Any auto electricians out there?

[swee'pea99]

I got a new cassette/MP3 adaptor, but the moment it pulled itself into the machine, everything went tits-up. Instead of sitting patiently and waiting for me to plug in the player, it immediately started making this horrible grinding noise.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/728p213pzq6hocb/VIDEO0005.mp4

This went on for a couple of seconds, paused, then restarted, then paused then restarted, and so on (I recognised the auto-reverse mech in action). It carried on doing this for about 30-40 seconds, then stopped. And that was that. And has remained 'that'. I can't get the thing to eject. I can't get it to do anything but make these horrible noises. Does anyone have any idea how I might be able to extract the damn thing from the machine - in one piece or more makes no odds to me, but right now it's looking like the whole unit is kaput.

 

[Lanzecki]

Years ago..... Really years ago I had one. While it worked in my dad's cassette radio. It wouldn't work in my more modern after market one, it made similar noises.

Turns out, after speaking to those in the know that newer cassette players look for or need the tension of the tape and free movement of the rollers in the drive. The noise you hear is a powered drive/tension roller stalling because the thing you used doesn't have the cosponsoring roller.

TL;DR it's not going to work. Spend £30 on a new stereo that has an AUX input.

 

[swee'pea99]

[QUOTE 2983704, member: 9609"]cassette - what's one of those ??[/QUOTE]
Thanks, that's really helpful.

 

[swee'pea99]

Years ago..... Really years ago I had one. While it worked in my dad's cassette radio. It wouldn't work in my more modern after market one, it made similar noises.

Turns out, after speaking to those in the know that newer cassette players look for or need the tension of the tape and free movement of the rollers in the drive. The noise you hear is a powered drive/tension roller stalling because the thing you used doesn't have the cosponsoring roller.

TL;DR it's not going to work. Spend £30 on a new stereo that has an AUX input.

Thanks. You'll be amazed I'm sure to hear that mine is far from a 'more modern' one. In fact, it must be 18 years old now. And it'd worked with several of these beasties in the past...it's just this latest one that's scuppered it. I suspect you're right that fitting a new beastie is going to be the only realistic solution...the fitting daunts me, having looked at a few youtube vids - not sure I can do it without wrecking the dashboard.

 

[Lanzecki]

[QUOTE 2983704, member: 9609"]cassette - what's one of those ??[/QUOTE]

Incase you are being srs and since most pre-recorded cassettes stopped being sold around 2003... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Cassette

I feel old. Ahh, the good old days of taping stuff of the radio while trying to cut out the DJ. A skill sadly lost to the modern youff.

Edited, cos I's cannot speel, and mio Grmar's aweful awefull, bad.

 

[JoeyB]

Where in the country are you and what car is it?

 

[Lanzecki]

Thanks. You'll be amazed I'm sure to hear that mine is far from a 'more modern' one. In fact, it must be 18 years old now. And it'd worked with several of these beasties in the past...it's just this latest one that's scuppered it. I suspect you're right that fitting a new beastie is going to be the only realistic solution...the fitting daunts me, having looked at a few youtube vids - not sure I can do it without wrecking the dashboard.

Usually.... There are 2 holes to each side of the radio. A pair of special tools (u-shaped yokes) is pushed into the holes to release the hidden clips. The radio should side out then.

You can get the clips from Halfords. Tell them what car you have and age, and they will supply a mini wiring loom to connect the new radio to the car's wiring.

Heck if you flutter your eye lashes they'll fit it for you for free. I think you'll find you don't need to flutter your eyelids, but it'll give them something to talk about.

 

[Lanzecki]

Or find ya local car thief, they'll have the radio out in a jiffy.

 

[simon the viking]

Incase you are doing srs and since most prerecorded cassettes stopped being sold around 2003... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Cassette

I feel old. Ahh, the good old days of taping stuff of the radio while trying to cut out the DJ. A skill sadly lost to the modern youff.

My last car had a casette player in it when I bought it (an 04 Astra surprisingly) and we went on holiday before I got round to putting a C.D player in it so I went in to the Charity shop next door to where I worked bought a dozen cassettes from the 80's and 90's relived the past tunes for the week......and then donated them back.

 

[Archie_tect]

Ah, Alan Freeman's Top 20 [pop pickers.... then Tom Brown did the Top 20 on Sunday after Annie Nightingale... lazy Sunday afternoons!]
SP , my old car stereo [well when I say stereo- one of the speakers packed in within weeks] had a hole you could push a papercliop into to release the cassette if the tape got jammed.... usually just below the cassette slot.... is there one on yours?

 

[Beebo]

It's of no help to the OP, but I had one of those tape head things attached to an old diskman I used to use in the car. My problem was the tape player would auto eject it at regular intervals, I dont think it liked my music.
In another car I had a multichanger CD player (what happened to them) , which got jammed, I could only ever listen to one CD over and over again.

 

[swee'pea99]

Ah, Alan Freeman's Top 20 [pop pickers.... then Tom Brown did the Top 20 on Sunday after Annie Nightingale... lazy Sunday afternoons!]
SP , my old car stereo [well when I say stereo- one of the speakers packed in within weeks] had a hole you could push a papercliop into to release the cassette if the tape got jammed.... usually just below the cassette slot.... is there one on yours?

Yeah, there is - it just sets the thing off grinding again!

As to where & what - it's a Mk3 Golf and I'm in Norf Lundon.

As to car thiefs, I'm sure I could get the bugger out - it's getting a new one in that daunts me somewhat! If I did decide to go that route, should I buy another Sony, would that simplify connection issues? Or would it really make no difference?

 

[Archie_tect]

Some people have said on other sites that [if it's an electronic eject button] turning the unit off then back on while holding the eject button down resets the unit... I suppose you've tried that ...or it may be a mechanical eject?

Ah well.

 

[simon the viking]

Yeah, there is - it just sets the thing off grinding again!

As to where & what - it's a Mk3 Golf and I'm in Norf Lundon.

As to car thiefs, I'm sure I could get the bugger out - it's getting a new one in that daunts me somewhat! If I did decide to go that route, should I buy another Sony, would that simplify connection issues? Or would it really make no difference?

Got a feeling that plug on car should be Standard I.S.O so new lead supplied with CD/MP3 player should connect straight in you may need to switch the red and yellow wires (bullets are fitted inline with most makes to aid this) to keep radio presets and cd position

 

[swee'pea99]

[QUOTE 2983831, member: 9609"]Most of the connections are interchangeable and it can be a very quick easy job. Sometimes the aerial plug will be different but that is not a big problem to overcome, and sometimes you have to cut and swap two wires to stop it loosing it's settings when you switch off the ignition.

Looking at your vid, it looks like you need the long thin removal tool that slides into the elongated slot at each side of the radio, you can usually make one yourself out of a piece of thin metal (biscuit tin and pair of scissors)

Here a a couple of real ones, but they don't need to be as fancy as that.

And the tools don't have to be exactly that shape, any long thin bit of metal will do, biscuit tin thickness, 4 inches long and about 8mm wide will almost certainly work, does not need any fancy shaping or holes cut in, just plain oblong will do the job

pull your radio out and take a pic of the wiring loom at the back, will soon tell you if it is a standard fitting[/QUOTE]
Blimey. Not sure I could make that out of a biscuit tin! Be more likely to injure myself. But thanks. I'll have a think about where I go next.