Audio Systems: Alpine cd player repeatedly shutting off, detachable face plate, alpine cda

Question
Hello! I have an Alpine CDA-7864 Head Unit. My problem is that it keeps turning off and on. It won't stay on very long. I have to hold the faceplate to keep it on sometimes. I have read elsewhere that there may be a problem with the wiring or something along those lines in the actual faceplate itself. It just seems to me that I have a loose connection between the faceplate and the receiver itself. Do you have any idea what it could be and how I can fix it. In the article I read, it said something about shimming it to keep it from turning off like that, but I have no idea what that person was talking about.

Answer
Shaun,
On many of the head units with detachable face plates any dirt/dust on the connections will cause all kinds of strange problems, including shutting off. Take a close up look at the connections on the face plate and look for any build up of dust, dirt, oils or corrosion on the contacts and look for the same on the main unit. make sure that all the spring loaded contacts on the head unit bounce back when pressed with a plastic tool. With a detachable face plate the spring clips on the sides that hold the face plate into the head unit will sometimes loosen up and the face plate won't be held securely against the head unit contacts. If the spring clips are tight but the face plate moves around too easily you may need to slightly bend the clips to grip the face plate better. Lastly, if your stereo has the kind of face plate that uses a motor to reverse it to hide the face plate when the stereo or key is off the power problem may be due to a defective ribbon cable between the face plate mounting bracket connector and the main circuit board.

TOM,
T&D ELECTRONICS
tdeser@zoominternet.net