My 6 CD stock audio system has been repaired by Ford once, and now is acting funny again. It says CD error when I try to play one, and can't eject any of the CDs. My 2004 Escape is now out of warranty. Has anyone else had this problem?

 

Others have had the same problem. There are replacement changer mechanisms available on ebay for around $50. Or put that money toward an aftermarket head unit that plays MP3s and you won't need a changer. I have an MP3 CD-R with 14 of my favorite albums on it and seldom find a need to play anything else.

 

remve radio fuse and replace and see if that clears cd. If not , remove unit from dash and take top off and you can get stuck cd out. If it a burned cd, may be the trble. You can play with mechanism with out of dash and plugged in. I did that with 03 Focus 6cd changer. Maybe same unit as yours.

 

i had the same problem and took the radio apart and fixed it myself. i have never done anything like this before and it was extremely easy. first remove the stereo from the dash. on the the right and left hand sides of the stereo there are three gold screws with the star heads. i didn't have any star drives, so i just used a small flathead that happened to fit just perfect. you only need to remove the top two screws on each side, which are the same size. the bottom screw takes a smaller head, and doesn't need to be removed. you then need to remove the two wiring harnesses connecting the cd changer to the rest of the radio. the small one pulls off easily from the cd side(not the radio side) and the on the larger one, you have to pull down the lip of the white plastic connecting piece on the cd side. then you will have the cd changer completely separated from the radio. there are 5 phillips head screws(3 on one side, 2 on the opposite side, and one on the back) that need to be removed to be able to take off the top metal cover. once the cover is removed, you have full access to the changer mechanisms. the problem with my unit was that the plastic rod keeping the cd trays alligned was bent. i fixed mine by bending the rod straight with my fingers. i also remove all of my trays to make sure they were all ok and clean. the trays are only held down by three springs. i used fishing line and tied one piece of line to the loop on the top end each of the springs. this way when i went to put the springs back on, i just had to pull on the fishing line and put the loop on the spring back on its hook. with all three springs detached from the top hooks, all the trays and the metal tray cover will come right off. you might have a little difficulty with the tray that is currently being held by the changer, but if you will look at it closely, you will see how to get it out as well. when putting the trays back in, make sure the one that the changer is grabbing is installed correctly. it is easy to see how this is supposed to be done.


the way i figured out my problem was by removing the cover to the cd changer, then plugging it back into the truck and watching what was going on. my top two trays would not go back down onto the plastic guide rod. instead, they would get stuck on top of it. i watched it several times to see which direction it was missing by, and then bent the rod with my fingers to compensate. now it works perfectly. if anyone has any questions, email me at my user name at hotmail. hope this helps.

 

Thanks for your detailed steps, I will try them!