40gig PS3 Blu-Ray Problems - Clicking/Grinding

[BiggNick]

Hey guys, long time 360 repair guy now working on PS3's for fun, just picked up two 40gigs for $100. One is YLOD and the other boots perfectly fine to XMB but has Blu-Ray drive issue.


Basically the disk sensor works fine, the blu-ray laser lights up, the drive glides along the rail when you push it back to reset it. The problem comes in when you try to insert a disk. The unit will not take the disk and starts grinding/clicking.


I've included a pic to show the problem areas (stock photo). I took the top lid off to see if that was the problem; it wasn't. When I activated the disk sensor with the lid off, I noticed that the side rail in red DOES NOT move back on it's own. It I help push it back, the motor/lense unit goes up and the laser kicks in to look for the disk. The same goes for the opposite side on the left (with the gear track), it doesn't move on it's own (I can move it if I help the gears along).


When I activate the disk sensor and try to put in a disk, the area in yellow (the two white knobs) do not move back at all to accept the disk, they move very little and stay put. I did NOT force these to move to avoid damage.


When the disk sensor kicks in, the area in blue is the area that grinds/jumps/clicks, leading me to believe that this whole debacle is being caused by gears out of alaignment or just not moving.



I'm trying to avoid buying a brand new drive at $100, so is there any way to fix these gears to get this working again since the motor and laser seem to be working fine?

Thanks!
-Nick

[BiggNick]

OK, found the issue.


It seems that the black rail on the left side (rides the gears) is slipping on one of the gears. The rail itself lifts up a little bit at one part, causing the slipping. Is there any way to make sure this part doesn't lift up or to make it slide evenly?