Hello there !
This is my first post here and so I hope I'm in the right area!!
I am a Laserdisc lover and have accumulated 3 Pioneer players that have unfortunately come with some issues. I have not paid more than $20 for any of the players, so I'm definitely willing to fix these to get them working to their full potential. Any ideas on what's wrong or broke or how I could fix the issues would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for any help and knowledge you can provide !!

Here's what's wrong with the first one
The first player I bought was a Pioneer CLD-D406 and was working perfectly and running strong for over 2 years now. It just started giving me a U1 code and spitting the disc out. It's doing it on every disc, so I know it's not the disc. I have to try 5 or 6 times to try and trick it into playing any disc.
Any ideas?

Player #2 is a Pioneer CLD-D701
I bought it, brought it home, put in a shiny,clean copy of Back to the Future and it played side a perfectly and it got to the change over to side b and made a horrible grinding noise and went to a black screen. It wouldn't eject the disc or do anything- it pretty much just froze up. I had to unplug it and plug it back in and turn it on again to get it to eject the disc.
Maybe a belt? Maybe it's toast? Help?

Player #3 is a Pioneer CLD-D604
I bought it, brought it home, put in Death Becomes Her and it played it, but the image on the screen looked weird. Like there was a yellow and a pink bar that kept flip-flopping throughout the entire movie. It was making me go insane- I checked my cables and tried both the video ports and nothing helped. Then I tried to watch a different movie and it started giving me the U1 code and spitting out the disc. Again it was a disc I knew worked and I have had to trick it into playing a disc ever since. I get the U1 code on any disc I try.

I really love watching the laserdiscs and would like to get at least 2 of these working as I really don't have that much invested in them thus far. If anyone has an opinion on which is the superior player, I'd love to hear. I'm 23 and would honestly love to know any information that could be helpful in my laser adventures going forward

Thanks in advance for your help!

If you are looking to get them repaired, Duane aka grasshopper is your only option here. He is the only laserdisc player specialist and %100 honest.

If you are looking to repair yourself, kbahr signs in time to time, he might give you a tip or two. Either way, good luck with the voyage.

The two U1 errors are the loading belts. Pretty cheap fix - I think the belt's like SCQ3.8 or somesuch - search for the official Pioneer part # to get the right belt. The 604 and 406 are very similar mechanically.

edit: particle posted this about fixing the belt: http://www.pcrpg.org/main.php?action=vi ... -u1-repair

IIRC the 501 had a complex side-flipping mechanism which is prone to plastic breakage, and is probably not worth sending out to fix. If you can get it to play on side A, don't let it flip.

The 406 needs a new load belt

The 701 needs to be cleaned and re-lubricated

The 604 probably needs a new load belt but sounds like the pickup is going bad or is out of adjustment.

Thanks for all the quick responses! I have bought belts and am going to change those out and see what happens.
With regards to the 701, what exactly needs cleaning/lubricant and should I use for lubricant?
I'm pretty handy when pointed in the right direction

Thanks for the help everyone!!

white lithium grease, very, very little.
make sure you DO NOT put it on the clamper for the disc.

others will point you in the right direction of where to put it.

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Update:: I've replaced the belt in the 406 and it is now working perfectly !! Thank you for the link to the repair page, that was very helpful

With regards to the 701- I've tried to clean it and I've used the white lithium grease but it's still not going to side b and once it tries to play side b and can't, it gets completely frozen up and won't eject or do anything. The display says OPEN but the player isn't making any noise or effort to open up. Only when I unplug it and turn it back on will it rest and open, but never plays side b.
I really would like to get this player working !
Am I doing something wrong?

Usually once the mechanism turns over it has trouble coming out of the turn mechanism and just bounces on the track. That is either lubrication or guide pin alignment. If the mechanism is not turning over then the gears in the pickup that turn the mechanism are broke.

Ok that makes sense. So what should I do if it's broken? Are there parts available or should I just get another player?

send it to Grasshopper or Krbahr for repair.
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