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MG MGF Technical - CD autochanger has stopped working

Philips DC082 autochanger (6 disc) stopped working.

My MGF CD autochanger has stopped working. When I press the CD button on the head unit it just comes up with a “CD ERROR” or “NO MAG” message. It appears completely dead and I can’t eject the CD mag cartridge. I’ve checked the fuse on the back of the head unit and the two glass fuses inside the bottom of the autochanger. There is a voltage reading of about 10 volts at the plug connector from one of the pins in the boot (where the autochanger is mounted). I tried disconnecting the autochanger and connecting it at the head unit end to eliminate the long run of cable which goes from the front of the car to the rear – but still no signs of life.

Any ideas? Is it possible to send the unit back to Philips for refurbishment? Or would it be cheaper to replace it with another?

Regards

Martin
4MGF
Martin Woods

Any water ingress in the boot? Mine did this a couple of years ago, and I had a water ingress problem - the unit was soaked. Removed the unit and disassembled it to remove the mag. Left it in front of a rad in the house to dry out, reinstalled it a couple of days later and it was fine.
Andy

Check the archives, I had a similar problem with mine ( factory fitted CD changer), and i found it was a CD stuck in the changer.
After searching the archive i found a some techie advice on how to dismantle and clear it.
The archive is copied below, Hope this is of some help, it was for me;


Thread: CD Autochanger
Posted 25 September 2001 at 18:58:30 UK time
Andy Beard, West Midlands, United Kingdom

I have the "factory fitted" CD autochanger in my MGF, which has worked fine until recently.
For no apparent reason the head unit now displays "CD ERROR" when I try to use the autochanger. I have disconnected and then reconnected the data lead from both the head unit and autochanger, but to no avail.
There also appears to be no power to the autochanger as the eject button is no longer illuminated?
I have contacted Phillips audio who have passed me onto VDO (B'Ham) who apparently bought out Phillips car audio last year. They have quoted me a minimum of £73.81 plus postage and packaging just to look at the autochanger.
Does anyone have any tips on what could be causing the problem, or how I could get it repaired at a sensible price!! (The Rover Radio manual is as good as useless!!)
Andy
Posted 25 September 2001 at 21:21:11 UK time
dave mgf tech, s e london

Andy,all right how are you doing.
Right this sounds like a very common problem that i have with the F's and that is a single CD has got stuck in the unit,what you need to do is remove the unit and the brackets off the side then remove the ,i think 8 black cross headed screws then remove the top off the unit.There you will see a mass of cogs, first hold the unit up and look at the back of the unit on the right hand side and you will see a small lever at the bottom,this will release the cassette.Then you will be able to see the stuck cd,again look in about the same place and you will see a large cog ,you move this to move the cd up and down ,move it so it takes the pressure off the disc then you will be able to remove the disc,once you have done this refit and plug in it should work,let me know if it does not.
DAVE
Posted 01 October 2001 at 17:57:21 UK time
Andy Beard, West Midlands, United Kingdom

Dave.
Many thanks...I took your advice over the weekend and it now works!!
Its typical that for such a common problem Rover will not give any advice, but are more than willing to take peoples money, for such a simple problem.
Many thanks again....
By the way, I understand that several minor modifications can be completed at home ie cigarette lighter illumination etc. Any ideas hwre I can get more information.
Regards.
Andy
Posted 01 October 2001 at 21:22:54 UK time
Nick Walters, Wiltshire, United Kingdom, n7_kkd@ntlworld.com

There are a couple of mods here
http://www.mgfworld.co.uk/mods.htm
HTH
Nick
Posted 01 October 2001 at 22:22:35 UK time
dave mgf tech, s e london

Andy,alright mate i'm glad you took the plunge and did it yourself a lot of people are scared of doing such things like stripping down a multiplayer(including other people in my workshop,but you didn't here that from me),as for take money,at my dealership if the customer want's me to do the job rather than himself do it because i go out and tell them EXACTLY whats going on then there will be a small charge for time to do it(time taken) but i cannot speak for other dearlers.
But once again well done.
Dave
Mike

There might be a CD stuck causing the problem.......no water ingress. I'll try and get the cartridge out and also the 'stuck' CD. Thanks for the tip.

Martin
4MGF
Martin Woods

Martin,

Have you tried the reset button on the head unit?

Sam
Sam Murray

Can you be sure there was no water. I recommend Andy's course of action. Disconnect and leave to dry out in the house for a week (as I once did). My sony cd player packed up after a damp tent was left on top of it for a day (yes, that was stupid). There was no sign that it was wet though. An extended drying period and some wd40 in the connections (only the connections!) helped.
Mark
Mark

Thanks for the advice.....I'll stick it in the airing cupboard for a couple of days. I do think however that a CD might be stuck - which is causing the problem. Not had chance to remove said CD and cartridge yet though.

Martin
4MGF
Martin Woods

Hi,

If you have this kind of message is that you still have communication betweend the carradio and the CD changer so I wouls say that your CG changer is still running. "CD error" is when the CD changer can't read the CD so with the "NO MAG" message, I think it's just a CD stuck in it. If the manual eject of the magazin is not working, you will have to open it to remove the disk. The only thing you need to take care is to not touch the lens.

If you have trouble to open it, send me a mail and I will try to send you additional info.
Cyrille

I had the CD ERROR message a couple of weeks ago, it turned out to be a disc stuck in mid-load.

The white eject lever on the back of the CD cassette wasn't being pushed far enough for the rollers to grab the CD and transport it into the correct position to be played. There was enough slop on the operating linkages that the eject lever didn't have sufficient travel. Taking the covers off and tripping the cassette eject lever with a screwdriver got it all running again.

The changer was mounted flat on its base when this happened and now that it's vertically mounted it seems to be behaving itself (touches wood rapidly!). Has anyone else found that orientation (the CD player not your own) has affected reliability?

Al.
Alan Brooke

>From: Sam Murray Aberdeenshire Scotland >sam.murray@btinternet.com on 25 February >2003 at 08:58:40 (UK time)
>Martin,

>Have you tried the reset button on the >head unit?

>Sam

No, suppose I'll have to read the handbook to find this!
I did try disconnecting the battery to see if this would reset it - but no joy here either - it came up with "CD Chang" on the LCD but wouldn't do anything. It looked promising at first. Then when I pressed the eject button it switch back to the radio, then when I pressed the CD button it went back to the previous "CD Error....
no mag" message.

I thought it was a stuck CD but after removing the cartidge and what I thought was the stuck CD it still wouldn't work. The eject button for the cartridge won't eject the cartridge. On;y way to get it out is to dismantle the thing and press the eject lever inside.

Do Philips do a refurbishing/repair service? Or does anyone else service or repair these things? Or would it be cheaper to just buy another autochanger & head unit?

Martin

Martin Woods

Martin,

The reset button is a tiny hole on the face of the head unit. You will need a something the size of a straight paper clip to press it.(with the unit switched on).

Most car audio places will fix it - but at a price. My lad's head unit recently got orange juice in it (don't ask), and the quote to fix it was £150+. He got a newer, better one for well under £200.

It might be worth looking at a completely new head unit and changer. You'll find the sound quality will be MUCH better.

Sam
Sam Murray

This thread was discussed between 23/02/2003 and 04/03/2003

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