So I bought this Z3 at a pretty good price. I installed it along with this pretty sweet wiring harness that retained all of my Escalades features.

Well I loaded it up and it kinda worked except: AV wouldn't show up, Rear View wouldn't show up, and i was having issues with the unit closing back.

I read the "Before You Begin" section and realized that it would've paid dividends to read that first. Figured out what was wrong with the Rear View and AV but am still struggling with this unit closing back.

Here's what it does: I push the OPEN CLOSE button. The face slides out and down just about an inch below the disk slot and comes back up a 1/4 or 1/2 inch to where it's just below the disk eject button. I push the eject button and nothing happens. I try to insert a disk and it won't let me. I hit the OPEN CLOSE button. It goes down 1/4 or 1/2 inch and comes right back up 1/4 or 1/2 inch. Does not close. I push all of the buttons and nothing happened. I thought maybe I had installed it in too tight of a spot so I turned off the car to pull the radio out but then when I turn it off and open the car door (GM), it closes smoothly like there was nothing wrong with it. So now I'm like WUT. I have tried to reset a few times.

I did the bypass and that works great. But obviously the unit not allowing me to use the disk drive and not wanting to close is unacceptable. Funny story, I went to wendys and was trying to see how well it sounded real loud with the Bose. Went to hit volume up after already having it pretty loud and hit the OPEN CLOSE button by accident. Now I'm thumping and can't close it or lower the volume or change the source. What else could possibly happen to make this situation worse? A cop pulls up next to me. I quickly shut off the car, open the car door and start hitting volume down like a 1000 times when it closed back and turned back on.

Of course I will find out when I pull it out today or tomorrow but all I can think of is possibly some manual blockage (like a safety feature) such as a safety screw that needed to be removed prior to installation. I've installed several radios in the past and this has always come back to bite me after installation but I couldn't find anything about it in the Manuals.

Help is obviously appreciated.

I thought maybe I had installed it in too tight of a spot so I turned off the car to pull the radio out but then when I turn it off and open the car door (GM), it closes smoothly like there was nothing wrong with it. So now I'm like WUT. I have tried to reset a few times.

If I understood the above statement correctly, it sounds like when you installed it in the radio dash opening, it won't open or close properly but when you take it out (hold the entire unit in your hand for example), it opens and closes fine. That tells me that the opening you put it in is too tight or something is blocking, I had a similar issue where I had to go out and buy an entire new install kit (Metra I believe). As for the unit not taking a CD/DVD, try holding the unit in your hand (in other words, don't install it in the dash opening), and see if it opens and closes properly, if it does, then try to open it and then insert the CD/DVD...

No, thats not what I meant. I meant that I was turning the car off so that I could prepare to remove the radio but when I turned the car off with the radio still in the dash kit, the radio came up correctly. Even when I remove the radio completely and just hold it in place with no kit, it still performs poorly opening and closing and will not operate the disk drive.

There is an update though. I've since found a way to use the radio but unfortunately this kind of confirms my whole Lemon suspicion. If I apply force (very little, just the weight of a few fingers) to the top of the radio as it's going down, it goes all the way down and I am able to take a disc out and operate the disk drive and when I push the open and close button to close the radio, that works as well. But every time I open the radio it will not go all the way down unless I apply the force

No, thats not what I meant. I meant that I was turning the car off so that I could prepare to remove the radio but when I turned the car off with the radio still in the dash kit, the radio came up correctly. Even when I remove the radio completely and just hold it in place with no kit, it still performs poorly opening and closing and will not operate the disk drive.

 

There is an update though. I've since found a way to use the radio but unfortunately this kind of confirms my whole Lemon suspicion. If I apply force (very little, just the weight of a few fingers) to the top of the radio as it's going down, it goes all the way down and I am able to take a disc out and operate the disk drive and when I push the open and close button to close the radio, that works as well. But every time I open the radio it will not go all the way down unless I apply the force

Sounds like you are correct, you have a bad unit. I would return it for another one or contact the manufacture since it should be under warranty?

Thanks for your help!

ATTN Moderator:

Could you please move this to the Z-Series Troubleshooting section ... I just saw that section and it seems to be the more relevant to my question. Thanks.

I made this You-Tube video for the seller so that he can see what I'm dealing with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDPwHMfjOPM

Yeah, it's supposed to go down allll the way. Like at a 90 degree angle. Make sure there is nothing blocking the rails in which the screen slides on.

What happens when you keep your finger on the eject button on the outside (bottom left corner), the initial button you used to have the screen open? I had a similar problem with a D2 I had a few years ago and what helped was to keep my finger on the small eject button for 5 seconds...Of course, I had to eventually return the system but may be temporary panacea.

Nada. When I push the OPEN CLOSE button (using manual nomenclature) the screen goes down about half an inch and right back to where it was and will repeat this every time you hit the OPEN CLOSE button. Holding it down causes absolutely nothing to happen. If I hold it down for more than 2 seconds, it won't try to open more or close. I've tried holding it down for 2 seconds, 5 seconds, 10 seconds, better part of a minute, you name it. Oh well. I contacted the seller about needing to return it.

It's odd how they are quick to reply when you haven't bought anything yet suddenly they are nowhere to be found when you ask for your money back.