Wii Disk Loading Mech Repair

[@michaelbingham5901]

I'm afraid you've misdiagnosed the issue, which is why the grinding noise did not go away. The issue is really with the plastic gear train on the side of the drive that moves the white plastic slider froward and back. More disassembly is needed to get to these parts. Most likely, the gear teeth on the slider have worn and or broke. When the spur gear spins, it slips against the broken or missing teeth on the slider, which is what makes the grinding noise. Also, then the gears slip, it means the drive cannot transmit enough force to the slider to open or close the mouth of the drive, which is why the disks won't properly load. Unfortunately, I don't think the broken or worn gear teeth can be easily repaired.

[@ChronoGXay]

I noticed that on my Wii, too… 😢

[@bloc0]

at that point you should just replace the disk drive

[@TechProGabe]

Saved another one from the garbage! Good job man.

[@irunasoft]

Lol

[@joshiepro3195]

I had the same exact issue! I also used JD Weld epoxy to stabilize the broken gear. Like Luke, it did not help with the noise...it still made that loud grinding/clicking sound. I decided to remove the gear from the shaft, flipped it around, and slid it back in with the nipple end first. That did the trick! The noise was reduced considerably. I guess in my case, the gear’s bad side was not in the middle but toward one end. By flipping it, the bad end shifted so the worm gear did hit it directly anymore.

[@EagleOfToledo]

Thanks, that was a good idea to check the worm-drive/pinion wheel, as it had split on mine and explains why the discs weren't being read. I used some Araldite epoxy resin based glue to fix the pinion back onto the shaft, and it's all working fine now.

[@Englebert3rd]

I wonder what the hell that Wii went through to be that dirty! It might've been dropped various times. I've had my Wii for years, even soft-modded it and never had an issue with it. Still, great repair man!

[@Wayne-B]

What the hell did the original owner try and do shove a cat inside it or something? damn that's dirty.

[@vampifrog]

That really grinds my gears!

[@Wayne-B]

Lol

[@DanVanDam]

that has to be one of the most demonic wiis i have ever heard O_O

[@jimb5021]

How come you don't actually show how to take the drive apart to get to the gear, seems like that would be worth while.

[@kristophersaul562]

you probably dont care but does any of you know of a way to log back into an Instagram account..? I somehow lost the account password. I appreciate any assistance you can give me.

[@marcellusjermaine1185]

@Kristopher Saul Instablaster :)

[@kristophersaul562]

@Marcellus Jermaine thanks so much for your reply. I found the site through google and I'm waiting for the hacking stuff atm. I see it takes a while so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

[@kristophersaul562]

@Marcellus Jermaine It worked and I actually got access to my account again. Im so happy! Thank you so much, you saved my account :D

[@marcellusjermaine1185]

@Kristopher Saul Glad I could help :)

[@Round2GamingChannel]

Always fun to watch these videos Luke - love troubleshooting in my head along with ya, lol.

[@CRTcade]

Nice job with this one Luke, another rescued piece of hardware! On a different note, I was just thinking about your comment at the end, lol, it's so true man! Nintendo put an ad on one of my old pickup videos, that had nothing to do with anything Nintendo, so I checked the reason for it in video manager and it flagged like a 2 second sound bit of the zelda theme which was running on a system I had going in the games room in the background, while showing my pickups, lol, I was just really...beyond...astounded, lol they are really way over the top and hardcore about that kind of thing, it's just nuts.

[@Polaventris]

Still an excellent WII for a softmod project.

[@drkamilz]

Come on it's not excellent, he did a quick job, not even completely fixed.

[@TwinFamiProductionsOLD]

Kamilz Can YOU fix it better?

[@drkamilz]

TwinFami Yes, I'm an engineer, and We, engineers has engineering ethic.

[@StopDropandLOL]

Kamilz And you're a tremendous douche as well. Fits with that "engineering ethic".

[@drkamilz]

StopDropandLOL And you are ... ???

[@SakuraAvalon]

Always nice to see the innards of a console that you own.

[@SnapCraft316]

Construction? That's War of the Worlds man!

[@mariopic]

hey lukemorse1 i figured out what the clicking noise is its coming from the gear the the belt meets the top worm gear and shaft i shimmed the gear with a small strip of nylon and it stopped clicking the gear gets worn out on the case causeing it to shift on the shaft causeing it to jump and click on the body of the holder so i shimmed it up and it works good now ^_^

[@UltraHylia]

Can someone explain this to me? GameCube discs insert fine. No problem. However, with Wii discs, sometimes the disc goes in fine, and sometimes the disc gets stuck going in and the Wii has to eject it. Any explanations?

