Hi all,
My name is Stef and I wondered if someone might be able to help me out, it'd be much appreciated.
A few months ago I bought a 2003 Verada XI, in good nick apart from the usual wear and tear and a couple of cracks on the wood grain plastic that surrounds the air conditioning controls and cd player. While test driving it, I noted the CD player didn't work and asked for it to be replaced, which they did so.
Everything was fine for a while, however the new CD player runs very, very hot and struggles to play CDs properly, mostly it replays the same song or gets stuck trying to go to the next song and on occasion has scratched a couple of my CDs. My boyfriend offered to give me an old CD player out of his car, however when he went to take out the CD player that's in there, he couldn't. It appears that whoever put that player in there, jammed it in tightly and it's impossible to remove it, at least without removing the centre console, which I suspect would make it crack more. Given that the centre console is already cracked in two places, and some of the woodgrain has bubbled and peeled off, I figured if I could get a new one of those, then if the centre console gets further damage from the cd player being removed it wouldn't matter.
Does anyone know where to get these from? I looked at the Mitsubishi website but couldn't find what I wanted, and I do not have a local Mitsubishi dealer.

Thanks for any and all help,
Stef

Hey Stef,

Welcome to AMC.

For a "Want to buy" thread - Post up here: http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=53 and follow these guidelines: http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/announcement.php?f=53

You'll get a much better responce. Also check out this section for existing ones: http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=13

Now, if you want to keep your woodgrain (Xi right?) it's going to cost a bit more then usual... $60 or so for that single section compared to $10.

Thanks heaps for your post. Sorry for posting it in the wrong bit. Yes I'd rather keep the woodgrain - I love the look of woodgrain but it looks pretty bad between the peeling (and I don't know why that happened) and the cracks so replacing it seems the way to go.

Your BF will need to remove the centre console to get the CD player out, as it is screwed to a couple of brackets which hold it in the dash. These screws are only accessable once the centre console is removed.

Thanks, we did think it was because we didn't take the centre console off but I didn't want to crack it further. Because the centre console's so badly damaged as it is, I suspect we would probably crack it further and it mightn't go back on again, that's why I figured I'd get a new one and then it won't matter what we do to the one I have now.

Stef,

Try a search of old posts on "remove centre console" and like terms - a member or two have posted excellent "how to" messages with pics eton how to remove console safely and access the mounting screws for the audio Head Unit.

Its possible to break pieces from top to toe without the correct approach. These pieces of interior trim are priced like they are gold-plated as Spare Parts, and the woodgrain items especially so..... wreckers are possibly cheaper, but none give away good quality trims without a fair deal of spendoolies (cash).

I've been trying for more than a year to find certain woodgrain pieces at Wreckers, for instance.

A search of the AMC forums (or use the workshop manuals which are available as PDF files) will save lots of hassle, avoid breaking clips etc, and save you some bikkies.

Thanks for the ideas - I'll check it out. I would rather not have to replace it because there's other much more fun things I could be spending my money on, like a spoiler lol. However, because it's cracked in two places and it's peeling and bubbling up at the top badly that we'll make it look even worse. Depends on how much the CD player playing up bothers me I suppose - I work about an hour and a half from where I live and I like to be able to have music while I drive.

http://members.optusnet.com.au/miltonf/car/mitsu/console/stereoremoval.htm

Might make life easier :)