CD Changer 'Magazine is Emply" message

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NOSPAM@earthlink.net> - 06 Sep 2004 01:44 GMT

Starting in '99 most M-B CD changers were made by Alpine, mounted in
the trunk, and had a fiber optic link to the 'head' unit on the dash.

My head unit is (nearly) constantly displaying a message "Magazine is
Empty" message, even though my magazine of CDs is loaded and full of 6
CDs.

When I stop the car (engine runnning) and reload the magazine, most of
the time the message disappears, and the unit begins working.

But then, when I start the car again, same message.

M-B dealer says -- "for $300 we can have the unit rebuilt."

Any ideas? or an I doomed to pay the $300 to get rid of this nuisance?

Thanks

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John Cisarik - 06 Sep 2004 11:15 GMT

> Starting in '99 most M-B CD changers were made by Alpine, mounted in
> the trunk, and had a fiber optic link to the 'head' unit on the dash.
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>
> Thanks

Something similar happened to me recently. I have a '99 SLK with a six-CD
changer. I was in the middle of listening to one, then decided to change to
another, and pressed the button on the control panel that would do it; I got
the "magazine is empty" message.

I pulled over when I had the chance, removed the magazine from the changer
and reinserted it, all while the engine was running, and the changer worked
fine. That was about a week ago, and I haven't had the problem since. (I
hope that what you describe isn't the next step in a process of
malfunctions!)

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Josh - 06 Sep 2004 14:50 GMT

The Alpine unit (older model) on my wife's '95 E320 did the same thing - it
was unable to load CDs. One time I was able to correct the problem by
removing the unit, taking off the metal cover, and watching it attempt to
load the CDs (I reconnected it after removal). I saw that the loading arm
was jamming. I was able to push one of the gears with a narrow screw
driver, re-grease the mechanism, and it worked fine for about another year
or so. Then it failed again but this time the gears were locked solid so I
ended up having to replace the unit.

>> Starting in '99 most M-B CD changers were made by Alpine, mounted in
>> the trunk, and had a fiber optic link to the 'head' unit on the dash.
[quoted text clipped - 27 lines]
> hope that what you describe isn't the next step in a process of
> malfunctions!)

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Tiger - 06 Sep 2004 15:39 GMT

I suggest you have the changer serviced by electronic shop... All cd changer
work the same way so they know what to do.

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