After fiddling with the smart five radio - manufactured by Grundig - we got it working again. I figured it would be easy to get it fixed, but as my dad pointed out, car CD players are pretty advanced and technically complex. You can't just open it up, see what operates what and adjust as you like. So after taking off the cover - and voiding any warranty - we started looking for apparent problems, but there were none. Shaking the unit didn't show loose or broken parts, so we were kind of clueless. We found some radars that moved bits and pieces, but we just didn't get the loader to accept a CD.
After an hour or so I suggested taking it apart even further, as we didn't get anywhere and what else could go wrong? It was broken anyway. Taking of yet another cover, I noticed one spring loose in the mechanism. After picking it out and not finding the location it originated from, we decided to put the radio back together and test it. Much to our surprise, everything functions as it should! Go figure... Another problem solved.
I'm watching TV, while blogging this entry, and I'm tuned into Canvas. Right now a documentary titled "Canopyworld" - about the top layer of the rain forest - by British biologist Charlotte Uhlenbroek is on. Very fascinating!