Sony CDP-CX53 rotates the carousel and inserts the CD into the playing position, but it won't play the CD

take the belt to your local ace hardware and find an o-ring that is slightly smaller than the belt. Install that and you should be back up and running for less than a dollar.

Hi,
If you have access to the lased head, gently wipe the lens with a stick with cotton moistened with isopropyl alcohol, or regular sanitary alcohol. Use circular movement. Then, gently shine the lens with dry cotton. DO NOT PRESS THE LENS !!!! If the issue persists, it's more complicated. You need to have access to the tiny trimmer below or near the laser head. Using a plastic screwdriver, rotate the trimmer clockwise about 2-3 degrees. Test playing. If track doesn't skip, hit the CD player's case with the finger, to check if track skips because of shock. If skips, rotate trimmer again 1-2 degr. Check again. If it doesn't work, try rotating counterclockwise. You need patience. Hope it is useful.

Could be a broken/loose carousel belt. take the cover off and look near the back of the unit and make sure that both belts are on there respective pulleys.

Take off the cover and you will most likely find a cd that fell out of the carousel and is stuck.

read this...

http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/cdfaq.htm

I had the same problem with our 5-CD Sony carousel player CDP-C535 (manufactured Nov 1993). I removed the top metal cover, and loaded five audio CDs into the carousel. After I closed the table, I pressed the carousel tight so that it stayed close, and hit the play button. The CD player tried to push the carousel out with quite a force. I needed to warp me fingers around the front panel to keep the carousel closed. After a few cycles of forcing the carousel to remain close, and caused two separate strong "clucks" from the gear area, the CD carousel became operational again. The diagnosis of gear problem seems right.

Broken gears. The current replacement 5 disc is a CD/DVD player and sells for $129.00 at Sony or any other Sony retailer. The cost to have a service center even estimate the repair would be more than 50% of the replacement cost. Hope this helps

Hi there, had a similar problem.
This unit is easy to open. the four screws on the sides and two i think on the back. When it is open you will have access to the discs in the machine. the last disc will probably be jammed between the facia and the caddy and will be impeding the carousel mechanism, once removed you should check the functions starting with eject, and again to cycle, load disc position 1 insert disc and check. this player i think rotated the disc on loading to a set position, would have to open one to check. hopefully the carousel is not out of sync and all is well.

The rubber drive belt for the c/d load mech is streched or broken,
replace the belts there is another that drives something else so change them both while you have it open