RNS-E navigation drive replacement

[Adrian E]

Hi all

My RNS-E had started to get fussy about what discs it would accept for the navigation system. I know I can burn the discs reliably, so when cleaning the lens with a CD lens cleaner, and even stripping the lid off the drive and cleaning with IPA only worked for a couple of days, it was clear more surgery was required!

You can buy just the laser if you're handy with a soldering iron, but I'm not. After much digging through ebay adverts I found a source for complete transports (they're actually an Alpine part) at not ridiculous cost. Including shipping and import tax it came to £95 (£75 for unit, £15 shipping and just under £5 VAT)

I've attached a pdf guide that covers the whole process (written by someone else and with an e-mail address for enquiring about lasers), including laser replacement assuming you're just doing that. I also took some photos of my own as I went along. It did get a bit fraught towards the critical part, so photo taking stopped to concentrate on not breaking anything critical!

With the RNS-E removed and on the bench, getting access to the laser and transport for cleaning is really easy:

Remove the 3 marked screws from the top



Then remove 1 screw on each side:





Lift off the lid and this is what you'll find:



The laser head itself is hidden under part of the metal frame, but you can get to it with a cotton bud soaked in IPA if you want to give cleaning it a go - the earlier the better if it's showing signs of weakness.

To remove the drive you then need to free up the faceplate by removing 4 screws on each side:



You can then very carefully work the fascia forward a little - this will pull the screen forward as well. You're not trying to remove the fascia at this point, so once you've pulled it forward a little if you push it back you want to be able to get hold of the bottom of the screen and then pull the screen forward on its mechanism. Watch out for the spring underneath which you really do not want to break!

At this point you may wish to disconnect the cable between the fascia and main board:



Mine just popped out when I was fiddling with the fascia, but much better to remove it in a planned way!

The brackets on each side that hold the unit in place in the car will become detached as well - this doesn't matter so long as you realise they're handed and have little cutouts that need to be engaged with the fascia before you put the screws back in!

I don't like ribbon cables and don't recognise how they work. The instructions attached are not very clear on this, and i didn't grab pictures but basically whenever you are removing a ribbon cable, there is a mini clamp holding it in place! On the screen there are recesses you can put a pointed tool in, but fingers will also free it off. Just tease the connector towards the ribbon and it should release. Getting it back together is fiddly but much easier if you've released the connector in the first place!

Once you've released the screen ribbon there are 3 black screws holding the bottom of the screen to the frame. Undo those and you than then twist the screen and remove it completely to keep it safe.

To get the disc transport out you only need to remove 4 screws. The 2 on the front:



And less obvious from the guide are the rear ones:



These are fiddly to get to so when I reassembled I put the rear screws into the holes before going near the main unit, to avoid having to try and fish them out of the inner recesses of the main unit!

Once the screws are out you need to release another ribbon connector underneath the drive - this one has 2 plastic clips, 1 on each side, which release with finger pressure.

I did find some of the screws really tight, considering how small they are. Jewellers screwdrivers fit perfectly but don't give you enough purchase to undo them. I found a mini pair of pliers useful to grip the screwdriver shaft to get them started. Also to make sure they were tight enough on reassembly.

Then the immortal Haynes phrase on reassembly!

Amazingly after getting it back together and plugging back in it is working perfectly! I burned a fresh 2015 map to avoid any risk of dust or disc damage carrying over. Popped it in the drive and it read it very quickly compared to the old drive and on a test run worked exactly as it should.

I now have a spare disc transport sitting here, so if anyone is contemplating a laser replacement swap and you wanted to do it at leisure with a known good transport it's here

Now to decide whether the Mk2 RNS-E is worth the extra cash, given I'll probably end up replacing the transport on that at some point!

Final note on parts - my old one was marked DV35 and the replacement is DV36. They are compatible - no idea if there's a design difference, but it's a later part so you never know!