Car CD Player

GWashington1732

GWashington1732

Joined
Jun 20, 2009
Messages
13,240
The CD player in my car crapped out and I need to replace it. How hard is it to do? I'd really rather not pay someone a bagillion dollars to do it for me if I don't have to.
 
It's really simple George, once your done you will be mad at yourself for ever contemplating the idea of paying someone to do it.
 
Depends on the car and the unit you wanna put in. If it's something simple like a Dodge Ram then all you need is a DIN or DIN.5 sized radio and a dash kit and harness. The wires should be color coded and it's pretty much just snap in fit. Some cars like Honda Acords (at least older ones if memory serves me) have double DIN units. You can install a single DIN unit in a double DIN slot... you just need a kit. But you CANNOT install a double DIN unit in a single DIN slot without cutting up the dash and doing something custom.

But if you have something like a BMW, Lexus, or Acura type vehile, a lot of their systems are integrated and you'll find it's not so easy. Sometimes you'll install a new CD player and all of a sudden your dash intruments don't work anymore and only half of your speakers play.

Also you need to see if your vehicle has a premium sound system or not. Sometimes these systems have on board amplifiers hidden in the vehicle that you either have to integrate or bypass.

It's not always just plug and play. If you seek a professional make sure they are MECP certified and not just a wire jockey. I used to be but that was years ago. All the technology has changed.
 
Head over to Best Buy and pick something out. I doubt you would need anythign voer $100. Ask how much they charge for install and let them do it if it's reasonable. You could do it yourself, it's easy so long as you follow the instructions.
Just make sure you have:
spare 18 guage wire
wire cutters
screw drivers both + & -
electrical tape
manual

Alpine and Kenwood make decent decks for not a lot of cash.
 
Go with a Kenwood Excelon 794. It'll give you iPod hookup and let you control the iPod with the head unit, which is nice to have and beats using CDs. It has a 5 line display that makes it easy to scroll through menus, trust me, navigating your iPod's folder with a 2 or 3 line display is terrible, the extra money is worth it if you want to use you iPod with your head unit.

It's easy to hookup in older cars without integrated features, once you get into modern cars with integrated stuff like TPMS in your factory head unit it becomes a pain to replace because you'll lose features and/or have t buy an integration kit to retain some factory features.
 
As others have mentioned, things have changed dramatically.

Back in the day, I use to put my own stereo stuff in, but not anymore. Part of it is because I got burned out working on cars.

Our local shops only charge 35 dollars to install the head unit, so its not expensive.

About a year ago, I strated having a mid life crisis:D, an decided I wanted a good system in my 02 Dodge Xcab p/u.

I've used Alpine for quite a few years so I stuck with the Alpine HU, a passive Alpine EQ, Alpine amp, and Polk Audio speakers in all four doors with separate tweeters.
My point to this is, that for me to do this install, it would have taken me all weekend. It took the guys at the stereo shop about 2 1/2 hours, and was well worth the money it cost to have them do the work professionally.

You might want to check first, because sometimes warranties are void if the unit wasn't professionally installed
 
Infi-del is exactly right. Make sure the rest of your systems aren't tied to the CD player. If not, pop it out and put the new one in.

I pulled the stock unit out of my '06 Impreza, and the hardest part was getting the plastic bits out of the console without breaking anything. The only extra thing I had to buy was a wiring harness to connect the stock Subaru harness to the Alpine CD player.

The wiring harness was a little overwhelming, but once I got over that and started soldering it was a piece of cake. It took no more than an hour.

Give it a shot. Follow the instructions, match the colors on the wiring harness and everything should be fine.
 
Not difficult. I've changed out a few. Easiest/cheapest solution, and the way I went in one of mine, is just to get a a little cheap FM transmitter that takes an SD card or a plug from a portable CD player/MP3 player/cell phone/etc.
 
GWashington1732 said:
It's an 06 Dodge Stratus.

I don't really need anything expensive. I'd just like to be able to listen to the radio and play CDs without it cutting out.
Click to expand...

Just read that part. If it's the sound cutting out no matter what the source, it may just be loose wiring. Pull it, and check that first.
 
Kiah said:
Just read that part. If it's the sound cutting out no matter what the source, it may just be loose wiring. Pull it, and check that first.
Click to expand...

Actually that makes sense, it started going all wonky after I hit a pot hole. Thanks, I'll look for that.
 
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