CD changer magically working

[Skylifter]

When I bought my '92 (5 years ago), the Audio control unit was barely working...low volume, various noises instead of program material. Found a new control head online, installed it, and everything worked fine, sound is good, no obvious distortion at high volumes...
Took the car for a drive to the beach last weekend. Everything we all love about the car comes back each time one gets behind the wheel. CD changer working OK, UNTIL... on the way home, after about an hour of driving, audio drops out, and CD-E01 shows up on the audio display!
Since the manual only shows "Take it to the dealer" for that Error Code, I figured it was time to dive in.
It looked like there was no power to the changer...I had trouble checking for power at the cable in the trunk, maybe because my DVM probes were not cooperating, or maybe I just couldn't see all that well!
I only have the '91 shop manual, and it doesn't show anything about the CD changer in the trunk, including where it gets power from; what fuse is in play. On one of the replies in a Forum, someone mentioned the Clock Fuse under the hood. Pulled and reinstalled the fuse, didn't get any changes.
Decided to remove the CD changer to get a better look at it. It still had a full magazine (which would not eject), and a CD in the turntable. I removed the cover (Top & sides) and the front panel. It's easy to eject the magazine when the cover is off, and then the disc in playing position can be removed.
After that, I removed the screws holding the main circuit board, pulled each terminal connection apart and re-inserted them. Decided to try the changer while it was loose and uncovered, and VOILA! had power, and the CD played!
Buttoned everything up and it works really well, although it took a while to get the turntable mechanics to find their own positions...

 

[Heineken]

The changer gets everything from the head unit - all is transmitted via the large DIN socket.
What happens sometimes (but your case doesn't sound like that) is that the changer looses memory (it contains a small battery) and if that happens while a CD is loaded he'll try to load the next CD on top of the old one leading to everything being jammed up .. ask me how I found out ..

I would guess either the changer tripped up somehow or there were corrosion/contact issues causing trouble.

 

[Skylifter]

Heineken, I tend to go with the poor contact/corrosion diagnosis...after all, this thing hasn't been apart for 30 years...A little bit of crud on a mini pin in a terminal strip could do a world of confusing things...
One thin that I omitted...I kept trying to wiggle thins like the DIN plug and wiring going to the changer, and squeezing the case & pushing the 'Eject' button for the magazine, and once every 20-30 times, I would get a momentary FLASH of green light on the Eject button, but only for the shortest duration, and then it would not happen unless I cycled the key and played with the button again. Happened about 3 times out of 100 tries.

 

[Skylifter]

Also, I am guessing that the battery that you refer to is not replaceable?

 

[Heineken]

Unfortunately, my only reference is a Honda (not an NSX) changer that is used to test the NSX radios with. This unit doesn't have any lights, just the eject button. There the battery is soldered onto the PCB - replaceable with some effort, I would say.

 

[ajmr2]

So what music CD miraculously triggered the function recovery?? haha

 

[Wild Turkey]

Make your NSX even faster.

If you're not keeping a garage queen/OEM purity, consider swapping out that CD player for a GROM BT/direct connection unit. While the headphone jack theoretically provides better sound quality, BT is excellent, especially when the roof is off. With a Pixel 5a, music seems at least as good as the CD player was, maybe better, even before you consider the lack of skipping.

Best investment I made in the NSX for driving enjoyment. No skipping, loses a few pounds, increases the library size by about 10,000%, and expands a trunk that isn't that generous if you're trying to do a trip of any kind.

Also, my NSX is notably faster. (At changing music tracks, not lap times. The weight loss isn't that dramatic.)

 

[Heineken]

Can only report that "Roxette - Joyride" cause the jamming in mine :biggrin:

So what music CD miraculously triggered the function recovery?? haha

 

[Skylifter]

For what it's worth...
Power loss occurred with Doobies-Living on the Fault line...playing "Takin' it to the Streets"
First disc I played after pulling things apart...Miles Davis-"Kind of Blue"...
That always brings things back to normal...

 

[Skylifter]

For what it's worth...
Power loss occurred with Doobies-Living on the Fault line...playing "Takin' it to the Streets"
First disc I played after pulling things apart...Miles Davis-"Kind of Blue"...
That always brings things back to normal...

As for Grom install, it is a future project...right now, it is fun to play with the CDs...even more fun, the cassettes-I have around 400 albums on cassette, and cycling through them brings back memories. The cassettes also are a hit at C & C.

 

[ajmr2]

For what it's worth...
Power loss occurred with Doobies-Living on the Fault line...playing "Takin' it to the Streets"
First disc I played after pulling things apart...Miles Davis-"Kind of Blue"...
That always brings things back to normal...

As for Grom install, it is a future project...right now, it is fun to play with the CDs...even more fun, the cassettes-I have around 400 albums on cassette, and cycling through them brings back memories. The cassettes also are a hit at C & C.

Nice musical taste and choices.
FWIW, I pulled out and stored my OEM CD player for future generations and more space in the trunk. I also pulled and stored the OEM radio head unit for the same reason and purchased an off the shelf unit from Willman's Electronics which was converted to digital, so it has a lot more functionality and bluetooth capability. Not that I'm focused on anything other than the Sounds of NSX when cruising!

http://www.willmanselectronics.com/nsx.htm

 

[Wild Turkey]

As for Grom install, it is a future project...right now, it is fun to play with the CDs...even more fun, the cassettes-I have around 400 albums on cassette, and cycling through them brings back memories. The cassettes also are a hit at C & C.

I listened to a couple of cassettes last year and then boom! Stuck! When I went on prime, I encountered a bunch of other folks with the same problem. When the tape is stuck, the radio is bricked. Unlike other units (like my 1991 Accord) you can't switch to the radio or CD (or GROM) if a cassette is inserted, so that's it for the stereo. As noted, disassembly of the unit to remove the tape is a royal pain.
http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showthread.php/198690-Tape-is-stuck

Now that it's working, there will be no more cassettes in my NSX if I can help it - +1 on getting the trunk space back from the CD changer. GROM for the win.