Factory Bose 6 disc changer, in dash stereo REPAIR

The factory stereo in my 04 Tahoe Z71 no longer ejects CDs. I took it out, opened it up by removing the top lid and found a broken gear on the Eject mechanism. I have picked up 2 other factory stereos that I was assured both of them had functional CD changer 6 disc mechanisms. Neither works. The first one was bought from user "01 Z71" on GM Full size.com. He claimed the CD was functional, but when it arrived and I took it apart I found a CD stuck in there and the mechanism is all jacked up...unable to eject the disc or play the disc. The read/play eye for the CD is in the wrong position. The only thing salvageable from this is a set of very good buttons on the face and all of the radio functions work fine.

The 2nd stereo I picked up recently locally off Craigslist. Again, the guy said all functional. I plug it in to my Tahoe, it will load and eject discs, but will not play any of the 6 discs. It makes a buzzing sound from the mechanism when you select a disc to play.

Are these 6 disc changer mechanisms that touchy, crappy and prone to failure? I am 0 for 3 on 6 disc stacker changers now. My original still plays but will occasionally skip a beat when playing. It just wont eject without the assistance of my hand pushing the disc out.



Anyone here good with repairing these models or know the tricks to get one of any of these 3 I have working again?


I considered trying to rob the gear from one of the broken changer parts, but the offending gear is buried kinda deep in the changer mechanics. The changer/stacker does unbolt from the radio/stereo case and come out as 1 separate piece.

@mattt, I think the factory radios are coded to the VIN (anti-theft), so you'd have to have another one re-programmed to your truck. Or try one of the mods out there. That's probably why the whole radio swap didn't work.

The CD changer in my '04 didn't work, either, with symptoms similar to yours. Picked up a Upull radio and swapped the changers, and the Upull changer works fine in my radio.

There's an internet company that sells brand new changers for these radios, but they're pricey, I think over $100.

Correct, they are VIN coded. There is a way to do away with the VIN not matching. Found a You Tube where a particular chip is removed from the radio circuit board and that goes away.

I was going to swap the changer portion as you did, but the complete radio I bought has a bad changer. I wasn't able to test it before buying it unfortunately. It has a different problem from my original radio's problem. I did see reference to new changer drop in's from posts here in the past and at that time the replacement was in the $40 range IIRC. I may be forced to go to the Pick Your Part, but I worry that without being able to test it there, I could end up with another non functional changer. Thanks for weighing in.

Anyone here attempted to replace broken plastic gears in the CD changer assembly? Thanks in advance.

Thread revival. I picked up a harness plug for the stereo that I got from a vehicle at a local pick your part. Anyone have or know where to locate which wires are power and ground in the factory plug? Trying to diagnose the CD changer in the dash, plugged into my Tahoe is a pain. I'd like to be able to do diagnosis on the bench with a 12v power supply.

I have a 2003 Yukon Denali with the same problem, including my single cd unit not working either. Going to be watching this thread to see if anyone comes up with a fix. I do want to install a rear camera for ease in backing up to a trailer. I have sirius/xm/OnStar already/built-into the truck.

So I swapped plastic gears in the Eject mechanism and it worked, for a while, but then crapped out again and was no longer able to Eject CD's correctly. I am working with the in dash 6 disc head unit, not the separate units that I believe the Denali came with.

I am now looking for a complete CD mechanism to swap into my head unit. The CD mechanism comes out as a unit after you unsnap the face plate off the head unit and remove 4 small screws.

I misunderstood when I read through the thread. I assumed you were talking about the separate 6 disc cd changer mounted in the cubby just above the center console. Like what came in the Denali and Escalade. I didn’t realize that some of the actual stereo headunits had a 6 disc changer up above. Interesting thread. I can’t offer any advice. My truck has the spectate 6 disc which is now just a nice paper weight since my I don’t have the stock headunit to control it. Lol.

I bought an Isimple ipod adapter, plugs into back of factory radio, steering wheel controls operate the iopd instead of the CD player... 100 albums on the ipod instead of 6, the ipod stayed charged, love it. then I put a slide drawer where the 6 disk changer was....

Thanks for the suggestion. I got it working again by just picking up a complete CD portion of the factory stereo from a junkyard Tahoe/Suburban. The complete CD stacker portion comes out of the stereo head unit by 4 screws. Pretty easy once you do it once. Any questions about these CD 6 stackers, I would be glad to take a whack at it.