My CD player stopped working on my '06 Dodge Grand Caravan a couple of months ago. Whenever I put in a disk, nothing happens and after about 30 seconds, the word ERR comes up on the display and it ejects the CD. It's just a basic CD player on the base Grand Caravan. Not one of those 6-CD changers or anything like that.

Has this happened to anyone here? Any idea what may have caused it? Expense wise, how much of a job is this to fix? Do I have to take it to a Dodge Dealer, or will any reputable stereo repairer be OK. The car is old and not worth much so if it costs hundreds of dollars to fix, I won't do it. But if it cost under $100, I may consider it.

Any advice you can give me would be most appreciated. I really miss playing my CDs

-Rabs

 

I'm having a similar problem with my wife's 06 Grand Caravan (radio option RBK (bottom left corner of faceplate)). Some CD's will play when van is cold, most won't. Once some heat starts to blow out the vents, any CD will play. Tried a unit from the local wrecker, same problem. I'm thinking that the drive unit is dirty and needs a good cleaning and lubricating, since it will work once warmed up, the problem sounds like a mechanical issue to me, not electrical. The problem is, I can't get into the guts of the thing, taking the top and bottom covers off only gets you to the circuit boards, I can't see how to get them apart (the curse of getting old, my 66 yr old eyes don't see as well as I used to, even with glasses!). I've tried the only car audio shop near me, they won't work on factory radios, they only want to sell me a new aftermarket unit. I've already gone down that road, I have 2 head units that my wife doesn't like, she wants the factory unit, since it's nice and simple to use. All of the new radios seem to be aimed at young kids, lots of tiny buttons, flashing lights, and preset eq tone settings that never sound quite right to either of us (yes we're getting old and crusty!) If anyone has any info on how to get into this thing, I'd appreciate hearing from them.
Thanks,
NS_Andy

 

So I'm going to come back and change my original answer here. If you want an OEM replacement and do not want something aftermarket, I ran into a listing for Dorman reman units. They come upgraded with an AUX port (just sort of drilled a hole in the front and mounted a 3.5 mm jack), but otherwise it is original.

https://www.dormanproducts.com/p-67200-586-003.aspx


This is the page on the Dorman site, linked as of Nov. 2018. If you are reading this in 2020, this may not be a thing. As of this posting, Rock Auto is showing one in stock.