[@Duracelbunny]

Nice to see that somebody has passion to fix 20$ wii :)

[@stephenhoderny]

rad video.. i got a junk WII awhile ago and from your videos i got it working ... thanks so much dude!!!!

[@ambilzi]

Thanks for the video. Mine was not loading disks properly (would just spit them back out) and making this same noise. I found the same crack in the same gear. I used a bit of super glue, put it together, and it loads disks properly now. Still makes a lot of grinding noise, but I'm not too worried about that. If it breaks again I'll probably just replace the gear altogether or something.

[@Ryuhei64]

Teasing us with a Japan-exclusive Nintendo game, eh? :P

[@System3200]

Im not teased cuz 1. HOMEBREW 2. USB LOADER GX 3. NBLOG.ORG OR NET OR COM 4. W B F S

[@seanmcguirefilm]

Thanks, dude! That cracked gear was exactly what was wrong w my wii!

[@MNC122703]

Wii fell off my tv stand right onto the tile floor , didn't even shut off ....go wii

[@TheDemoniusX]

Great video as always luke! Love your channel! Some of these actually help me fix my gaming machines. Thank you for knowledge!

[@KingHenryVR4]

Thats a good deal getting a working Wii for only $15

[@dragonfli069]

knew you could save it, if it's broken, luke can resurrect it! he can fix ANYTHING!

[@DorfDork]

man I have watched luke over the years and I gotta say, he helped me so much repairing my own faulty game systems and I hope he can keep this going for years to come. Great video and thanks alot luke :3

[@TheChromaKid]

You could put some foam over that part of the disc drive (Stick it to the inside of the top half of the wii's case so that it lines up just above the broken gear). That'll soften out the sound a lot

[@infintronics1863]

I had the same issue, gear split in half...very loud. I tried white lithium grease and it was still loud and wasnt catching. I took the gear(same one you had split) and I put it in backwards....Now it catches everytime. Edit: Only seemed to work when I had the lid off...I ended up finding another Wii with a broken laser and replaced the strip plastic gear and now it ACTUALLY catches every time and sounds ALOT better.

[@Sypthv8]

Man those Wii drives. Seriously, my cousins was whacked out and wouldn't accept discs so all I did was unscrew the drive, it unlatched and worked again.

[@darktetsuya]

yay for another game system saved from the scrap heap! I wouldn't be concerned about nintendo though... only youtube thing i've heard about them was the whole monetization thing for let's plays... I'd totally watch a captain rainbow gameplay video, though. :P awesome vids as always man.

[@nickkilcoyne8265]

Why did you skip past cleaning and greasing? How do I know which parts you greased?

[@brianbauer3148]

Once I found the same cracked gear I found your video after searching if replacing this gear was even possible. I'm wondering if this is an issue with a lot of the Wii drives that end up being replaced. I used gorilla glue supper glue gel (it doesn't need water and is super controllable) I put the glue into the center on the gear then slide it on. I wiped off the excess glue and fit it back in to check the position. Let it dry for a bit scraped the excess dry glue off the metal rod and everything started working fine. Hopefully it holds up. Thanks for the video!

[@EvanMasingill]

Awesome as always Luke!

[@JMLRetroRoom]

May not actually be bad but that sound sure is. Another solution is the homebrew channel>USB loading or external DVD drive that's wii disc compatible. You can then play your games using uLoader from the external DVD drive through USB. Also works with DVD movies and WiiMC. Costs about $40 for the drive but worth it for those cautious of drive repair or replacement. I made a video about it. That sound is horrible though. The sound is way worse than the problem.

[@briansivley2001]

Hey Luke is this your first time repairing a Nintendo Wii? If it is congratulations you are a master at fixing things.

[@1Soniccool]

I never had a problem with the disk drive having a grinding noise. My Wii has the normal sound when you put the disk in the tray.

[@K1NGARTH3R]

Great work fixing the drive :)

[@ministerlee5600]

If I had to take the time to pull out lollipops, and pens, and clean roach pee, I'm charging. It is your time.

[@ciprianwinerElectronicManiac]

I had enough of these problems with my tape decks and I've seen them on other things as well but also on a Wii?!!! This a good reason to hate this kind of drives. The PS2 slim drive is the most reliable (except the laser and the ribbon cable).

