SatDoug

Hi All:
I have recently been experiencing my stock 6-CD in-dash player skipping, that I believe may be attributed to the recent cold weather (below 30 degrees) that we here in Northern NJ are experiencing. All of the CD's are in perfect condition, and do not skip on any other player. They are a mix of both original CD's & CD-R's. Has anyone else experienced this. I am thinking that maybe there is slight condensation on the laser lens or on the CD (???) when the heat starts to kick in once the car warms up, because at first, when I get in & the car is cold, the CD plays fine. Also, when the car fully warms up, I have no playback problems. The car is kept outside on the overnight. I haven't seen the dealer yet, because if it happens to be a known condensation problem, a replacement would probably do the same thing. Any help is appreciated!

Shojin

Yea this happens to me too - it's really annoying. After about 15 minutes it plays fine once the heat is cranked up.

On a similar note, a couple people mentioned to me that the double din radios in our 01+ pathfinders may get fatally stuck when playing CD-Rs, requiring a costly replacement/repair. Has this ever happened to anyone here? Every time I stick in a burnt CD I get a bit nervous.

chameo51

I have a 2002 PF that experienced the exact same problem. Not sure if it was the cold in-dash player or the cold CDRs but my guess is that it is the changer since it happened whether I brought the CDs inside overnight or left them in the truck. I had read elsewhere that the problem was with the consdensation on the CDs but my problems occurred whether the CDS were cold or warm prior to playing. My problems with the changer began to get worse and worse over time. There were times where the volume would get higher and higher without my touching any controls. Eventually not only wold the CDs skip excessively, they began to not play at all. Luckily, I never had the problem of any CDs getting stuck in the player. Based on the problme with the sound volume, my dealer replaced the changer but the problem with skipping or not playing never got better.

I just ended up putting in a new Head Unit (not a changer) and I now can play my CDs no matter the temperature or the roughness of the road (I live in NE PA). Not sure what has cahnged with the 2004 PF but if you search the internet you will see a host of issues with the Bose CD Changer.

SatDoug

Thank you for the answers!

Rowboat Pathy

My experience pretty much mimics what has already been posted here. I had the dealer replace the Bose head unit entirely after several CD skipping during cold weather. The new unit is slightly better, but still skips in cold mornings especially when I hit potholes. The skipping does stop when it has "warmed up" sufficiently.

I have also considered replacing the head unit with an aftermarket one. Kenwood sells a double-DIN sized with a large (touch pad) LCD screen display. Besides the prohibitive price tag (I believe $1,500 at Crutchfield) and no stealth mechanism (read: please steal me), it looks great.

Chameo51, you mentioned that you replaced yours with an aftermarket head unit. May I ask what brand/model did you replace it with? If yours came with the Bose system, how did you go about connecting your new head unit? I was told that the Bose systems have the amps built right at the speakers and not at the head unit so the installation of an aftermarket unit becomes a little tricky.

chameo51

I replaced my Bose unit with a Sony CDX-5700 CD/MP3 receiver. I really wanted the MP3 capability since I was giving up the CD changer. I know that there are many who have only negative things to say about Sony but I have been very pleased so far with my purchase. In both cold weather and quite a few bumpy roads, I have yet to have a skip and I find the sound quality to be very good. I want good sound in my truck but am not looking for the sound quality I would expect in my home. I looked at some other receivers but found that many of them were overly complex in functionality or they cost much more than I was willing to spend on a car stereo.

As far as connecting the new head unit, I bought it from Crutchfield and they provided most all of the connections I needed at no extra charge. That included the install kit, the wiring harness and the antenna adapter. You also need another part that allows easier installation with the Bose amps so you can use the stock speakers. Crutchfield sells the part (it is a Speaker Level converter from Scosche (OEA-4)) for I believe $50. I found the same part at sjgreatdeals.com for 14.59 (plus shipping). The majority of the work was crimping connectors on all the wires (so if I want too I can easily remove the new had unit and put the original Bose in when I sell the truck). In total, it probably took me no more than 2-3 hours to take out the Bose and install the Sony.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

brclay

I have an '02/'03 Pathfinder with the same Bose 6 disc in dash stereo. It does the skipping thing wether it is cold or not. It almost sounds like a digital skip, as opposed to a shock skip where you hear a chirp or some sound. In my case it just hesitates playing for a few seconds and then picks up like nothing happened for about two or three seconds.

