn't fare well with less reflective discs.

This is probably a topic that Wikipedia could clear up.

-Rod