Expert: Cleggsan - 6/7/2010

Question
I have Mitsubishi Mirage 2000. I rececntly purchased as a used car. Car stereo was working fine when I purchased but in few days it started showing error as "E-01" %26 it spills out the cd. Sometimes it works magically but most of the time it does not.
Your help in this regard is highly appreciated.

Answer
Sounds like the cd player is the problem.....   On radio (am and fm) it is working ok?

The error code is an indication that the disc is not being read correctly and the digital signals cannot be properly decoded into music. This can be from dirty or scratched cds, from a weak laser diode inside the optical pickup (very common as the player gets older), from an optical pickup that is out of alignment (from age, bumps and grinds), from a faulty electronic decoding system in the player and so on.

As the unit gets old the laser inside the optical pickup gets weak and makes more difficult to decode the digital music.  The most frequent solution is to replace the player with a new model.  The cost of repair is often more than than a new one.

Google "outfit my car" and you will be presented with a series of questions about your car which will lead you to a listing of the size and types of units that will work for you.

Start here:

http://www.crutchfield.com/app/car/carselector.aspx?lp=%2fapp%2fCar%2fMyCar.aspx

and best wishes.