Ok, here's the deal:

I've got a 2k2 SE, and got the Premium Bose system option.

I have read a lot of the posts on the 'org about all the different problems with the head unit. Over the past few months, the cd changer has been gagging on my cds...skipping and hesitating. It is really annoying since I listen to CDs on the way to and from work every day.

So, time goes by, the weather gets colder (I'm in Massachusetts), and the skipping gets more persistent. Every morning I cannot play CDs. I'm almost at work before the thing is warm enough to play CDs...Even a CD that I just brought from my house. No luck.

I called my dealer today, and told them about it. The service guy I talked to wanted to know if it was skipping on Burned CDs...I said that it did not matter, but it bothered me more when it skipped on a CD I had just bought for $15! He said that using burned CDs will ruin the alignment inside the head unit, and cause skipping. I politely explained how I have had the car almost a year, and have been using both burned and store bought CDs for that entire time, and have only recently had any problems. Now, cold weather is one thing, but I never had any trouble last winter (bought car mid January 2002).

Any suggestions on how to handle this when I go in to have them look? By the time I get there the car will be warmed up enough to play the CDs just fine (argh!). So I really have no way to reproduce this...

I appreciate it...Sorry for the long message.


Thanks,

- Seth

 

All I can say is first do a head cleaning on the cd changer, see if that helps. If not, then the changer is defective for sure.

Dixit

 

How do I do a head cleaning??

...sounding stupid with that question is unintentional

 

Go to a CD store and get a CD lens cleaner. It cleans the lens. Normally people dont realize this but you really do need to clean it after about 25hrs of music. You can litterally tell the difference. I know I can. But then again im an audiophile.

Dixit

 

Thanks,

I'll try to get a cleaner this weekend. I'll be REALLY happy if that helps...Not much better than calling the dealer to cancel a service appointment because you resolved it yourself

In my experience, I have never had to clean a lense on a CD receiver...but this is my first changer. I had a Pioneer DEH-P720 installed in my old car for over a year and a half...never EVER had any problems aside from skipping when I hit a bad bump...then again, that was a $450 receiver, and probably 10x the quality of this head unit......

My next thing will be to fix the rattle on the rear deck...

 

kick the bose cd-changer and also the head-unit until it is turns into submissive mode.... bose sucks. i am so sick of BOSE. in my car and at home. it is over priced and over rated

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by formas
[B]Ok, here's the deal:

I've got a 2k2 SE, and got the Premium Bose system option.

I have read a lot of the posts on the 'org about all the different problems with the head unit. Over the past few months, the cd changer has been gagging on my cds...skipping and hesitating. It is really annoying since I listen to CDs on the way to and from work every day.

So, time goes by, the weather gets colder (I'm in Massachusetts), and the skipping gets more persistent. Every morning I cannot play CDs. I'm almost at work before the thing is warm enough to play CDs...Even a CD that I just brought from my house. No luck.

I called my dealer today, and told them about it. The service guy I talked to wanted to know if it was skipping on Burned CDs...I said that it did not matter, but it bothered me more when it skipped on a CD I had just bought for $15! He said that using burned CDs will ruin the alignment inside the head unit, and cause skipping. I politely explained how I have had the car almost a year, and have been using both burned and store bought CDs for that entire time, and have only recently had any problems. Now, cold weather is one thing, but I never had any trouble last winter (bought car mid January 2002).

Any suggestions on how to handle this when I go in to have them look? By the time I get there the car will be warmed up enough to play the CDs just fine (argh!). So I really have no way to reproduce this...




Please keep us posted on how this goes for you. I am having the exact same problems. I am in the Albany, NY area and I know just what you mean about the cold weather (-3 degrees today on the way to work). If I didn't spend the extra money to get the BLOWS system I would dump it.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by falconert
[B]
OMG Just another example of crappy Nissan service. When I had my Infinti I never had a problem. Since owning my Max I have had my service manager try and blame me for numerous issues. Not to mention they rarely fix my problems on the first go round. I cannot beleive I didn't buy an I30.

