I'm sorry, I'm going to have to recommend (a) getting the CD mechanism from an exact match Saturn head unit, or (b) getting an aftermarket (Sony, Kenwood, JBL, Pyle). I looked at the AM/FM/CD/Cassette that came with my 02 Saturn AND one of the ION radios. Both CD mechanisms are 25mm by 125mm by 140mm. But the boards and ribbon cables inside the CD mechanisms themselves are different. And the location where the CD mechanism's ribbon cable connects to the AM/FM/amplifier differs. The motor itself is attached to a bracket that has the stepper motor that moves the laser back and forth. The laser may have different ribbon cables, leading to different circuit boards, so an exact match is really the best choice here. If the ribbon cable from the "donor" CD mechanism attaches to the radio in the same location, you can probably just swap out the CD mechanism and be done.

My 01 Saturn came with the AM/FM radio with a small storage area below it. If you don't have one of those, you should be able to get an identical "DIN adapter kit" to fit your 1-DIN aftermarket Sony / Kenwood / JBL / Pyle into the 1.5-DIN vertical space (I think all 91-02 "S" series had the same 1.5-DIN height). It will likely have Bluetooth to play music or have hands-free cell phone conversations.

Sorry for the bad news, but it's more complicated than any of us thought. But if you get an identical eBay / JY part number cheaply and want to play around with it for a couple of hours, like I just did, you might fix it with great satisfaction. But getting an aftermarket unit has advantages too.

EDIT: If you remove the back, with the large heat sink, PLEASE do clean and reapply thermal paste to those, um, I guess they are still called "power transistors". I've always used Arctic Silver 5, since my 166 MHz Pentium. We all remember when General Motors did NOT apply thermal paste to the ignition module inside the distributor on the 2.5 "Iron Duke" engine. I was NOT the only one with an engine that just STOPPED DEAD and stranded me because of an ignition module that failed from overheating.

ANOTHER EDIT: Start and/or Run capacitors aren't in use here. We're dealing with DC motors similar to floppy disk drives.

 

Bummer. I was hoping I could grab one of the '00 - '02 players since they seem to be easier to get. And I have to pull the guts out anyway since my face plate has that goofy wood grain decal stuff, and I have to keep it. It's so camp.
Thanks for the answer though, I appreciate it.

 

I'm pretty sure you're exactly right.

Explains why it doesn't make sense here.

For those about to rock, we salute you
(AC/DC)

 

I'm so sorry. I'm pretty sure the faceplate (in your case, with the woodgrain) is unique to each model radio. You won't be able to use your faceplate on a later model radio. I'm not sure if anyone still makes "fake woodgrain bumper sticker" material (like the old 1973 station wagons, or my parents' 1975 Pontiac Catalina dashboard) that would match.

Row52 dot com has an online collection of junkyards with lists of recent arrivals. The website also lists local pullers who will go to that junkyard, often on Saturdays, as a second job. If the radio is still there, they can pull it and ship it to you, for a fee. If you need a few inches of the wiring harness, don't forget to mention this. Of course, if the donor radio (or the one in your car) has the cassette, and the other does not, the ribbon cable from the CD mechanism will likely not be compatible. But row52 (owned by a steel company IIRC) can GREATLY extend your "reach" when searching for rare parts.

If you switch to a later model radio, with later faceplate, you can make it work ("American International" makes stereo wiring adapter bits). Search for "Molex connector tools" and get a cheap set of tools. Consult "the12volt dot com" or "installdr dot com" and you can move the adapter wires around to what your dashboard's wiring harness expects. A friend of mine got a bit of an attitude from the BMW dealer in Cincinnati when asking for a pinout (like he was some kind of cheeky fellow), so he e-mailed BMW UK to get the wiring info to put a different head unit in his Beemer, so clearly it can be done.

 

I'll just have to get a '95 - '99 radio and take the CD player out of it. It's not hard to do. Thanks again for the website recommendation. I don't live near any good junkyards, so that might help me out a lot.

 

Oh my is that fugly.

Don't give up on the online junkyard folks. Doesn't matter where they are located. That's the beauty of it.