The car came with this fascia I am about to show you. Problem is the player itself was broken. It would not play or even read the disc. Not having a multi-changer in the boot I relied on this unit entirely to play the disc. I can't remember the other fault with it now but the main reason for getting rid was the fact the disc reader was broken. I ordered a already coded to my car stereo off eBay and it arrived.
Unfortunately, during transit one of the corners was bent (it stayed there but still, a cracked corner looks awful!) and the over all condition of the fascia I had bought, well, it's fair to say it was either off an older vehicle OR had just been subject to a lot of use and sun fading.
I am therefore, planning to transplant the original fascia back onto the newer player.
All didn't go according to plan when taking this apart so when I take the stereo out the car I must get it spot on next time.
The volume button wouldn't give over and come away as a nice little volume button usually would. I then proceeded to yank the circuit board off - again, because the stereo was in effect broken it was of no real concern to me how well the board came off anyway.
Once the circuit board was out of my way I could then proceed to do more un-screwing of the little gold plated screws and as I took off the clear plastic light defuser the bigger buttons came out easily. However the little ones had to be gently persuaded with a flat screw driver head. (I was using wooden cocktail sticks but when it snapped I thought I needed something a touch harder, wink wink).
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| A lot of un-screwing later........... |
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| Not bad, not bad. |
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| All done. Just have to remove the stereo in the car and continue! |
Will have to wait until the removal tool comes so I can continue, but when it has I shall update this post with all the latest as it happens :)
Update: 19/2/2013
Still waiting for the removal tool. Did concoct my own version which failed miserably so will have to wait for the darn thing to arrive before I continue with this job BUT I have taken pictures to show you what I am talking about with regards the condition and the 'snapped corner' issue.
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| The ''new'' stereo fascia: fitted in the car at present. |
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| You can totally see why I want to change the fascia back now can't you? |
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| Said corner that was damaged, supposedly in transit. |
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| Another of said cracked corner |
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| Damn right I want the fascia transplanted! |
Still - let's wait on the blinking radio removal tool................
**UPDATE** The transplant is now complete.
Now, I am not going to pretend it was all plain sailing because although they are the same stereos it appears the badly beaten fascia was actually NEWER than mine! They had slightly different circuit board connections. Where as the original stereo was able to be disconnected from the board the new unit wasn't. It was soldered into place. Making it a little tricky to hold the unit up while unscrewing the screws from the board / fascia.
Anyway, panic over and I completed the job.
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| New unit, connected to old fascia. |
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| Comparing the circuit boards. (Top one suffered damage as I took it apart, good job it was knackered anyway, lol). |
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| Top picture and middle picture: Damage to new unit Bottom picture: OLD fascia now fitted on the new unit. Looks like it is new :) |
Pleased with this accomplishment :)
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