My Factory radio in my escort decides to be stupid once in awhile, ex. display not showing up deciding not to play cd's deciding not to ejsct cds, things like that. I would take it to the dealer and have them fix it because i'm still under warrenty, but it doesn't happen enough to acually do it when i take it in. So i started looking at how hard it was to chang the cd player. When i started it seemed easy, but i got to crutchfield.com and they said metal needed to be cut out of the dash on my 2003 but not any year before. some people i've talked to though said that you don't need to. So i was just wondering which one is true because if i do need to cut out the metal then i don't think i'll get a new cd player.

anyone who can help my fix the problem with the factory radio or help with how to put in the new one i would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks

 

2003 has in dash cd player. the cd player was not the best as it is prone to heat failure and where it is mounted in the car it is in direct sunlight

to replace the factory cd player in a 2003 with an aftermarket unit the cd player will have to come out. The small side clips come off and the radio removal tools can be placed in the holes to remove the cd player from the radio faceplate/heater control. Once this is removed you will see the small metal tabs which retain the cd player into the radio faceplate. These will have to be filed down enough to allow the installation of the new headunit installation sleeve. Once it fits into the hole without distortion the new head unit can be installed.