I received a Pioneer CLD-D406 LD player a few days ago that I won on E-bay and I am having some problems with it. Perhaps other more sage people on this forum could give me some pointers:

The problems:

1) The player reads and displays LD's with no problems when reading side 1. Reading side 2 is the problem. The optical pickup moves from its bottom location through the plastic track and positions itself to read side 2. However, when it reaches the end of its travel closest to the spindle, it seems to stick and will not move to the position for reading the LD. A very gentle nudge causes it to move and start reading the LD. It does not seem to know that it has to move a fraction of an inch do this.

2) After you press stop on the front panel and the optical pickup is already located on top (to read side 2), it has difficulty moving back along its track to get to its bottom position. It is as if the motor on the pickup does not have the power to get the pickup to move or the gear that engages the linear track is worn out. If you give it a gentle push, the pickup will move on its track; but, only a short distance where it stalls again. It also stalls when the pickup is attempting to make the U-turn on the track to get to its bottom position.

3) For what its worth, the player will not play CD's. It gives a U1 error when trying to read a CD. This is an extremely low priority problem as I do not plan to use the CLD-D406 for CD playback.

I was wondering if the gear on the optical pickup that moves the pickup along the linear geared track maybe worn out. I have 2 new gears: part#'s VNL1638 and VNL1639 if that helps.

Also, I have another identical CLD-D406 player that has a problem with its LD/CD tray and will not work. I could use it for parts to repair the problem one that I am referencing above.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Its might be the gears but its more likely the little cage that holds them. The pin for the gear breaks off and the gear goes out of line while still staying in the box. It works fine until it goes upside down to play side B at which point gravity shifts things. This could also be the cause of CD playback issues, but I'm not sure.

Agreed, you need a new "M-Holder" as I'm sure the tabs that hold the movement gears secure in place are broke. The replacement is the "M Holder" used in the DVL series which is not as brittle.

An Update:

Problem 1 seems to have solved itself somehow. This morning I tried to play side 2 of a LD and the pickup moved to its initial position to read side 2 and it behaved normally. Just like taking your car to a mechanic and telling him of a strange noise and he cannot find it when he tests for it. Strange.

I tested the player with a CD and it played it. Another puzzle.

Problem 2 is still present. The pickup will not go to its bottom position without help.


Can anyone give me the Pioneer part number for the "M-Holder"? Searching the Pioneer web site for an "M-Holder" is an exercise in futility.

Spare part number

VNL-1700

FYI:
The Pioneer part number VNL-1700 is out of stock and is being replaced with part number VNL-1779.

Man, what a ripoff that Pioneer is on parts. The VNL-1779 part costs $4.25. UPS ground shipping is $14.46, sales tax is 1.92 and shipping and handling is $2.95 giving a total of $23.58. There is no other choice for shipping except UPS ground, UPS expedited (or whatever it is called) and UPS priority. Why can't they ship by USPS priority mail at a cost of 5 or 6 dollars and make it easier on the retail buyer?

Is there any chance someone on this forum would be willing to stockpile parts for Pioneer LD players? The CED Magic web site stocks parts for the various CED players and at a reasonable price. (Tom Howe, keep up the excellent work).

only reason there is a stockpile of parts for CED is that the factory went under and someone got all the left overs for the dead formats.

pioneer is still going strong, not with LDs but they don't need to dump their parts stock.
check with ldservice or grasshopper, they may have the part, and even might have a used one to sell you from a parts player??? but that's just my guess.

also when i bought a CED player and the one bracket inside was broken nobody had the part, i even contacted tom and he didn't have it.
so when parts are gone they are gone, you either have to fabricate it from scratch OR repair the part you have with metal.

always use longer epoxy, 60 minute is best and give it a day or two to dry if you didn't get the ratio right
or it's different weather in your area

I ordered the VNL-1779 part from Pioneer today. That is how I know how much it costs.

I do have a CLD-D406 player for parts; but, I am not certain how good the parts are. When I got the parts player, the motor bracket on the optical pickup was broken so who knows what other parts may be weak or broken.

One question I have is: How do you release the bottom rod that the optical pickup slides on? It seems to be really clamped down hard. Do you insert a screwdriver under it and pry up? I believe that I need to release the rod in order to free the optical pickup for repairs.

Yes, a flat blade Screw driver for the rod to release..

While the parts cost may seem high, you have to keep in mind that you are paying back rent on stuff that's been sitting around for a decade or more. The fact that this stuff is actually in stock is nothing short of incredible and I'd much rather over pay for the exact part I need than have to buy ten broken players trying to find salvageable used part.

The depth and breadth of the CED part catalog is minuscule compared to LD.

More updates:

The "parts player":
I got the drawers to work on this finally. It turns out that the ribbon cable attached to the optical pickup was loose and only needed a small push to seat it properly. The drawers (LD and CD) move in an out with no problem. The problem now with this player is that it does not sense when there is a disc (either LD or CD) on the drawer when it is closed. It displays "no disc" on the front panel. What sort of sensor is the player using for disc detection? I attempted to slide the optical pickup on its track and it absolutely refuses to move which is good. The pickup on the player that I just received last week can be pushed back and forth with some sound coming from the gear and the track. Hopefully, the VNL-1779 part will allow me to repair this pickup's gearing.

I am not complaining on my previous posts about the cost of the Pioneer parts. $4.25 for a small part is very reasonable. My complaint is the shipping charge. The item is smaller than a pill bottle and could be shipped by first class mail in a small cardboard box for far less cost than what Pioneer is charging. Pioneer is the one that has selected UPS shipping when they could be using a far cheaper carrier.

For some reason they seem to be dedicated to UPS shipping. I just received some disc table sheets (they are flat) in a "strong" manila envelope via UPS. In the old days they would've sent through the mail. The shipping and handling charges can be a pain but it just has to be accepted and dealt with.

hey, i understand, i order some guitar parts, they send it in flat rate priority boxes but charge me over 8 bucks
that's just how they make some extra moola

I assume its a convenience issue. Most of the stuff Pioneer sends out is probably huge, complete products, since nobody repairs anything anymore. UPS will pick up, even after they've already been delivering near you that day, USPS won't unless you are a huge volume place like a junk mail printing press.

So again, its a matter of convenience for them worth paying for. In all seriousness, they must have debated throwing all their LD spares in the dumpster many times by now. If the convenience of UPS keeps this service running for another year then I'm glad to pay it.

I guess the logical thing to do is the next time you order some puny sticker or rubber band throw a spindle motor or a pickup or something expensive on there to make the shipping seem less stupidly overpriced.

I hate UPS, btw, with the fury of 1000 suns, I'm just trying to be practical.

BTW, does anyone know the part # for a CLD-99 spindle motor? I think I need a spare. Also, does it come with...what does it come with exactly?

Also, I probably want an upper clamp, probably.

Part number for the spindle motor is VXA1986 which for some reason doesn't show up in the Pioneer parts database

it has been out of their database for many months :/