new surf owner trying to get to grips with jap stereo

[Toyney]

Right, heres a few questions I couldnt find answers to via a forum search, and after hours fluffing around googling I wondered if anyone here has the answer.

I just picked my '92 surf up on wednesday and it is lovely. it drives nicely etc. no problems so far.
but, the damn stereo is some jap model with cd and tape double din type jobbie. Now I wondered if anyone else has a Kenwood dpx510 in theirs and if so... is it supposed to play home written cds or not? mines hit and miss, sometimes it spits it out, sometimes it accepts it but doesnt play anything, other times it starts to play and then starts skipping after a couple of tracks... but it plays bought and paid for cds absolutely fine and dandy.

and the FM radio is a short range.. is there some expander I can attach somewhere to increase the range up to british spec?

ooh, one other question...
the handbrake light comes on when i accelerate away from stationary... but then goes off shortly or when i stop accelerating. could this be a simple faulty sensor or something more serious that needs looking into?

cheers people for any help you can offer

JT

[dazzo23]

The one in mine wouldn't play ANY cd's, not even genuine ones, got fed up with Radio 2 on the drive home from Kent after picking the Surf up up, junked the bl**dy thing and bought a UK spec double din Sony off ebay.

[Slugsie]

The basic deal with a Jap stereo is:
DITCH IT
and get a UK one. A search of ebay usually turns up double din units, or you can fit a single din unit and a little cubby hole underneath.

[firefly]

best thing to do is get the stereo and throw it in the bin or you could sell it on e-bay, and then get a uk player fitted they are easy to do must be even i managed it and i am the worst person in the world to mess with cars

[andy]

Right, heres a few questions I couldnt find answers to via a forum search, and after hours fluffing around googling I wondered if anyone here has the answer.

I just picked my '92 surf up on wednesday and it is lovely. it drives nicely etc. no problems so far.
but, the damn stereo is some jap model with cd and tape double din type jobbie. Now I wondered if anyone else has a Kenwood dpx510 in theirs and if so... is it supposed to play home written cds or not? mines hit and miss, sometimes it spits it out, sometimes it accepts it but doesnt play anything, other times it starts to play and then starts skipping after a couple of tracks... but it plays bought and paid for cds absolutely fine and dandy.

Alot of people have this problem, try cleaning the lens/laser


and the FM radio is a short range.. is there some expander I can attach somewhere to increase the range up to british spec?

http://www.bridgwater-electronics.co.uk/p_44_Radio+Band+Expander.php

ooh, one other question...
the handbrake light comes on when i accelerate away from stationary... but then goes off shortly or when i stop accelerating. could this be a simple faulty sensor or something more serious that needs looking into?

Have you checked the fluid level.

cheers people for any help you can offer

JT

1

[Morr]

Right, heres a few questions I couldnt find answers to via a forum search, and after hours fluffing around googling I wondered if anyone here has the answer. A quick search here on the forum reveals 5 threads with "expander" in the title, numerous more with in in the text. Plenty of info on them to tell you how crap most users consider them to be

I just picked my '92 surf up on wednesday and it is lovely. it drives nicely etc. no problems so far.
but, the damn stereo is some jap model with cd and tape double din type jobbie. Now I wondered if anyone else has a Kenwood dpx510 in theirs and if so... is it supposed to play home written cds or not? mines hit and miss, sometimes it spits it out, sometimes it accepts it but doesnt play anything, other times it starts to play and then starts skipping after a couple of tracks... but it plays bought and paid for cds absolutely fine and dandy.

and the FM radio is a short range.. is there some expander I can attach somewhere to increase the range up to british spec? As commented above, don't bother

ooh, one other question...
the handbrake light comes on when i accelerate away from stationary... but then goes off shortly or when i stop accelerating. could this be a simple faulty sensor or something more serious that needs looking into? could be as simple as your brake fluid is a bit low, check it first before checking anything else, remember if its low, don't neccessarily just top it up straight away, it could be an indicator that you shoes or pads need changing, and if you top up the resevoir to full and then change pads or shoes, it will likely overflow!

cheers people for any help you can offer

JT

.

