receiver won’t lock in din cage?

I just installed a blaupunkt cd reciever (the key west model) in a 1998 ford explorer with premium sound. I used a dash kit and tried mounting the cd player using the supplied din cage. I bent out all the tabs and it stays in the dash ok, but when i went to slide in the cd player only one side locks...sort of. The right side locks but the left side only locks in one direction (I can still push it backwards but I cant pull that side towards me out of the dash). I tried to make sure all of the wires were out of the way and I bent the tabs on the din cage out but it still wont lock.

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong here? I've messed with it three or four times with no luck and the blaupunkt din keys leave big cuts in my fingers when i use them.

I wonder if the radio only locks in on one side. I know on some Panasonic radio and cages they only lock on one side and any pressure from behind on the unclipped side pushes the radio out of the cage. The only thing I've made work in that case is to get it the best you can and if you can apply light pressure to hold it back but it still springs out a little, get some 5 minute epoxy gel and with the trim ring off take some mixed up and get it to bridge between the radio and the cage and then push in on that side and hold it that way for about 10 minutes and once it cures you can release pressure and it should stay pushed in. Should you ever have to remove the radio the 5 minute epoxy when fully cured gets pretty hard and you can chip it off so the radio can be taken out of the cage later. The reason you have to hold the radio in for 10 minutes with 5 minute epoxy is that's just the way it is. It takes longer than advertised like a lot of things out there. Also do not use the runny epoxy as this can run down onto things you don't want to glue. The gel is the same price but not near as runny and works better in this type of situation. Also try to visualize too where the snap on trim ring may sit so later it still snaps on. If you apply too much epoxy or have it in the wrong area's it might not go on.

Jim 

It's in a 1998 ford explorer and I'm using a desh kit from best kits. I might end up doing what you say because I'm tired of messing with it. The only other problem is that the antenna connection is extremely short and I can barely get it into the input on the back of the head unit (I end up struggling with it and using needle nose pliers to get it all the way in). This makes it impossible right now to take the dash kit out with the cd player in it and keep the antenna connected.

Does anyone think that buying a new din cage would help or would it just be the same situatin. And also is there such a thing as an antenna extension cable. I only need one that is a few inches long.

thanks for the help

A cage from another manufacturer probably will not work. It's sorta like faceplates interchanging between companies. They are not designed that way (be glad it doesn't have a goofy DIN outpuut plug like on radio's years ago that everyone thought theres was the right way to do it and there was no standardization). I just wonder if it is designed with a clip just on one side. Look in the owners manual and see if they show anything. I wonder too if you maybe bent an ear back to secure the cage in but it was actually a tab for locking the radio to the cage on that side. I've also had to bent the locking tabs in on some on cages to get them to seat into the side of the radio a little tighter. If they are too loose they might ride off of the clipped in area on the side, top, or bottom of the radio.

I would also track down the antenna lead and see if the factory has a clip holding it out of the way somewhere close to the radio opening that you can undo to give you a little more working length. If not they do sell short antenna extensions. I would also tape over the joint and add a wire tie on top of the tape to keep it from accidentally being pulled apart.

Jim