This story is what happened to me in my 2k2 SE.

It may sound obvious and stupid and you may be wondering why I mention it, but it actually happened to me by accident. Now you're probably thinking "Who would accidentally remove their dash, unbolt a double-din HU, turn it upside down and change CDs?!!"

Well, I was taking out the HU/climate controls to see how my empeg fit. While working on it, I figured, why not listen to a CD until I unplug the HU, so I let it play. If you've taken yours out before, then you know that to remove the wire harnesses, you need to push the release lever on the bottom of each one. Well, to do this, it's much easier if you just turn the whole thing upside down. I didn't want to change CDs at this point, but while I was fiddling with the back of the HU, the shift **** bumped a button to change CDs. My CD stopped playing and the changer tried to change.

This is where things started to go wrong.

Since the unit was upside down, instead of changing discs, it jammed. After turning back rightside up, it was still jammed, it wouldn't play, eject or change discs. At this point, I started getting worried! I turned the HU off, finished unplugging all the wires and brought it inside. I took 7 tiny screws out and removed the top cover. I could immediately see why it was jammed, but wasn't sure how to fix it. I had been listening to disc 5 when it jammed and it appeared that discs 5 & 6 were the ones on the top side of the jam. I removed them (quite easy) but wasn't sure about getting the trays back on track. I thought it looked like it'd be ok with the CDs out of the way so I took it back out to the car to plug it back in. At this point I didn't want to put the cover back on until after I'd tested it.

That was my second mistake.

I plugged it in and it went through a cycle of checking all 6 slots and then seemed to be ok. I could play CDs and change discs... whew, what a relief! Making sure not to repeat mistake #1, I turned the unit off before inverting to remove wires. At this point, with the cover off, I heard a tink as one of the pins fell out.
There are two pins that keep the trays vertically aligned, but I was now missing one. (This is where I figured out that the cover is the only thing holding them in) They're really small and hard to find.
I spent about 15 minutes with a spotlight looking around down there and couldn't see it. Then I started groping with my fingers into the corners that I couldn't see. I eventually discovered it under the white plastic where I could touch it, but not grab it. To get at it with a pair of needle nose, I had to remove the side panel in the passenger's foot well. But to get that panel off requires removing the glove box. It made for a lot of work. All in all, I could have saved myself about an hour and a half if I'd turned off the HU before starting!

On the bright side, I managed to put it all back together without breaking anything and I now know a lot more about the innards of my car

 

dont have a 2k2 but nice right up

 

I read the topic and thought, "This guy must have some SERIOUS handling mods!"

Glad it worked out.

 

After reading your account of "Empeg Adventures" I was amazed. The photo with the glove box and passenger panel removed made me say You must be really patient. I also, bet you were the kind of kid who got a new computer and had to take it all apart to check out the "innards". Your mother must be really proud of you.

 

Yeah, after I posted it, I thought it sounded like I was doing a head-stand through the sunroof while changing discs. Haven't tried that, but I doubt the CD player cares