The CD player on our 06 Golf keeps skipping when playing, very annoying. Anyone had a similar problem?

Anyone replaced their radio? Is it tricky? What’s the best place to get one from? (ebay?)

Clean the heads first.

What CD player is it? Like this?

Yeah that’s the one. How best to clean the heads?

very straight forward to replace, the plugs in the golf will fit straight into any aftermarket system with out the need to buy any lead connectors, the only thing you may need to do is swap the red and yellow power leads on the new system to retain the radio stations memory, this is not a problem as they will already be on bullet connectors. only down side is if you present system is key coded once you remove the power you will need the code if you intend to refit(if/when you are selling the car) so just check you have the code before you disconnect, Halfords is as good as any for price and generally free fitting if you dont want to do it yourself or any car audio shop, but like i say it is simple to do so dont be sucked into anyone who wants to charge upwards of £27.50 for the pleasure. Only thing to watch for on ebay is B-stock and refurb units, some are good and can save you some cash others well…avoid.

looking at the picture just posted you will need a facia adapter 🙂

Irish_AL, I’d want to replace it with the same one. Guessing it would have to be a VW unit?

Head cleaner CD. And/or get an aircan and blast it with compressed air in the slot. Don’t use one that’s propane though, I did and it leaves goo everywhere. Blast before cleaning heads I’d say.

To replace, you’d want a double-DIN unit. It can be tricky to integrate it properly into the car, so that the backlight comes on when you turn the lights on and the thing turns off when you turn the car off etc. You either buy a module that integrates with the car’s CANBUS system (which I did) or you take the dash panels off, hunt around for a suitable wire that powers something else that displays the off and on characteristics you want and use that. Oh and you need an adapter for the aerial too, it was a game finding one that worked correctly for me but it’s actually a simple one you need in the end.

Your stereo is an RCD300 – lots available on eBay, and those will simply plug in in place of your old one. You could upgrade to an RNS510 however, there are also several third party replacements that look and behave just like an RNS510 but are cheaper.. 🙂

Or I could upgrade to an RNS 510 and sell you the Pioneer satnav unit that I installed instead 😉

Thanks molgrips. Seem to be quite a few RCD300’s on ebay, might try and pick one of those up. Just found a handy guide to extracting the existing one too and doesn’t look to be too tricky a job.

No, extracting it is easy, four torx screws.

But do try the cleaner thing and compressed air first.

I wouldn’t upgrade to an rns510 until you know which canbus gateway version you have otherwise your car may suffer from battery drain…..

Thanks Drapoon, if I have to replace it I think I’d stick with the RCD300 (but with the mp3 thing). Don’t spend much time in the car so don’t need anything fancy.

What MP3 thing?

mr blobby – make sure you get the correct round cornered one as there are square corned versions from vans and touregs i believe.

HTH

Thanks thomthumb, will do.

Molgrips, some of them will play mp3 CD’s. Mine wont but I think newer ones do.

Oh right. Mine won’t either.

I was trying to add a USB hard drive to my Pioneer unit (which is a piece of crap btw but it was cheap and does have all the feature I wanted) the night before leavnig for Germany, but I fried the adapter box so had to re-install the RCD300. And to be fair, it really is better sound quality than the Pioneer – or rather, it seems tuned for the car and speakers much better.

Yeah the RCD300 seems pretty good and other than the very irritating skipping I’m happy to stick with it.