[1996 850 GLT Wagon]Beeping from right with CDs only

[s2zeller]

My 850 has an Alpine 6-CD changer mounted in the cargo area and had sporadically started beeping on the right/passenger-side speakers whenever I played CDs (it is fine for radio and cassettes).

I investigated the 8-pin DIN connector at the changer/cable interface and often could fix it by unplugging then plugging them back together.

When that stopped working, I found a slight twist to the cable-side (female) connector would work.

Now, that no longer works and doing a (fairly) non-destructive dissection of the female connector shows that the pins have a decent amount of play (i.e. some slide within their holes a fair amount... and - not surprisingly - the pin for the right side seems to have the most play).

Is it time to either put in a new connector or a whole new cable?

Or is this beeping (which sometimes is over mostly static and sometimes over a fairly good signal) telling me something else is wrong (i.e. with the changer itself)?

[BEJinFbk]

One way to confirm that the cable is the problem would be to bypass it.
You could either find a "known good" cable and run it over the seats temporarily
to check things out, or bring the changer up front and plug it into the HU directly.
That would also mean extending power to the changer, so it would be a bit of work.
Or get and iPod adapter and walk away from the changer altogether. Just some ideas...

[fazool]

Running/routing the cable is a major pain, especially if you make your own (like I did).

Your best bet would be to put a new connector on the end of your existing cable. You will need to buy an 8-pin DIN connector (not mini DIN).

SOldering on that 8-pin connector is going to be tricky in the trunk. What I would do is see how much slack/play is in the cable and try holding it somewhere workable, then I would set up a box in the trunk as a workbench and stand behind the car soldering the connectors right there in place.

If the cable is too short and can't really move much from where it is, I would solder a new 8-pin connector onto some new lengths of wire (use speaker wire pairs, for example). Maybe make the lengths 3 feet long.

Then, you can cut the old connector off your stock cable and strip the wires. Now you have to connect wire to wire (still use solder and insulate them very well for a good permanent fix.

At least this way, in that cramped area you won't have to be soldering on a tiny connectors pins (which is very closely spaced and a pain in a good environment).

If this doesn't work, then go ahead and replace the cable throughout the car.

Don't pull the old cable out - the factory routing was done withotu an interior installed. Just leave the old dead wire and make a new one.

Buy 8-conductor "speed wire" from any online stereo store (Sonicelectronix or Crutchfield etc). It is only a tiny bit more expensive than separate strands and monumentally easier to handle.

Now you will need TWO 8-pin din connectors but you can build your cable in a nice controlled environment.

These MelBUS (Mitsubishi Electronics BUS) cables daisy chain one device to the next so, if you have a changer only it goes to the head unit. If you have a satellite receiver also, they are just daisy chained....in any order....changer to satellite to head unit.

I run my wires along the drivers side, under the trim along the carpet edge, then I make a right run under the driver's seat to the center console and up the head unit.

I will say......a CD changer seems pretty....."archaic" these days. I mean 6 CD's in your trunk. Thats about 80 songs to choose from until you need to go into the trunk and change them around. Like BEJinFbk said, an iPod is really cheap - can same quality digital music files, can hold ohhhhhhhh 8000 songs.

Frankly, the cost of new cables is probably more than an iPod+adaptor.

If it was me, I'd rip out the CD Changer, sell it on eBay and convert to iPod music.