Expert: Peter G. Lee - 7/23/2006

Question
Hello! I have a 2001 Nissan Pathfinder that has a factory 6 disk CD changer in it. I've never had any problem with it, then the other day I went to put a CD on and it started going crazy making a loud noise (sounded a little like when a radio is eating up a cassette tape), but other than that I don't really know how to describe the noise. It continued to do that even if I turned it off. It does it in all 6 CDs. Then after doing it a minute is says error. Then does it again when I eject it. Do you know what it could be? Just need cleaning maybe or broke? Thanks!

Answer
Hi There,
A bit difficult to put my finger on it but having assumed you have check the silly things such as power, cable connections, earth lead, etc, it sounds like a shuttle problem, in other words your CD changer is not loading the disc from the magazine into the reader.
The unit works by lining up the loader with a CD in the magazine and then transferring it sideways into the reader where it is lowered onto the laser reader head like a normal CD player. where the problem lies is usually in the transfer stage which means you either have a CD stuck in the loader or reader or perhaps the mechanism that moves the loader is not working, either way, remove the magazine and have a good look inside to see if there is any debris or loose CDs about that might screw things up, all clear? Then it is a simple task to remove the small screws that holder the outer cover and see what is happening, sometimes it's just a case of removing an obstruction, CD etc. a problem with vertical top loaders more that horizontal units.
Another fault lies in the head alignment of the reader, a problem with computer CD readers and hard drives too, the laser head can’t find track zero and “chatters”, this needs to be realigned by a workshop.
Hope that helps. Peter