[WillowCreekNancy]

I'm an avid 'book-on-CD' listener. Recently, the CD player in my '13 outback has started kicking disks out, or not allowing me to insert them. It tends to happen in hot weather. Have not been able to play any books for over a week, and I have a long trip coming up (8/10).

Do I need to get a new player? If so, is that something I can replace singly or do I have to replace everything on/in the console?

Not a techno-person. Anything that gets done will be done by a mechanic.

 

[Mad Mallard]

if you let the vehicle cool down, will it accept the CD?

 

[WillowCreekNancy]

Not recently. Have tried different disks (books, music) multiple times.

 

[eagleeye]

I wonder if that is something that the CD player does when it is dirty inside and can not read the disc.

a see owners manual moment.

 

[WillowCreekNancy]

Car CD players can be cleaned? I checked the owner's manual & didn't find anything. Not saying it's not there....

 

[eagleeye]

Car CD players can be cleaned? I checked the owner's manual & didn't find anything. Not saying it's not there....

@botenredwolf = mr. car audio, opinion?

I have masking taped a single disc slot mostly shut and then used a shop vac on the little area without tape. at the time I was looking for a piece of sand that scratched one of my discs.

I was not smart enough at the time to empty the shop vac first though. (to see if I got "anything")

_____

I have yet to use a cleaner disc on a car,...and despite having one of the finest car audio systems made, (a subaru McIntosh in a VDC series car.), the scratches on that CD kind of killed the thought of putting them back in there. (and that was like 2005 or 2006).

 

[TurboRev]

You probably need to get the cd player cleaned or it's not accepting non original CDs.

 

[botenredwolf]

I can see heat messing with the accuracy of the setup, and since we're talking tolerances in the nanometers, it's not hard to be off. Are the CD's professionally mastered/burned or are they at-home creations? I've seen many-a-CD player rejecting cheaper or off-brand CD-R's, or same that have deteriorated due to age and weathering.

Unless something wet or squishy has contacted the laser diode/lens, I doubt a cleaner kit would do anything. If there's some dirt or other **** in there, a can of compressed air, the likes of which you'll use on computers could likely free whatever it is from the clutches of the adjustment/drive screws and drop it into oblivion.

 

[WillowCreekNancy]

I'm using official CD's - either music or Books on CD, not copied/burned ones. I'll try the tape & vac approach, and also the air can. Stay tuned. More as it happens (or not)

Thanks all, for your input, and not being snarky about my lack of expertise.

 

[Skydaver]

Thanks all, for your input, and not being snarky about my lack of expertise.

Ha! We're just waiting for you to become complacent!>

Good luck. If I were a book listener, I'd be pretty bummed by that problem.

 

[WillowCreekNancy]

No improvement - tried cleaning, tried vacuum, tried air. CD's work in the CD player of the other car (which has about 250K miles on it, so nope, not taking that on any long trips).

Thinking new CD player. Can they be purchased separately or do I need to get a whole new console? Suggestions on where to purchase?

 

[rasterman]

No improvement - tried cleaning, tried vacuum, tried air. CD's work in the CD player of the other car (which has about 250K miles on it, so nope, not taking that on any long trips).

Thinking new CD player. Can they be purchased separately or do I need to get a whole new console? Suggestions on where to purchase?

Best bet (by far) will be a used unit pulled from a crashed Outback of the same year. car-part.com and ebay ought to be of use here.