Well I have taken my truck to the dealer twice now for radio issues. The first time they just replaced the radio with a new one, every thing was working ok. As long as I listened to the radio function, when I tried to listen to CD's though, things got messed up. You can play CD's for the most part, but swithing between CD's is when it starts messing up. The radio will flash and "Initilizing" will come up on the screen. More often than not it will start working again some time it will require turning off the ignition.

Well I take it back to the ford place they call me and say they have it fixed. I go and pick it up, not five minutes down the road it starts all over again. They called me today and say its ready, and the whole problem is using CD's that are burned from a computer and not store bought. Don't seem right to me. How bout you guy's. Sorry for long post.

Thanks

 

I have had this problem as well on previous Fords - I finally found a brand which worked - I think it was Verbatim which seemed to work well. You may try burning CD's using a different brand and see if it works for you.

 

Try different brands by buying small quantities of them. The laser reflects differently (angle-wise) on different media. A really "good" head unit can take all media differences into account and play them without a hitch. Use a free program, DVD IDENTIFIER, to check & verify what MANUFACTURER produces different BRANDS of media.

TAIYO YUDEN are arguable the best blank CD/DVD media out there.

CD R, CD-R, Blank CD-R Media, Blank CD, Blank CDs, CD Recordable, Blank CDs, CDR Recordable, Blank CD-Rs - SuperMediaStore.com

You will find that Verbatim and other manufacturers (generally) use only a few manufacturers, and then put their name on them. In fact, many companies will sell the same exact media, even though they have switched manufacturers. FOR INSTANCE, SONY may be using Taiyo Yuden for a few months or more and have great quality and a great price from Costco this month, and next month they (SONY) will switch to PRINCO crap; even though it still looks exactly the same on the shelf at Costco.

I have a little experience in this field, with over 15 years & 1000's of CD/DVD's burned. My first, YAMAHA 2x CDR for $1000 back in 1994. I have seen this happen a lot. The purchased CD's/DVD's are physically stamped, thus reflect light differently than media pitted (burned) by a laser.

 

Negative. I bet they didn't. Very few cases where they replace with a "brand spanking new" radio. They replace radios with remanufactured or refurbished units. Sure, they look new, but they aren't. Their logic is that once you drive your vehicle off the lot, you have a "used radio" anyway.

I forget what Ford's official name is for the program, but it involves radio exchanges. They absolutely refused to replace a defective radio in a 2000 Crown Victoria I bought new.... while the car was still under warranty..... it was a radio exchange unit or none, period. I popped it out of the dash, laid it on the service manager's desk and told him to stuff it. Went and bought one off eBaY.

A year and a half later when purchasing my wife a new car (2002), this one event caused me to go away from Ford and buy her a Chevrolet Impala.

 

It's not just Ford, they all do it. It states in right in the warranty. It doesn't matter much to me since it still has the same warranty. My old Ex (2001 v8) needed a transmission at 20k. I'm sure they stuck a rebuilt in. Ran just fine till I traded it in for the 05.

3 Months ago I purchased a new Magellan GPS. I had problems with it resetting itself. I called them up and they sent me another one (rebuilt). It looked brand new but I know better. I got it last week. Tried it over the weekend and same problem. They are now sending me a $100 more expensive unit as a replacement. I told them I didn't want the same model since they can't get them to work right.

Point is you can have the same problem with a rebuild as a new one.

 

They all do the exchange or a repair center of some kind. My wife's old Infiniti G35 6disc broke 3 different times and the only difference there was the repair center actually returned her CD's vs. Ford who must have enjoyed them to much to return.......Not enough to make me go and buy a Chevy though....

 

Thanks guys. I got it back today, everything seems to be working allright. I will check out some of the other cd brands and reburn some of my stuff.

Thanks