I have a Pioneer CLD-D703 that stopped reading LD's and CD's. When i put a laserdisc or cd in the player the laser pickup moves forward/back and focuses up and down for a LD or CD but eventually finds nothing and the display shows "no disc". The carriage pickup assembly never raises and picks up the disc in the spindle either before clamping and initiating spinning. Im thinking this may be a bad laser as its not recognizing any disc and the laser never initiates, however, im not 100% sure.
Has anyone experienced this issue before or can tell me if this diagnosis seems correct?

This is normally the laser but sometimes it can be the electronics processing the signal received from the laser.

Just to throw my two cents in even though it's a guess...

Maybe try and re-seat all the ribbon cables from the laser pick-up, to the flipping mechanism, and to the main board just to see if it could be a loose connection or even a condensation issue. Did you say that you did see the red LED on the pick-up flashing on?

Did it abruptly stop reading discs?

I did reseat the ribbon cables coming from the laser but still nothing. I don't see the actual laser working, just it moving on the rail and then trying to focus up and down to find a disc.

I purchased the unit knowing something was wrong but figured I could get it working.

This is a very long shot, but it might help...
Try pointing a camera directly above the laser while it moves if possible (don’t look at it!), some cameras display infrared light in photos/videos. It might help us narrow down if it’s a dead laser.

So I can see the laser working (shooting a red light while looking for and LD/CD) but the carriage assembly won’t move. I did find a cld-d503 locally that I was able to pull a new carriage assembly and laser pickup from. Seems to work now but the lens needs aligned. I tried adjusting the tilt (I took photos before adjusting) and when the audio is set correctly, the picture has tons of crosstalk and vice versa. So now I need to find someone in the Midwest (I’m in Iowa) that has an oscilloscope to align the laser.

Also, it looks like the original issue was a plastic piece towards the front of the player that broke? At least this wasn’t broke on the 503 I used as a donor machine (photo below).

And the Pioneer test disc.


I think this is the CD plate, should sit near the loading motor.

I was just thinking about this earlier this morning. Looks like its still available from pacparts but on a slight delay. Is the the GGV1069 the only test disc available now? I haven't been able to find any of the others referenced (GGV1003, GGV1015, etc.)




Could this have been the original culprit for the carriage assembly not moving or lifting the disc? Its the only broken part I could find on the D703.

Yes.


Probably. There is a spring a screw that goes to it as well.

Thank you so much! I really appreciate the help

You can leave this part out as its only function is to select between CD tray only or LD tray. With this out you always get the LD tray. If you don’t see the little spring that goes with it you’ll need to look for that.