I have contacted Nissan Customer Care and my local dealer many times. So far I am on my third stereo. Nissan claims that it is a Bose problem. I am getting ready to file under the Lemon Law and decided to do some research about how isolate or prevalent this issue is. So far I have seen a few posts about this issue, but not nearly enough to consider changing my Lemon Law case to a full fledged Class Action case.

I would really like to hear how many others are having issues with the Bose stereo and what, if any, resolution you have gotten from Nissan.
Thanks,
Brian

moymch

It is all part of the Bose bundle of junk. Get rid of it and get something nice.

brclay

If you take a look at my post above you'll see what my problem was.
Here is the resolution(out of court) that was reached with Nissan.
Nissan is paying me the retail value of a replacement factory Bose headunit, in turn I will not pursue any actions legal or otherwise.
If any of you are having problems of this nature I would encourage you to pressure Nissan to provide some restitution for your troubles.

SLVRPATH

i have an 02 pathfinder and been having the same problems since day one. i play both store bought and copied cds and it was skipping a lot so i took it in and they were happy to replace it. after getting it replaced same problems were occuring so i went back and they said some bose decks have this prob and changed it again. got a new deck again wit the same problem took it to the dealer and now they say that bose systems cant play the copied cds and got it replaced again!! i played no copied cds and same skipping was occuring and after warming up it would work fine. i looked and posted some topics on nissanforums.com and seen where the problem was. i took advantage of my warranty and kept getting it replaced. i complained to nissan customer care and they said there is nothing they can do. hey Brclay if you can tell me how u got your problem solved i would greatly appricate it.

current solution is playing no copied cds and listening to the cd player in the afternoons only. i also purchased a ipod which i am going to buy the car adapter for. i would say invest in an ipod they are freaking great!!

brclay

I called Nissan Consumer Affairs (1-800-4-Nissan). I began logging the problems there. I probably spent 15 to 2o hours on the phone with them and insisted on speaking to a manager every time. They insisted that I replace the stereo one more time. So I did that. It skipped as well. I called them again. They told me to take it to the dealer to 'verify' the skip(like I was lying). I did, and of course it skipped. They then called me back and offered me the settlement deal.
I just got a Kenwood DDX-7015 installed on Friday and it cost me $10.00 after the settlement. And the best part??? it doesn't skip.
Personally I think that someone should file a class action law suit, but in the settlement I was required to sign a document binding me to pursue no other legal recourse in this matter.

Good Luck.

BigCanoe

How much of a hassle is it to get one of these replaced? I assume you have to leave the car overnight, or wait, how long does it take?

Rowboat Pathy

That's awesome! I've had my eye on that unit too, but it's pretty expensive though. Please give us a full report (likes and dislikes) when you get the chance. Did you upgrade your speakers as well? If so, which ones did you get?

Actually, my biggest concern with a $1000+ head unit is that it screams "steal me" from potential car thieves. Is the face detachable?

Btw, congrats on the settlement.

brclay

It only take about 20 minutes to replace a head unit of the same type. But you need two 'keys' to release the latches on the sides of the head unit. My dealership took about two to three hours to replace each unit. My guess is that most of that time was waiting for a tech to get free.

brclay

Ok, disclaimer first...we've only had the Kenwood for about 4 days. I didn't get it back from the installer until after 7 on last friday night. Also, this is my fiancee's car, not mine, so I have only been using it while I was forced to go shopping with her.

Overall I would rate the Kenwood at a 9.
The cons first...
To make it a 10 I would want to be able to customize the menu and wallpaper. We had XM added, but the Kenwood is set up for Sirius. The XM works fine, but all of the menus say Sirius, even though we're listening to XM. The wallpaper flat out sucks. I leave it on a solid color background just to avoid the wallpaper. I researching a way to upload custom wallpaper, if I find one I'll post that here.

