RCD 500 Warranty Question

[Kaiser2000]

My RCD 500 6-disc MP3 changer died the week before Christmas By died, I mean it seems that one of the CDs has jammed resulting in an "ERROR SERVICE" message on the display.

Unfortunately though, I bought this stereo from ebay when I got the car last April but I'm wondering is there any way to check whether the stereo itself would still be in warranty, or if I should stick it back in the car (in the meantime I've put the original RCD 300 back in) and chance asking the dealer to fix/replace it when I put her in for her service next month - the car itself is still in warranty till April.

Any suggestions? Cheers!

[mhurer]

There's no harm in trying. I would do exactly the same thing - leave it in the car and see if they will do it under warranty.

I suspect the only problem is the details they hold for your car will show it should have the RCD300, with no record of an upgrade to 500. If they bring this up then I would tell them you got another dealer to do the upgrade for you a few months ago, but state it was not your local dealer (miles away etc), as what I have found is different dealerships do not share service information with each other.

I have an RCD500 as standard in my SEL, and this was replaced under warranty recently with the same problem as yours - stuck CDs. This is the third RCD500 the car has had in 2 years, so seems to be a common problem.

If they do not fix it under warranty then don't bother getting it fixed as it will cost £150+ to do so. Better off sticking with with RCD300 and, assuming it is mp3 compatible, create mp3 disks with 100+ songs / 10 albums on a disk.

Good luck.

[Teflon]

Sorry to sound like a killjoy, but what is being proposed here is deception, maybe fraud. It strikes me that a warranty fix is going to be tied in with the serial number on the radio, which itself is tied to another vehicle in the VW database. Worst case is that it was nicked before it turned up on EBay. There's no certaintly that they will look it up, but VW dealers are not noted for their charity.

If it has got a CD stuck in the works why not dig out the screwdrivers and try a bit of gentle disassembly? You've nothing to lose and it's not rocket science.

[Kaiser2000]

No offense taken Teflon

I have had a look at the unit itself, but disassembling it doesn't look too easy (especially with nothing to use as a guide). I have been told though that it's not an easy job so I'd probably end up replacing the unit one way or another anyway, which is why I first asked if there's a way to tell if the stereo itself is in warranty as then there'd be no issue.

[mhurer]

My view is the RCD500 is likely to be under 3 years old, since the first units were introduced in late 2005, so should be under warranty anyway.

But accepted, being unsure about the RCD500s history (nicked?) plus the deception angle - I agree, probably best to come clean and see what VW say. So I take back what I said earlier.

Also agree that it is worth taken the unit appart to have a look, as not much point getting it repaired so nothing to lose anyway. Also, as stated earlier, with mp3 CD you can effectively get 10 cds on a single CD anyway on your RCD300, but accepted - not as flexible as having 6 cd changer.

[Kaiser2000]

Well after I posted earlier, I decided I'd have a go at opening up the unit itself. Armed with my trusty screwdriver set I managed to get inside it and - with a bit of effort - pry out the CD that was jammed (luckily it was a CDR and not an original disc as it'll never play again )

After doing this, I hooked the unit back up to the power in the car and the rest of the discs ejected without incident. I'll try it with a new disc later but fingers crossed that's done the trick!!