Audio Systems: CDs Stuck, front loaders, ram trucks

Question
Please help!!  My brother has left his truck for me to "babysit" for a week and my daughter ended up shoving a CD in the player while one was already in there and besides the fact that it may be upside down, how can I get this out.  I know that there was an "eject" button on my Equinox under the dash on the passenger side but I am not sure about anything when it comes to Dodge Ram Trucks!!  

Answer
Hi Danielle,

Sounds like you have a "front-loader" CD player - one that's just a slot, and when you put a CD in, it "grabs" it and sucks it in.

So the downside is that you've got two stuck in there.  That's bad, because there's no way to know if the CD player holds the CDs where they're inserted and plays them from there by moving a hub into the center, or if it "drops" them down into a tray-like area to play.

There's only two things you can do, one easy, and one unfortunately.  The easy one is to look for a small hole somewhere on the player - that hole is made to help eject stuck CDs - you bend a think paper-clip straight or use a small tool designed for that, and push it in the hole, and the CDs will be pushed out.  This is unlikely, though, because front-loaders aren't designed in a way to make this possible.  If it has a removable front panel to avoid anyone stealing it, take that off and look for the hole - it's round and just the right size for a large paper-clip - you should be able to push the clip in, and at least one of the CDs should start to poke out, and you can slowly pull it out, then repeat to try and get the second one.

That leaves the most likely but unfortunate answer: you'll need to take it to an audio place and have a profession remove them.  They have special tools, or may even need to remove the CD player to get them out.

Whatever you do, don't try to cram anything in there to try to "dig" them out - it won't work, and at best you'll just ruin the CDs and perhaps scrape or break off pieces that will stay stuck in there until they ruin the CD player.  At worst, they'll just jam worse or you'll break the player itself - I don't like front-loaders for this reason, in that you can easily have a child stick something other than a CD in there and break the player, or short it out, even possibly shocking themselves.

Hate to say it, but most likely you'll have to take it to an audio shop to have it fixed.  The upside is if you call around and explain the problem, you can probably find a place that can do it cheap.  Just DO NOT go to any auto dealer to have it done.  Like everything auto dealers do (I've worked for them) - they will rip you off.  Just find a place in town that does car audio and make some calls, and you'll find a place that can help you.  Good luck!  Cheers, Wink