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JVC XL-FL252BK: CD Player Tray Not Working

JVC XL-FL252BK: CD Player Tray Not Working

Well, I was able to pick up a JCV XL-F252BK 5-disc CD player with some sort of problem that caused the carousel drawer to not work. When the user wants to add, remove, or otherwise fiddle with a CD in this sort of machine, a drawer opens and a carousel mechanism is presented. The CDs ride in this carousel. A disc that is selected to play is rotated into position with the laser pickup, at which time magic happens and the machine plays the disc.

In the case of this player, the drawer with the carousel would not open every time. After some messing around, the drawer would open, but might not close again. With a little more messing around I could get the drawer to work, but then the carousel sometimes would not turn.

JVC XL-F252BK front view
This is a JVC XL-F252BK as viewed from the front. This machine is considered to be very high quality, even for its age. The frequency response is outstanding, but in this case the drawer did not work reliably.

The most obvious, and least traumatic, likely cause of the drawer problems is that the belt is bad. When the motor operates it turns a grooved wheel and that, in turn, runs the belt which turns another wheel. Various gears and other bits come into play at this point, and the drawer opens, closes, and the carousel turns.

JVC XL-F252BK interior view
This is what the “guts” of the JVC XL-F252BK look like. The drawer is in the open position so we can see the parts that reside underneath. The laser play mechanism is the white assembly in the top left corner. If we look carefully, we can see the motor drive and belt toward the lower left corner.
JVC XL-F252BK belt
The JVC XL-F252BK belt is fairly small, a bit larger than a quarter. It is a square belt, not round or flat, and because of its size is a tiny bit unusual. When rubber belts such as this one age, they become stiff and slippery. That is probably the problem here.

Next time we will check this belt and see what we need to do to get the JVC XL-F252BK working correctly.