tape deck not loading

[chinkostu]

Yes, its 2015 and yes tapes are old hat, but for nostalgias sake i fancied shoving some of my dads mixtapes into the radio (for that 5 years old rolling around in the back of the astra memory).

However the tape deck itself seems to be a bit fiddly. First tape went in, got sound but got stuck trying to fast forward as it didnt really work! Upon trying to eject the tape it spat it out, but only about a mm from the face of the radio. Pushing the tape back will attempt to load it, but you can see it go down wonky and then gets stuck. Press eject and it does the same, so we fished it out with some long tweezers.

If it's a big job to fix i'll leave it as everything else on the radio works perfectly, but it would be nice to have it working 100%!

[dnsey]

Many cassette decks by now have belts which have at least become slack, if they haven't turned into a gooey mess.
Add that to the fact that old tapes are even more inclined to jam than they were new, and it's not surprising that you're having problems. Care and persistence will pay off as usual, but you might be better off digitising the tapes if you have another deck - car players aren't very kind to tapes at the best of times!

[chinkostu]

Plenty of memories of chewes up tapes too

I'll nip the top off when it comes back out, as i need to remove it as i think the wires behind are jamming it from sliding home fully! Also means i can check the display ribbon as i have a few blank segments

[MTND]

Mine also doesn't work with a tape stuck in it and just makes a whirring sound. It would be nice to get it fixed and replace all the bulbs as well.

Can anyone recommend any companies that will refurbish old car tapes/radios and even convert to DAB?
At least my radio works ok and the interface to the CD changer is ok so I wouldn't mess around too much myself.

Mark

[superloopy]

Funnily enough my Activa also has a tape jammed in it

[chinkostu]

I need to leave a tape stuck in mine then

Although when it does jam the whole deck bar the power button stops responding!

[Gibbo2286]

If anyone wants a working portable tape recorder/player I've got one that can be bought for not much dosh also a box full of cassettes of that era.

[Stickyfinger]

Funnily enough my Activa also has a tape jammed in it

Mine did as well, ? maybe the G Force screws it up

Guys....just dump a ebay Bluetooth radio in for £30

[chinkostu]

But but tinkering and old stuff!

The rest of the radio is brilliant so i'm not fussed. Would have been a nice addition though!