A few folks have posted recenlty about CDs being stuck in their factory Blaupunkt head unit. Here's how to resolve that. Sorry, I don't have pics of the error displayed on the head unit's LCD, but you'll know if you have this problem.
I bought some GTO-specific, double-DIN head unit extractoin tools off eBay for $3.48
These have special knobs on the end that grab the head unit. I tried the coat hanger trick first, but it didn't work, so that's why I bought these tools.
Insert the tools into the holes like this. You have to push them in ALL THE WAY (notice the far one is still sticking out some)
Ahhhh . . . that's better. Both tools are pushed in ALL THE WAY and are now grabbing the head unit
Don't just pull straight out. You have to put tension on the tools to they really grab the head unit. Press each of them OUTWARDS (away from each other, towards the nearest car door) and then pull straight out.
It takes a firm pull to get the head unit to budge initially, but no need to jerk. It'll come out, just give it a tug.
The knob on the extractor tool grabs this little chad. That's why you have to press the tool outward - it depresses this locking tongue and catches on the chad (which is what actually grabs to pull the head unit out).
Kittehs are good instructors
You want to remove this top panel
With a screw driver
Just pop it open
Same on the other side
Pry it open with your fingers. It may take a bit of careful fringer prying to get the whole thing loose, as it has tabs that grab on both sides and in the front. Just be careful, and don't break anything. It comes up fairly easily.
Voila! The meat of the project.
See how down in there, there is a disk that is stuck mid-way (it's kind of hard to see)?
And pull it up (it's held in by very tiny springs on the sides - ZOMG, do not mess with these springs, or you'll have an opportunity to fish them out, lol)
With the top disk removed, you're now looking at the second disk. However, you have to take out thate black semi-circle that's holding it down.
Light finger pressue is all that's needed to take this out. Now you can take out the disk that's under it. Keep doing this until you get to the disk that is stuck.
Clever finagling of the stuck disk is how you extract it. Don't break anything while you're doing this. Most of this audio plastic component stuff is pretty flemsy.
The disk that was stuck (not mine)
Metallica, Lord of the Rings sound track, and the stuck disk were taken out.
Once the offensive disk is out, you can see how the thing works. Essentially the disk magazine travels vertically within the housing, and when that magazing is in the proper place, this swing arm with the laser pivots in/out of place to read a disk or allow the magazine to change.
These are the springs you don't want to mess with. DO NOT UNCLIP THESE SPRINGS! May the Lord have mercy on the person that wants to get cute and unhook these springs. It would be a very tedious task to reattach them, so just avoid that and don't unhook them.
Start putting the thing back together. Remember to install all of the black semi-rings you extracted to take out each layer of disk.
Line up the front tabs and hinge this back in to place.
Give it a light knock with your fist/palm on each corner. Make 2 passes to be sure you get it locked in place.
Reinstall the head unit
It should just power right back up, as long as you put it back into the car it came out of. Mine sat there and made 1000 disk change sounds once it powered up
I got tired of all those sounds, so I just turned the damn thing on.
If radio operation is normal, start the disk loading sequence
Ok, it should now be fixed and back to normal operation. Will disks get stuck again later? Maybe, but atleast now you know how to get them out.
Good luck with it, and I hope fixing yours is as easy as this was for me. It took me 13 minutes to do all of this, and that was even with taking pictures. This is a 5-minute job, if you have the extractor tools.
Good writeup. I took mine out over a year ago and ended up finding some of the trays damaged during disassembly, so I replaced it with an aftermarket unit. The radio is fairly simple to disassemble and to anyone doing this, patience is key.
People that appreciate sound quality above what MP3s offer? Not saying the GTO has a reference audio system, but I like to take CDs around with me and play in good audio systems so I can hear the full warmth of a track, not just the upper third of the frequency band (a la MP3s). There's something nostalgic about putting in a single disk with a set number of songs. You put it in, because you want to listen to it, not because it was on a playlist of 4 bagillion songs and you randomly chose it.
Hold on. WTF is my problem? I sound like an old man, lol.
As I was reading this I thought the same thing, this sounds like some old conversation about tapes or cd's vs records, lol.
Nice write up and pics.
I don't have the patience to make a step by step like this, I just want to get it done.
Thanks for the great writeup!
I'm just amazed that in 4 years of ownership I didn't realize this thing had a radio in it.
I'll have to try it out sometime.:idea:
Kickass - I need to do this for my Mother. She left a disc in when I mailed it out to Bohnman for the aux mod, once we got it back it had the mech error.
Did I send back a radio with a disk in it? I normally remove them.
CD's suck get Aux input LOL
Anybody that does this just be careful that you don't losoe the spring from the plate it wraps around the bottom side of the CD palyer and you need to take the whole thing apart to put it together... total PITA not hard just time consuming.
Anybody that does this just be careful that you don't losoe the spring from the plate it wraps around the bottom side of the CD palyer and you need to take the whole thing apart to put it together... total PITA not hard just time consuming.
Ah, well said. That's the point I was trying to make about the springs, but I guess I didn't actually state it, haha. But yeah, I could see that disaster coming from a mile away after I unclipped one side because I thought it was a good idea, felt the high tension on the spring (more taught than you would think a tiny little spring would be), and then thought to myself, "What would happen if I let go of this spring so I could get this plate out of the way? Oh, I see! The whole spring will go down in this little slit on the side of the head unit's frame, where I can't see the other end of the spring. Only way to get it out would be a complete tear down of the head unit." Yeah, best to avoid that! LOL. I reclipped the spring (kinda hard to do - it's super TINY) and went on my merry way.
opened mine up today found a broken spring on the side and a one cracked disc holder duh! I have never liked multi-disc changers like this. They always end up broke
Thanks for the writeup. I just got the dreaded Mech Error when trying to eject one of my disks. I was wondering how I was going to get all the disks out and figured my head unit was done for. Maybe not so .....
I just bought a spare unit on ebay and lo and behold it's got a few CD's stuck inside!! This how-to article is PERFECT. Thanks Paulsz28 for a most excellent writeup!