Car Audio Cassette Repair

[Scorpion8]

I was scrounging auto parts at a Delaware salvage yard (since I'm down here) and picked up the original factory head unit for my Ford Contour. It's a nicely styled AM/FM/Cassette unit. But since it was a pull from a wrecked car, I have no idea of the condition. I assume it needs new belts for the cassette unit just due to age.

Anybody have any experience repairing car stereo? Shouldn't be much different from tape units in a boombox or walkman unit.

[retrokeeper]

Hey SC8!! That car deck should be interesting to open up and peek inside,the problem will be you probably will have to cut out a power & speaker cable assembly out of a junk'd vehicle so that you can at least bench test it instead of trying to do it while it sets in you dash of you car.Getting to the belts may prove a challenge or not,let us know how it goes. Rob

[pctech]

Hi SC8

The mechanism should be same as most car cassette units. You will have to figure out the wiring as posted before. Parts will likely be an issue.

Mark

[jdurbin1]

Wiring probably won't be that bad, companies like Metra make a lot of OEM radio harnesses, used for repairing theft damaged ones etc. The Ford plugs didn't change very often, should be able to surf eBay and find one for a buck or three somewhere.

Degree of difficulty depends on how much other crap is stacked above the mechanism, also it is often difficult to see it working other than when bolted in place. They made a lot of jigs for that for service centers so you could have the mechanism out on the bench with power to it.

I did professional car radio repairs for a few years including aftermarket and OEM decks, but don't miss it. Working on home audio gear is easier and more rewarding in all senses of the word.

John

[390FE]

Depending on vintage & options will somewhat determine how many (if any) pcboards will need to be removed to pull the transport out. All the car decks I have worked on/looked at. The only access to the belt is you have to pull the transport out, usually 4 screws on the bottom going into standoffs on the transport. There may be more screws in other spots holding the transport in, so just go slow so nothing gets bent or broken. Most had wire plug & sockets that would allow you to unplug the transport so you wern't stressing any wires, others you may have to unsolder some wires so you can fully remove the transport.

Just take some pics as you are pulling it apart to make it easier to put back together.

I would suggest seeing if you can activate & power the transport while it is out & on the bench so you can clean the pinch rollers, capstans & heads easier. That is what I have done when I have had to pull a unit apart. A 9v battery should work for ok to just do a cleaning (I have done that before) otherwise a small variable power supply will do.

I don't know if any of the newer car decks used lower voltage motors. All the ones I have dealt with were 12v.

All the belts I have seen in car decks are square belts.