 

I dropped about a grand to put an aftermarket system in my last car...nothing special, but it was great sounding to me. But I really messed up the electrical system in the car (shorted a bunch of wires!!) trying to run the sub wire through the fire wall. I decided at that point that I would NOT do aftermarket, since most cars come with big name premium sound systems like Infinity and Bose. I think that a lot of people also blame Bose for the head unit, it's not made by them, it's made FOR them by Clarion. Now there is a name I always attributed to quality...until now.

The highs are ok, the sub is crap on half my music, and the mids are good...basically, I would rate the system as crap for an aftermarket system...better highs and a better sub system would put it at the level of my old system. Oh well...what's done is done.

I may eventually modify the system, since music is a big thing for me while driving. When I bought the car it was worth the $1100 or so for the stock premium system to avoid the hassle of putting together, installing, and hiding an aftermarket system. But now I think that I could have put that $1100 into a much better aftermarket system

 

perhaps u should look at the DIY closely,,and if u don't think u can do it,,then stay away from it....there have been multiple posts about how to change the BOSE speakers and HU,,just my .02

 

hey where in mass are you? i called frost nissan (newton, ma), and they told me it was a common problem - just to bring in my car to take down my VIN, no need to duplicate, no questions asked...they just put a head unit on order for me. good luck

 

I got my car from Quirk Nissan in Braintree...

I figure I'll try to clean the lense this weekend to see if that helps. If not, I've already made an appointment to bring my car in for them to check it out...but that is not for another month.

I just didn't like the guy basically telling me that I broke it by using Burned CDs..."It says not to use them in the owner's manual."

 

I had this same problem with my Bose CD Changer (in dash) and complained about the skipping to my dealer, well, they just ordered me a new one and put it in under warranty, said that it was a common problem with the Bose. I love Courtesy Nissan and living close by! They seem to be one of the few good Nissan dealers.

 

So I got in my car this morning (thermometer said it was 25'F), took a gamble and turned on the CD player...

Amazingly, it started playing from where it left off last and DID NOT SKIP! The entire way in to work!!

I don't get it...It must be because it threatened to get a new one, now it likes me or something...

I'm still going to get that lense cleaner and try to fix it up. But now I have ideas in my head of getting an Infinity Basslink to fix up the crappy bass I had to put up with this morning...Argh!

 

LOL! Sounds like horse crap to me.

My 2k that I am a recent owner of ocassionally skips (all I use is burned CDs) on a nasty bump and sometimes I get an error as it can't read the CD. It's fine overall, but not bulletproof like the $130 JVC headunit I put in my 93 sentra back in March. I suppose I could try a cleaning kit too...

 

Intermittent problems are the WORST! If it starts to happen again, drop the car off at night and leave it for them in the morning. Or take it to another dealer that won't make you get an attorney to get warantee work

 

Anyone ever heard of an "element room" ??

I just called the service department again to move my appointment, and good thing I did, since they entered my inspection appointment for the day I was bringing the car to have the radio checked.

The guy mentioned that the head units are tested in an "element room" which brings the temperature up to 120'F, and then down to -50'F, all while playing to be sure it works. This is part of the Quality Control obviously...however in my opinion, it does not fully simulate real world conditions. They should let the unit sit in a 15'F room overnight, and then push Play and see if it works then!

 

actually, using overburned 80mins in a 74min mechanism will cause excessive tracking errors and burnout the stepping motor.

 

But most normal software like Roxio and others ones similar to it dont allow you to over burn. Except hardcore ones like Nero.

I never knew overburning can damage the stepping motor. I always though that if it cant get out that far, it would just not move farther.

Dixit

 

Actually, the funniest thing about this conversation I had with the service tech was about how his car had the same problem in the cold weather heheheh

He told me that they could order a replacement, but that it could only be refurbished...I'm going to go in there in a few weeks and talk to the warranty tech and see what he has to say...then I'll decide if I want to order a new head unit or deal...Who knows, by the time they get one in it could be warm out already and I won't have the problem until winter again...

