mrj7500

For the last couple years the 6 disc OEM CD player has skipped randomly, most of the time when it's really cold out, but other times for no good reason even with CD's in perfect condition.

Anyway I had the day off today and decided to pull the factory HU out of my i35 and see if I could access the laser lens for cleaning. I thought it would be a fight but it wasn't too bad. Took me about an hour, taking my time.

1) Ejected all the discs I had loaded in the player.

2) Removed the HU from the dash, disconnected wiring and separated it from the climate control/HU frame. (2 of these screws wouldn't budge, so converted them from phillips to flathead)

3) Removed the top cover by unscrewing 7 small black screws.

4) Gently moved the CD tensioner upward about 1 inch to reveal the CD lens.

5) Applied rubbing alcohol to a q-tip, removed excess, wiped lens.

6) Using a couple of clean and dry q-tips, wiped the lens again to attempt to remove any haze from the alcohol.

Then I put everything back together, it actually worked. So I parked the car outside to let it get cold again, even cracked the window. Since this issue happens most when it's cold.

Tried it about 10 minutes ago, still works great. Even plays CD's that it would NEVER play before. There's more testing to do before I know if it's 100%, but so far so good.

If this works in the long term, I'd consider doing a tutorial with pictures, any interest in that?

tomhorn

Yes!

I'll try anything to get the CD player to stop skipping ...

up the middle

ANy updates on this? I am having the same issues

mrj7500

Hey, sorry about the delay on updating this post. It did fix about 50% of the skipping, but when the weather is cold, it still does it. Here in Iowa with the warmer weather we've been having it's been working well.