Sony CPD-M555ES 400-CD changer stuck-door repair, changing all 3 belts, inspecting carousel teeth 

Yeah, it’s a delicate matter to remove the carousel completely without damaging any of those little plastic teeth on the bottom. Thanks for the suggestion! 😃 👍

I’ve been trying out rubber drive belts that come in packs of assorted sizes from three different eBay sellers. Tried super cheap ones and expensive ones, all are black with a square-shaped cross section. I can’t find any difference in quality, as long as they are not your run-of-the-mill rubber bands, but instead are specifically advertised as being designed for drive belts for cassette players and other vintage audio equipment. A quality belt is most important to reduce wow and flutter in cassette tape mechanisms. For a CD changer, the main thing I think is that the belt lasts a long time. I wonder whether a rubber band would be good enough for a CD changer, as I haven’t tried using a rubber band in one yet. Rubber bands also tend to be too thick, as a rubber drive belt tends to be very thin and fits in small grooves in pulleys. Another thing to keep in mind is to select a size belt that’s just barely snug enough to do the job. Don’t make it so tight that it bends the mechanism’s axis for spindles, pulleys, etc. This takes some tinkering to see what works and what doesn’t. I learned the hard way with my first Sony Walkman that I bought in the ‘80s. Put a plumbing O-ring in there and it was too rigid and too tight and damaged it and caused wow and flutter. Don’t use plumbing O-rings. Be careful with what people tell you to do on the internet, many don’t know what they’re talking about. If enough different people tell you the same thing, it’s probably legit. That having been said, here’s one of the packs of belts I have been using: www.ebay.com/itm/223570181421?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=66vjYtkERF-&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=DccV81yKRpa&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY But I see the price on that one went from $9 with free shipping back in August of 2021 to $20 plus shipping charge today. eBay suggests others underneath that listing, so you might try a cheap one. Just look for a seller with great ratings, and read through their feedback comments. As far as fixing your machine, if you don’t feel comfortable with it, and just wanted to flip it for profit, check out sold comps on eBay for the last 90 days for your make and model, to see what it’s been selling for. If it doesn’t show up when you filter your search for “sold” and “completed sales,” and it’s condition being selected as “for parts or not working,” then use eBay’s Terapeak to research product sales for your make and model of CD changer, to inform you of a dollar amount that it’s worth as is, on eBay. If it’s the same make and model as the CD changer in this video, it has some real value even as parts / not working. Those who have lots of experience repairing these units are searching these out. If you’re going to attempt a repair, but have never done it before, remember that patience is a virtue! Take it slow, and if something doesn’t seem right, stop and research more. If you bend a circuit board too far and it breaks, it can be quite difficult or almost impossible for the average hobbyist to fix. And these units are becoming exceedingly rare, so thank you for pulling one out of the trash! And good luck! Audio CD enthusiasts who love their CD collection are getting into these vintage CD changers. Anything else I can do to help, let me know.

@@random-ramblings Thanks. Ill try to find some bands. Yes even some O rings I have been chasing that were $3 for a pack of 70 are now $12 prices are insane now. I took apart a old vintage pioneer laser disc player for cleaning. Also sold that. Those sell for crazy $ too I got around $200 for mine I gave them a deal. It looks about the same once the cover is off

@@GhettoWagon Ooooh! I have a working Pioneer laserdisc player that I acquired from Goodwill a couple years ago. I should look up what that’s now worth on eBay. Just now, I found a pack of those square belts for under $8 free shipping, seller has lots of feedback, good feedback, can’t beat that: www.ebay.com/itm/175219295913?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=8VyfVyPZTg2&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=DccV81yKRpa&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Hmmm… if it plays fine, then it sounds like the laser lens is ok. Have you unplugged the changer from power for a few hours? Have you tried resetting the changer like this: www.sony.com/electronics/support/articles/00022579 Have you replaced all three rubber belts? If those things don’t do it, I’d open the hood and carefully unplug and replug all wired connections about three or four times each. Over time, a little moisture can cause metal connections to corrode and then they don’t connect as well as they used to

@@random-ramblings thanks for helping. I did reset all like that a couple times. I unplugged it but only got 10 seconds with what I call a Japanese reboot. Should I do longer??? I haven’t replaced belts but they appear to work. It’s like it’s not communicating to open or close to me but heck I am open to your ideas. Thanks again.

You’re referring to the RCA video output of this CD changer? That is a really cool feature, ain’t it? Have you seen my video on that? Sony CDP-M555ES CD changer’s analog video output for your TV! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ufhh1NpljuE.html

Despite what the masses say and believe, I’m of the mindset that older tech is the way to go. CDs don’t spy on you, you actually own your music collection (and don’t lose it when a big tech company someday goes bankrupt or makes uncalled-for changes), you can listen to music ad-free, CDs are higher quality audio than streaming, CDs are more reliable (they still work during internet outages), CDs are great while going off-grid, etc. There’s also the nostalgia factor. There’s something charming about media that allows you to gaze at album artwork and info on a paper sleeve. If you can find someone who’s experienced enough with these CD changers to carefully repair it, great! What is your unit doing specifically? Please describe the problem and symptoms in detail.

@@random-ramblings

@@random-ramblings There was a power outage at my house. Since then, a lot of random things happen. The discs won't load or eject. Sometimes the door won't open or close. Thanks!

@@guitargirlRosann Sometimes there’s brownouts or voltage spikes during or at the end of power outages. That tends to destroy sensitive electronic components, such as the chips and microprocessors that control much of our electronics. But sometimes all you need to do is reboot the microprocessor or allow some capacitors to drain completely. You may want to unplug your CD changer for an hour or more. As soon as you plug it back into the wall outlet, reset it. Look up in the manual how to reset it. If you no longer have the manual, search online for it. There’s some good websites that allow you to view the manual online for free for just about any make and model of electronics. To prevent future damage to your electronics, I recommend getting surge protectors.

Sorry, I sold this unit already. But from what I remember, I had to remove all the stuff on top and carefully remove the screws holding the curved back wall directly behind the carousel, so as to loosen that wall and position it out of the way. Seems like I unplugged wires from the top and from the back behind that curved wall. Had to so carefully and so slowly remove the carousel without touching or bumping the teeth on the bottom of it into anything, as damaging those will mess up the disk-changing operation.

Hi Dorse, I would imagine that vasoline would be ok (so long as it’s not so much of it that it gums up the works too much), as I understand that vasoline can actually rejuvenate old plastic. I’ve seen some plastic gear assemblies that had quite a lot of what looked like vasoline. I’ve seen a RU-vidr or two use white lithium grease on plastic gears, but you may want to look that one up. It’s my understanding that white lithium grease, while it may appear to work in the short term, actually messes up plastic over the long term. I believe it’s made for lubricating metal and not plastic.

Hi Alcherry, I used to acquire CD changers and other electronics for free, repair them, and resell them on eBay. But now I’m trying to downsize so I can move and travel more freely and effortlessly! Do you have one that needs repair? What make and model do you have?

Had already made that video. Read the video description and you’ll see a link to that video