Many car cd players will not read discs burned on a home computer because the table of contents is recorded in a spot that the lasers can't reach. In particular, the cd-only radios which are built by Alpine have this characteristic.
The cd / cassette combo radios are mostly built by Mitsubishi. These are more likely to play home-burned discs. The only problem I've ever run into with the Mitsubishi radios giving an error message has been dirty laser lenses. You can try a cleaning disc, but everyone I've had, I had to remove the cover and go inside to clean them. I don't recommend you try this yourself because the unit is very delicate, and it's hard to reach.
GM has a 100 percent failure rate on their laser assemblies, but out of more than a thousand Chrysler radios I've worked on in the last 18 years, I only found five bad lasers, and four of them were on one model built by Alpine. Still not a bad track record. If cleaning doesn't help on the Alpine-built cd player, suspect a laser problem. Check your local salvage yard for a replacement. I always recommend the cd / cassette combo radios. I sell a lot of them at a local car show swap meet. They are very high quality and once I go through them to address a few issues related to automated manufacturing techniques, they give very little trouble.
caradiodoc
Dec 12, 2009 at 9:09 AM