[@dwaynevandendaele4983]

When i push the eject button on my wii the mechanism pushes out the disc all the way(to a point where it falls on the floor) and keeps turning for a few seconds even after the disc is all the way out. Would this be an easy fixable hardware issue or dust and dirt in the drive? Thanks

[@forwhomthebelltolls392]

You should have included video showing you cleaning the DVD drive and lubricating the laser guide rails. And the drive still sounded like crap when you were finished.

[@Progearspec]

I know i couldn't stand having a wii that makes that sound.....

[@KevinTwiner]

Cool video Luke!

[@frisco008]

Only thing done positive to this machine was cleaning it out, the plastic gear either needs to be replaced or it can be flipped around and used. (I had to flip the plastic gear around in order to get the disc to insert)

[@cutemimi25]

I don't know if it's just me but the gear noise reminds me of when you get an answer wrong on Bruce's Price is Right *Season 1*

[@dodoubledragon]

great fix luke, there's not much more you could do other than replacing that part which probably isnt worth your time & money. the last 3 wiis ive repaired all had coins in the drive - i carefully removed them & they all worked without cleaning tho i believe that the wii drive isnt the best design & almost acts like a hoover for dust plus they are quite noisy inserting etc standard.

[@andersalergard707]

Couldnt hear any differance before or after the "repair". Dont know about other Wii consoles out there but mine definitely dosnt sound like that, so would not call that normal a normal sound. But dosnt seem to do any harm, so guess it dosnt matter.

[@y9784]

What do you use to grease the rails on the optical drive of disc-based systems? Would you use something like Super Lube Synthetic Grease? Also, is it necessary to re-grease disc-based systems if you keep them in excellent condition (inside only, balanced temperatures, low to no dust)?

[@Oldsukerbole]

I think Luke is building a giant man cave/ game room. Like classic game room but then bigger and no el camino but a nissan skyline or honda type r or mitsibishi evo.....:) We will all be visting japan when that happens

[@samvicchrilli3012]

Thanks for the vid. My slim PS3 sounded like that out of the box. So now I wonder if it's a similar problem.

[@MrFoxPredator]

Hey I have a Wii that I was looking into the guts of it the motherboard had the female power connection part the teeth of it got bent... how do I fix this can it be possible to replace that type of part that the disc connection female part can be replaced?

[@MariusPX]

wouldnt a new gear fix the problem entirely?

[@moomert1]

Another great save !!!

[@aaronquinn311]

I tried to fix my Wii that won't accept a disc. I took it apart and it works fine but only horizontally. Once I put it all back together, it won't accept the disc. It tries to read it then spits it out. It tries one more time and then spits it out. It seems like if I don't put all the screws back, it works fine. Do you know why it doesn't work vertically and why it doesn't work if I put it all back together?

[@jddeluxe2242]

Hey Back again Luke....you have been mia for a few months my brotha....I was hoping you could make a return one of these days....I actually need your expertise on a simple question.... I want to make my own Sega CDX adapter... I found almost an exact replacement... its an old Canon printer adapter.(I think model 150).... with the exact same voltage and amps.. (9.5v 1.5a I beleive).... the only thing that is different is the polarity of the tip.... my goal is to cut off the tip, and replace it with the tip of a genesis model 2 adapter.... my only problem is... how do reverse the tip polarity when I splice on the new one? .... it would be so awesome of you if you could make a video showing how to do that...maybe showing us how to use a multi-meter to make sure its done correctly.... luke you are the man with this stuff.... please help us out! :) thanks again

[@ajshell2]

My old Wii is making the same sounds. here's hoping what you did to yours will help me fix mine.

[@Evexin]

updates? i finally found a video with the same problem i have.

[@ajshell2]

@@Evexin I don't have a tri-head screwdriver, so I'm going to have to wait for one to arrive before doing anything.

[@Evexin]

@@ajshell2 oh okay, i wish you luck

[@ajshell2]

I didn't watch the video all the way through, so I didn't realize how much work I would have to do to fix the worm gear. Although we seem to have the same issue. I've decided to just fix it later. Or see if I can source a replacement gear online.

[@jackfrazer576]

finally a repair vid :)

[@TheKayliedGamerChannel-YouTube]

***** Hi Luke - nice fix, the drive is a maybe still a little noisy, but at least it works well :-) Btw, how easy is it to strip down a Dreamcast GD Drive in order to access and lubricate the disc spindle motor bearing? Daz

[@joshuachoi9287]

Did you clean everything in the wii? Or did u just clean the drive

[@GoldFellaTim]

my Wii will just not spin, I can't even hear the wii. everything works just the disc drive isn't spinning. any explanation?

