Can't beliece it, that CDP-C335 is ALREADY sold ?! I have not even had time to advertise it yet !
... Remember the CDP-C305 I sold a days back for 40 Euros, no questions asked ? Was a miracle in its own right... a new miracle happened. I forgot to remove the ad. Was long lost in the abyss of the search results of course, yet somehow last night someone left me a message asking when it would be possible to drop by to test AND buy the player ?! I said sorry already sold, but have his big brother ready for sale if you like, CDP-C335.
Guy showed up an hour ago, and did buy it, again 40 Euros, not even trying it discuss the price !
Said his own CD player, also a Sony 5 disc changer, packed up just yesterday, his daughter was very sad about this, so daddy rushed online to see what he could find locally... was so happy to find a nearly identical player, tested and "warrantied"...
He even brought his old broken player for me to have a look at ! Guy stayed 20 minutes while I was having a look at the thing, in case it was something obvious. Couldn't fix it on the spot, so he said I can keep it !
It's a Sony CDP-CE375. Similar but 10 years newer than the CDP-C335 I just sold him.
So here I go, hoping to fix it for cheap and make a quick buck from it.
Symptoms : drawer does not open, and the player makes a continuous motor noise, never stops.
First checked the carousel motor. Its belt was very loose. Replace it with what I could find in my donor drives... a belt that's way too tight, but at least it "works". Good enough for diagnostics purposes.
Drawer still would not open, and still that horrible motor noise... found it was the other motor, the one that drives the big "loading" gear as Sony calls it. Easy diagnosis : it's belt was so tired/loose that it flew off of the wheels ! Found the belt laying at the bottom of the chassis...
Replaced it with yet another belt from yet another donor drive... belt is much more "fresh", but sadly too long. Still kinda works : the drawer can now be opened and closed. So, Two belts that need replacing, but temporary replacements are good enough to carry on troubleshooting.... because, no, it STILL does not work... this puppy is sicker than your average drive, yet it's 10 years younger hmmmm....
Remaining symptoms : the player just will not stop rotating the carousel ! Looking at what's going on on the VFD display while looking at what the carousel is doing... it looks like the player fails to detect the presence of discs : it just spins endlessly trying to reach, say, slot number #3 of the carousel, but it never can't find it !
I also notice that it does pause, very briefly, a split second, at each disc.. which is normal. What is not normal I find, is that whenever it pauses to try and (fail to) detect a disc, the carousel is NOT lined up with the CD transport ! Nope, it stops right in between two slots.
So that might be a clue ?! Maybe the carousel can't be placed in just any location ? Might need to "synchronized" to the tray, somehow ? I never had this typt of problem with previous carousel changer, so I am not sure this is it...
There is a infra-red detector inside the tray, so might want to look at that. Also a switch protruding from the mechanism, into the bottom side of the tray. Might be worth checking that one too.
Sorry Gyro, I know you don't love Sony's all that much, but this one is saleable I think so I will try to fix it.. will pay for the part to fix the CD371, see it that way, a necessary evil !
Will try and download the service manual, see how it works exactly.
At least there is something I recognized straight away : it sports the usual ' BD' board ! Looks like they used that one for 20 years !
Any suggestion on where I might go to buy an assortment of rubber belts of various sizes ?!