 

I do hope that you're kidding about Courtesy Nissan being a decent dealer(NOT LOL). That is the same place where I bought my Max, had cd player replaced twice, they refused to do anything on my brakes, (other than cut the front rotors), an so on, and so on, and so on. If you have had good luck there, Thank god but, that is not the norm. They are part of the reason that I'll never buy a Nissan again. By the way, they told me that they have never had problems with Bose cd players.

 

Sometimes it is a matter of the service tech you talk to...The first one I talked to was not as friendly about the cd player problems as he could have been...made it out to be my fault for using burned cds.

The second tech I talked to was much better, we actually chatted for a few minutes about the cd player, and how it has problems in cold weather, and how he was experiencing the same problem in his car. That was much better.

 

I hate to admit but I'm sure you could very well be right. The tech that I wound up with(I won't mention his name on here), seemed to be a real *******. For some reason whoever you use the first time around, seems to be the one that other techs route you through to. Glad to hear that an org member lucked out.

 

on the Nissan changer (clarion CV737), I have seen it skip alot on 80's, but rock solid on 74s of any color. I have the same changer in the max and pathfinder and they act the same. If a mech isnt meant to read anything but pressed CDs, it will freak out on 80s even when less than 74 mins is burned.

For some reason, as it gets past 1/2 thru the CD, it will click alittle. Then closer to then end it will skip. Our PF one overheated once and refused to work for about 20 mins. We pulled the CD, put in a 74min CDR in its place and it was happy and hasnt given us a problem since. Finding 74 min CD's is really hard these days. I have 50+ on the shelf that I keep just for the max and PF. Actually think I saw them in an Office Depot near you (Dixit) a few months ago and snagged a spindle of them.

 

btw, my comments are specifically about the single CD bose and changer in the trunk.. You guys with 2k2/3 changers seem to really have a mech problem regardless of what you play. As does anything Clarion these days it seems.

 

My stock bose headunit in my 2000 SE plays anything and everything. It plays 80-min CDRs like theres no tomorrow. I am completely satisfied with it. I listen to burned CDs about 98% of the time.

 

as does mine.. it's the changers that are odd.. go figure, bought them a year after I got the car...

 

Just get the adapter and replace the stock unit if you don't want to do a whole system. I left the stock system in for a month or so, then yanked it the hell out. I was unsatisfied with it, and the rattling bass in my decklid. Besides, u can already throw the cheesy one back in, and isn't it nice to play mp3 discs?

 

I've had the same problems in my 2k2 max.. I found out a major cause of it is fog on the CD itself and the laser has a hard time reading through it. Apparently, just like any other glass or plastic, when it sits all night in cold temps and then you hop in and hit the heater and turn on the CD player the quick temp change makes a fog form on the CD. A quick fix is to pull the CD out, rub it off with a cloth and put it back in.. usually fixes most if not all of the glitches. Or, keep your CDs in the house and bring them out with you in the morning.. but, that's just a quick fix not a real solution.. wtf is the point of a changer if you have to keep your cds in the house and load them every morning?

Why this is a problem with these HU and no others ..who knows.. bad seal in the CD compartment..low-powered laser are a couple guesses.

Or, maybe I'm just crazy.. give it a shot tho

 

Head unit #2 going in on Monday. If I still have problems, I am just going to replace it with an aftermarket unit.

 

Actually, the last time it skipped badly on me was on a CD that I brought out from my house...I took it out of the case, popped it in, and it started skipped/hesitated like 5 times in 20 seconds before I shut it off...the CD never got past 45 seconds into the first track.

 

Just ordered an AIWA receiver from www.crutchfield.com including an adapter to use the Bose speakers. Less than $300 and it will play CD-R's, CD-RW's, MP3's, you name it. ***** fighting Nissan N.A. to replace their low quality products.