Technical CD player turning itself on and off.

[Samsporting]

Recently bought an HGT mk2b 54 plate. When I open the door, I can hear the CD player whirring away like it's trying to read a CD. Sometimes, with the ignition on, the radio will come on. Really bizarre.

Any one else had similar problems?

Thank you,

Sam.

 

[colinf1]

Is it the standard Headunit or aftermarket one?

Maybe its wired incorrectly

 

[Samsporting]

The original blaupunkt unit.

 

[DaveMcT]

It could have been rewired into the internal lights circuit. There might be an earth fault that's back-feeding. Head unit needs to come out (uses the standard DIN pin tools) to check the circuits and the earths need to be checked for continuity.

 

[s and b]

if its the setup with the cd changer lower down the console then i had this problem and ended up unplugging the thing
if its just the cd player itself in the dash then go into menu and get it to power off with the key removed and see if that helps
also as said check the plugs are in the back properly
after that junk it before it burns the car down

 

[PuntoHowTo]

Interesting as i had just come on the Forum to ask the same question, I also have a Mk2b Punto HGT (1.9 multijet) the radio turns its self on randomly draining the battery or as you describe you open the door and it starts to whirr away as if its searching for a CD. its bloody annoying and keeps killing the battery. it did the same last winter but hasn't done it all year until a couple of weeks ago when the weather got bad so my theory is its either damp causing it or metal components shrinking in the cold and causing it?

Either way my 1.3JTD Dynamic doesn't do it only my HGT with the MP3 Blaupunkt unit

 

[Samsporting]

Thanks for all the advise everyone! The fact that it whirrs when the door opens strongly suggests it has something to do with interior lights circuit I would have thought. I've been out to my car tonight and it hasn't made the noise. If it was a consistent occurrance it would be easier to diagnose.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

After a little investigation i have found the culprit

there is a multi contact switch inside the radio that detects when you put a CD in the drive making it load the disc it then also detects when the CD is fully loaded. it would seem that the switch becomes faulty and permanently thinks that you are trying to load a disc. the Stereo is designed to power on if you insert a disc even with the ignition off. eventually it will give up trying to load a disc until something causes it to try again... So.

there are 3 options replace the switch, replace the stereo or disable the switch
as i have been unable to find the switch as a replacement part and don't have the money to buy a new head unit i opted to disable the switch, this means that the stereo will no longer keep trying to load a non existent disc nor will it power on randomly killing the battery the down side is it will no longer work so you won't be able to load/play any CD's which isn't so much of an issue if you have the 5 disc changer,

i have hopefully attached a pic of the offending switch to by pass it remove any discs from the drive and on the shown switch solder the red to the same terminal as the black

Hope this helps might have to head off to the scrap yard to see if i can find a spare part

PS on opening the door it turns not only the interior light on but also the trip computer on the dash which in the HGT is linked into the head unit to display information like radio stations etc i suspect this causes the Head unit to try and load its fictitious CD again causing it to whirr when you open the door

 

[Samsporting]

That's fantastic! Thank you for that! I went out to mine earlier and the battery was so flat the central locking only opened one door. The interior lights wouldn't work. Nothing. My head unit now reads CANREAD or something. I'm taking it to a garage that are going to run a diagnostics check on it. I don't have any prongs so they can whip it out and I'll have a look.

Fantastic help though.

 

[Ziggy122]

That's fantastic! Thank you for that! I went out to mine earlier and the battery was so flat the central locking only opened one door. The interior lights wouldn't work. Nothing. My head unit now reads CANREAD or something. I'm taking it to a garage that are going to run a diagnostics check on it. I don't have any prongs so they can whip it out and I'll have a look.

Fantastic help though.

Canread iirc is the Headunit isn't going to work in that car
The HU is connected to the Cars Wiring setup - if it worked before flat battery then something else has gone very wrong

A Car Diagnostic is going to reveal nothing

Ziggy

 

[Samsporting]

I have had the head unit out and completely apart. I've located the switch. Just wondered if by cutting the red (feed), this would kill power to the switch and therefore remedying the problem? Or, would it render the whole head unit useless?

Sam.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

Canread is probably showing because the battery is too low to power the ECU the radio needs to query the ECU every time you start the car charge the battery and it will probably go away

cutting the red wire will most probably not work what would be best is to join red and black together as this connection tells the radio that there is no CD in the drive and will stop the drive trying to load a non existent disc

as its a simple switch red connection means that either the disc is loaded or not present and brown connected to black tells the radio to load, you would actually be better off cutting the brown wire

 

[DaveMcT]

If the battery has gone below 9volts its probably not going accept a charge any more. Try an Optimate charger but it might need a new battery.