[dirtydog]

sold my old kenwood md/cd double din on ebay for £150 then bought a mp3 changer and cdr headunit from ebay for not even double that. sweet

[paulc]

Mine didn't play CDs when I first got it, but I stuck a cleaning CD in and that seemed to sort it out (I think the cars get very dirty sitting around the Jap docks). I also stuck a band expander on the radio (about £10 on eBay) - did the trick now get virtualy all stations.

[dirtydog]

Mine didn't play CDs when I first got it, but I stuck a cleaning CD in and that seemed to sort it out (I think the cars get very dirty sitting around the Jap docks). I also stuck a band expander on the radio (about £10 on eBay) - did the trick now get virtualy all stations.

i waas going to buy an expander but when i took the old unit out it already had one... my verdict: Rubbish IMHO

[Snoop]

Mine/ours seems to have the worlds most advanced CD player and tv in it, does GPS, voice activated etc. and everything. But for all it's cleverness, it can't speak engrish so it's gonna get binned. Got some real nice goodies lined up for it that I kept from my show car + a few additions. Will it be the loudest Surf in Sussex?

[paulc]

It may not have had been wired up properly, they have to have wire to the power supply as well as the ariel. Mine works fine, I think I now get from about 88 to 105.8 FM.

[Toyney]

oh, it gets better...

I was going over the car doing a check on simple stuff like... spare tyre for eg
and i realised that the spare tyre is actually in use and the one under the car is one thats been taken off with a puncture and not replaced.
I would have thought it was up to the garage to inform me of the fact the spare is a dud ( has a side wall hole from off road use) or replace it.
I didnt think to check it while I was there as it came with a fairly recent MOT and i reconned on that picking it up. As its underneath its easy to forget about it.

as well as that I checked the oil, which was apparently changed... was it b**lo*ks... new oil and filter i was told... so they lied to me about that... now Im very nervous about anything else they didn't check or cobbled together.

the brake fluid is ok, so im reconning on the light coming on being something to do with a faulty sensor. as Ive given the handbrake abit of a working, on off on off on off etc and it isn't coming on now. I think often people dont bother with the handbrake, just just stick it in park and maybe it's something to do with that.

The stereo is going to have to wait a while for replacement as the tape player works.. which means I can plug my MP3 player in and bobs yer uncle on that front. and Im one of those saddo's that actually still buys real cd's, the 2 or 3 that are copies I can chuck onto MP3 player.

not sure whether to attempt an oil change before I head off for france or when I get back.

[mark g8awo]

oh, it gets better...

I was going over the car doing a check on simple stuff like... spare tyre for eg
and i realised that the spare tyre is actually in use and the one under the car is one thats been taken off with a puncture and not replaced.
I would have thought it was up to the garage to inform me of the fact the spare is a dud ( has a side wall hole from off road use) or replace it.
I didnt think to check it while I was there as it came with a fairly recent MOT and i reconned on that picking it up. As its underneath its easy to forget about it.

as well as that I checked the oil, which was apparently changed... was it b**lo*ks... new oil and filter i was told... so they lied to me about that... now Im very nervous about anything else they didn't check or cobbled together.

the brake fluid is ok, so im reconning on the light coming on being something to do with a faulty sensor. as Ive given the handbrake abit of a working, on off on off on off etc and it isn't coming on now. I think often people dont bother with the handbrake, just just stick it in park and maybe it's something to do with that.

The stereo is going to have to wait a while for replacement as the tape player works.. which means I can plug my MP3 player in and bobs yer uncle on that front. and Im one of those saddo's that actually still buys real cd's, the 2 or 3 that are copies I can chuck onto MP3 player.

not sure whether to attempt an oil change before I head off for france or when I get back.

Ditch the radio and get one designed for the UK market



And as far as the tyre goes if it was on the vehicle at the time of the MOT it should of been picked up by the mot inspector as a fail point


you could point that out and it could lose the mot inspection site their ticket