Pros...
This unit is nealry perfect for a Pathfinder or Audi(my car). I may have to get another one for the Audi. It's a double DIN size, which is what the factory opening is in the Pathfinder. It fits so well that the trim piece that comes with the Kenwood isn't needed. It's perfectly flush when the screen isn't tilted. And the best part, because the Pathfinder opening is low in the dash(below eye level) the power tilt of the screen gets you the perfect viewing angle. I saw this unit in a F-250, where the stereo opening is at the top of the dash(where the climate control and clock are in the Pathfinder) and the driver couldn't use the tilt at all because of the glare. For clarification, the bottom of the screen extends out, maybe an inch at most, but a significant amount in six different stages(1/6th of an inch per stage). This creates the perfect angle for the screen to be viewed at since we all know that LCDs look dim if you aren't looking at them head on. When the screen is all the way tilted, it's a little tight to reach the seat heater controls, but I can live with that. The screen also flips down and out at the bottom to load/eject a disc. The bottom of the screen pops out about two to three inches to do this and comes within 1/4 inch of the gear shift when in park. We have the AWD option, so I don't know if the other 4WD models will have problems with the shifter for the 4WD.
Features...
The Kenwood is ready to handle just about everything. DVDs play perfectly, the picture is very clear. I've seen complaints that the screen isn't bright enough. I can't agree with them. We actually had to turn the brightness down, because it was too bright at night(it's illegal to watch DVDs while driving, but you can get around that). It has switchable illumination(green/red). I think the green looks closer to the white illumination. Supposedly it has a dimming lead, but the installer didn't hook that up, I'll be asking him about that.
Sound is very good, it has built in EQs and user programmable ones.

At some point I would like to hook up the navigation unit, but right now that is going for another $700, and what she got was a hell of a present already.

So what did we put in there???
The Kenwood DDX-7015

We connected that to the factory Bose(yes I said Bose) amps and speakers using an aftermarket harness from Soundgate. This means you don't have to replace any of the speakers or amps, unless you want to spend another Grand.

We used an aftermarket harness to connect the steering wheel controls to a very small IR transmitter to make the steering wheel controls act like a remote control. This was a requirement from my fiancee, and trust me, without a rotary volume control on the Kenwood, you will want to continue using the steering wheel controls.

We also added XM. Terk makes two parts(and adapter and the antenna) that will allow you to add XM to the Kenwood, even though the Kenwood is Sirius ready. The only problem is the menu mentioned above.

That's all that we did, but I would really like to add the Navigation in the future.

OK, to get to the really important stuff.
Now that you've got this nice piece of hardware, how do you keep it in there???

Well, my first piece of advice is don't put it somewhere it will be stolen. This SUV stays in a garage when it's at our house, a patrolled parking garage at her office, and a garage at our summer lake house.
But, since you can't keep it in a garage when you go shopping or whatever here's some ideas and tips.

The Kenwood looks extremely factory, so this helps with the punks that don't know what they're looking at.
There are two things that I don't like about the Kenwood that makes it look not so factory. First, the kenwood insignia. That's gonna get taken off really soon(it's just paint). Second, there is a small red upside down triangle that flashes at night. I think it's supposed to deter theifs, but seriously, all that does is tell them you have something nice to steal. I'll be blacking that one out too.

So my last piece of advice...get your installer to make you a piece of ABS plastic that fits snuggly over the whole monitor. Whenever you have to leave the car parked somewhere, put the cover on it. Thiefs, generally won't break into a car unless the know what they're going to get. In our case, all the speakers are factory, the grills are factory, there aren'et any other mods to the car to make it look like something they would want to break into. They'll probably pass it up.
But if they don't??? That's what insurance is for. Just make sure you have coverage for over $2,000 on stereo equipment, most policies cap it at $2K.


Good luck with getting any money out of Nissan. I might be the first, but hopefully not the last.