[@caleb1736]

How many times have you said (ILL BE BACK IN A LITTLE BIT)

[@doccube9892]

So is this grinding lethal? I don't want to take stuff apart if it's not going to kill my system.

[@Evexin]

i have this same problem except i also have no video, it’s not the cables as it works with another wii.

[@chrisb_thatsme7857]

I have a Wii doing this same thing and it won’t read the disc. What’s your suggestion?

[@meathoven222]

Hey Luke, just wondering have you had any experience with wii's getting graphical glitches/artifacting on the screen whilst playing a game? Just curious as I am now on my second console with the same problem. I hear it is something to do with the video card maybe? I don't want to send it in for repair again as it is too expensive so was wondering what kind of repair it would need?

[@Pielover1325]

Luke is the construction a new game room?!

[@Hyper_Egret]

Would love to see some gameplay, Luke. :)

[@lonewolfette]

Mine sounds just like that! :(

[@1999oso]

Mi wii is not recibir the cd, do you know what part not work to buy in order to active the mecanism?

[@MrXinsizionx]

I had a noise like that on mine, it turns out my kid put a toy coin in mine. lol

[@Shoghii]

hey luke, my original xbox makes a noise like that so do you know what I can do to stop it?

[@lactobacillusprime]

Pretty good for softmodding still.

[@MattTheComputerGeek]

construction in your house, what are they doing?

[@Jayrod64]

My Wii won't read a disc, likely due to dust buildup, but it doesn't sound near as bad as this one.

[@bobbicho]

I always wanted to play Captain Rainbow.

[@nicoleamy7741]

It's been quite a while since this vid has been made, but if anyone sees this and can help me. I still have my original Wii and it's immaculate... Until... Wanting to play a game cube game, and it requiring a memory card, I stuck the memory card in. When I tried removing the memory card, it was stuck. After several KZbin videos, I broke out my tool set; broke it down enough to get the memory card out. After putting back together, I'm now getting the grinding noise. Any guesses as to why?

[@yoshistover5881]

Quick question, where did you get the screw driver that removes the screws with three points/indents? Like it's not a philip, nor is it the other one.

[@jlindsa]

I think you mean a tri-wing screw driver

[@jackfrazer576]

luke i got offered a black wii a while back with a similar issue but i had to knock it back because of lack of funds and the horrible condition it was in. :(

[@jessethepondhopper8370]

Loosen the screws to the top holder put disc in it will self fix then tighten screws

[@enriquemontes8000]

dud, I have a problem with my disk drive, with the white plastic on top. the one it gets opened with the Wii disk and gets close when the disk gets ejected. mine won't close that's why I have to play GameCube games mode on the Wii manually, because of the damn plastic. need help, no solution, think I'm gonna buy a new disk drive. any one help please.

[@linkcrc1838]

Luke repair vid is addicting....lol

[@BIZKIT551]

What r they building ?

[@ilcool90]

I though immediately that one of the gears was broken.

[@ArcadeMachine15]

Nice!!

[@GoodieGoneWild]

CAPTAIN RAINBOW IS THE BEST GAME AMERICA NEVER GOT!

[@Donnellys_Recycling]

Lol sounds even louder and he says thats got better

[@mariopic]

mine does same thing it some times wont read disk its hit and miss makes same noise i may try to 3d print a gear for it unless someone elts hasent done so already

[@J.Deseth]

This guy full on talked himself into believing it's fixed lol

[@retrostudio5600]

change your wii language

[@irunasoft]

I don't understand how wii has less than 1 GB of space

[@enkhtaivantsogtbaatar6186]

The eject button on the inside is gone pls help me

[@jackfrazer576]

but anyways thnx man for the nice vid.

[@meldovale1978]

You don't show the actual repair...

[@LewisFamilyCircus]

I want my wii fixed bechas it has a LOUD disk drive

[@rinkkalex]

do you live in japan ? . please reply

[@cutemimi25]

He does, if you watch most of his other videos you'd know he does live in Japan.

[@rinkkalex]

cutemimi25 I figured that out by now :) Thanks anyway.

[@cutemimi25]

Dat Clutch Sure thing

[@TheNewurban]

mine sounds like this too

[@joshuamoore2363]

That’s a Japanese Wii.

[@deasename5839]

Hoardmart

[@SaddySkull]

my wii wont even put a disc in

[@jackm1185]

Is there a hard off In canada

[@karolisjuoz]

why not just buy a new gear from ebay ? or find one in youre garage?