2003 CD player miracle!

Aquarius

Aquarius

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Jul 5, 2015
Thunderbird Year
2003
Last year we had the dreaded "CD Error code appear on our cd player. Six cd's in the tray . I tried all of the often fixes like pull the battery,pull the fuse etc, no luck. So i figure its a goner and I order a SirriusXM over the winter ,which I will be having installed tomorrow. Anywho, I pulled the "Bird" out of storage this week and was getting it all purty for it's first cruise of the year. My wife is doing the interior and I was on driver side rear wheel polishing up. All of a sudden I hear her shriek, I pop up and what should I see but her with 6 tiny cd's in her hand! As she was cleaning she though she would try to eject and "voila", out they came! It's a Thunderbird miracle! I had it stored for a bit over 6 months with a battery tender. Popped right off and drove her home. She asked "do we dare try one and see what happens?" I said get one you dont care about losing if it goes sideways again. Put one in listened completely and played others without incident.
 

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When we bought our girl the player was jammed.

Dealer ordered reconditioned one (I doubt new is available) and it failed upon installation

Dealer corrected it with yet another unit but said "strongly" that these do not last long without jamming.

So, after a few months we didn't feel lucky, so decided to empty it and be very careful to choose slot # 1 only to manually change CDs - thus changer does not move at all. Have had no problems since doing so.

Just a thought as many have mentioned the short changer life - especially so for us as we added burl dash kit and rebuilds mean that you don't get your own back as a rule
 
That's a good idea! and we only played them one at a time in slot one. I think you may have saved as lot of people heartache with that tip!
 
I had the same cd error, sent it to southern electronics in va.. For $295 they repaired and returned within a week, they paid freight both ways and guaranteed it for 1 year. As fate would have it, it lasted through the first 3 cd's .Called them up they said send it back again freight paid both ways. This time they had to replace mainboard under warranty, got back in a week. It has been on three road trips since and plays like a charm. All I ever paid was the first $295 and still under warranty
 
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Just thought I'd mention that I've had problems with the CD changer quitting (after it's been playing and changing just fine for an hour or more) when the sun has been shining on the dash with the top down. It seems to "overheat" and won't play again until it's turned off for awhile and the interior cools down. I don't really like putting the top up and running the AC just to get the CD with my Beach Boys and Beatles music back quicker, so I use the radio for awhile as I wait for the CD player to cool down. This overheating problem happened to me twice this week and the CD changer has so far over the years always resumed playing without doing anything else.
This may or may not be a solution for other owners. It definitely is frustrating when I only have 6 months of top-down weather here and carry lots of CD's for T Bird season.
 
My stero is making clicking sound like it is trying to change cds. I can no longer inset a cd into the slot as it will not load. My thought is that a cd is stuck. I have tried disconnecting battery to see if it will reset but it will not. This is happening when the car is turned off so it is draining my battery.
 
Jodi Petree said:
My stero is making clicking sound like it is trying to change cds. I can no longer inset a cd into the slot as it will not load. My thought is that a cd is stuck. I have tried disconnecting battery to see if it will reset but it will not. This is happening when the car is turned off so it is draining my battery.
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I had a similar problem. Anytime I opened the trunk. clicked the remote or opened the door, the radio seemed like it was seeking a cd even when there was no key in the ignition. There are no cd's in any of the slots. I can not insert a cd. Usually the radio shows a CD error after a minute or so. The battery trick or fuse trick did nothing. I purchased a bad radio from a guy in this forum that I am having rebuilt and I will install that back into my car. I eventually jammed the cd door open and I no longer get the searching cd issue. Hopefully once the radio is rebuilt and installed the issues will be gone.
 
Moderator note- Purchase current version on Amazon here- https://amzn.to/2QSiRh2
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Aquarius said:
Last year we had the dreaded "CD Error code appear on our cd player. Six cd's in the tray . I tried all of the often fixes like pull the battery,pull the fuse etc, no luck. So i figure its a goner and I order a SirriusXM over the winter ,which I will be having installed tomorrow. Anywho, I pulled the "Bird" out of storage this week and was getting it all purty for it's first cruise of the year. My wife is doing the interior and I was on driver side rear wheel polishing up. All of a sudden I hear her shriek, I pop up and what should I see but her with 6 tiny cd's in her hand! As she was cleaning she though she would try to eject and "voila", out they came! It's a Thunderbird miracle! I had it stored for a bit over 6 months with a battery tender. Popped right off and drove her home. She asked "do we dare try one and see what happens?" I said get one you dont care about losing if it goes sideways again. Put one in listened completely and played others without incident.
Click to expand...


Couldn’t take the dreaded CD Player demons any longer. Christmas present to myself purchased and installed by Best Buy. USB, Apple Play, Bluetooth, Backup Camera added with additional charge. Sony XAV-AX1000. Doesn’t play CD’s approx 500.00 cost. My 2002 TBird
 
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Chris111 said:
Has anyone switched out the factory system with one that has bluetooth and ability to play from a USB or an SD card? Seems like there has to be a better solution to modernize a bit.
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I switched mine out with a 7 inch display with apple car play or wireless Bluetooth apple car play it will also play DVD’s and has rear camera installed and upgraded all the speakers looks great and sounds great
 
We went with a Boss Elite, love it.
 

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I had a similar 'miracle' with my '04 PCR's stereo. All I ever got was 'CD ERROR' when touching the LOAD button. It was in the shop for 3-months. Upon getting the car back from the shop and giving it a good cleaning inside, I was cleaning the dash and accidently touched the LOAD button and got the message "SELECT SLOT"...immediately ran into the house and grabbed a CD and touched the [1] button and it loaded the CD. Been working ever since (fingers-crossed).
 
I had the CD error in a Ford truck a few years back, took the radio out, took apart,
cleaned all the grease lubricant off the moving parts, cleaned good with DeOxit
cleaner, re greased moving parts put back, and to this day still working.
 
Thanks people for all the replies. I'll take a shot with a couple of suggestions.
 
How do all these displays look with the top down on a sunny day. That's what keeps me from installing a display.
 
The modern radio display, even expensive versions like mine, will "wash out" in strong sunlight with the top down - there is no help for it and just a fact of life...IMG_1590.jpgIMG_1897.jpg
At night, or with either top up/installed the visibility is fine...
 
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