Pioneer DEH 4100 issues

[koneco 0]

Hey guys,

I've got a Pioneer DEH 4100 (as the title implies) and it's suffering from a few annoying malfunctions.

1) Sometimes it will independently skip forward through a song, but does not beep to indicate this and it seems to be a pretty random occurrence. Even if it did beep, it still pisses you off. Some of my songs suffer from different volumes, so I go from, like, Ray Charles to a goddamn Children of Bodom song at a higher volume. My ears leave my body for a time.

2) I leave my iPod plugged in via USB, and what used to happen when I'd start the car was that the head unit would automatically start the iPod up. Now, it is about 30% of the time that it starts up automatically, 30% of the time I switch it to USB, and 40% of the time it doesn't even recognize the iPod is plugged in and I have to unplug and plug back in the iPod.

3) Skipping CDs ... an mp3 CD, which has only ever sat in the player. I don't know how it would've gotten screwed up.

Possible issues:

1) Frayed cable ... however, when it finally is recognized it plays just fine aside from the random skipping forward, which is ... again, random and actually fairly rare at this moment.

2) Slowly failing circuitry. The second problem above has been occurring for at least six months, but I don't really give a damn. The skipping just started about a month ago, and it seems, oddly enough, that the head unit does not like Ray Charles or The Widdler. That's a joke, hah hah. Anyway, often in electronics you may see a sudden failure, or you may see a prolonged failure. I'm already past warranty, so whatever, but I'm wondering if I should start giving a damn.

3) My iPod is being a bitch.

If any of you guys have had similar issues, please let me know. Thanks doods.

Edited November 4, 2010 by koneco

[Tirefryr 1,742]

It's probably all software related, but could be mechanical or electrical.

Does it only skip forward on the ipod or on CDs? You do realize that a CD sitting in the mechanism gets spun everyday and read even when not in use. This could lead to scratches.

[koneco 0]

It's probably all software related, but could be mechanical or electrical.

Does it only skip forward on the ipod or on CDs? You do realize that a CD sitting in the mechanism gets spun everyday and read even when not in use. This could lead to scratches.

It only skips forward on the iPod. The CD skips/ticks on occasion as well. It seems when I haven't used it for awhile, it skips less/not at all, but if I've forgotten my iPod and play the CD a lot, it skips ... and not enough to really ruin any songs, but still. And no, I did not realize that a CD on a spindle had anything to scratch itself on.

[Tirefryr 1,742]

The vibration from the vehicle and distortion of the spinning disc are enough to cause minute scrathes from touching anything, not to mention dust. It could be as simple as dust.

[koneco 0]

And I know I could eliminate the problem by using the AUX input, but I like that my iPod gets charged and I can just flick the switch to skip through songs without taking my eyes off the road (iPod Touch ... ). Plus, I assume that the head unit gets a better signal through USB, but that might just be conventional wisdom/false. I haven't done my homework regarding that.