12 Disc Changer Woes

[Ouija]

So I can now say from experience that "Grease Lightning" does not make a good CD cleaner, lubricant, or air freshener.

Bottle exploded in the back of the car on the way home from the grocery store, and poured all over the top of, and into my 12 disc changer.

I pulled the changer apart, got the CD's out but only found one small circuit board that appeared to have gotten any fluid on it.

It's a small board under a plastic shield on the left side of the player. Sits under the 12 disc magazine, has some clear plastic electronic component with a yellow and black wire running to it. looks like it might be a IR diode, LED or something. Anyone have any clues?

BTW, it's an AC Delco Monsoon 12 Disc Changer. Manufactured in 1995, origionally came in a LT1, but works the same in my 2000 TA.

With further research I've found out:
It's a 16199553 12 Disc Changer
Model #CDX-M12zg
Part #12495743

But I still can't find any exploded views.

[Ouija]

At lunch time I went home and took the disassembled unit out to the car and plugged it back in.

Snapped the power supply in, and put the front face on it.

Put the Disc magazine in it and it loaded all the CD's just fine.

Turned the car on, and it read that the CD player existed. The controls change discs, starts them up, just no audio comes out.

The head unit CD player works fine, and the Radio puts out audio.

Is there something y'all can think of that I'm missing?

Did I fry whatever puts out the pre-amp signal?

I guess I'll put the changer into the other TA tonight and see if I get the same no-audio problem.

[Ouija]

Well I popped the changer into the 01 last night, and the exact same problems ocurred.

The Discs load, the head unit recognises the CDs allows you to press play, change tracks, change CDs does everything. It even knows the right number of tracks on the CDs, just doesn't put out audio.

[Steel2686]

Sounds like the wiring became corroded. That's the only explanation I would have. Check the tips of the audio cables and see what they look like. If you have high end cables like Monster golds, it doesn't take a whole lot for them to corrode.

[Ouija]

Well at lunch today I looked over the circuitry again and found one ribbon connector that had corrosion on it. There is a little ribbon cable that goes from one card to another right above the CD magazine on the left side. Pulled the ribbon out of the connector and cleaned it up with some electronic component cleaner. Reassembled the unit and viola. It works. Apparently one drop of grease lightening got onto that cable then ran into the connector and corroded it.

Thanks for reminding me to look again 02 WS6

[Steel2686]

Not a problem. It's amazing what a small amount of chemical can do to wiring. Glad to hear you fixed it.