What's a good AM/FM tape deck for my truck? Can I fix the one I have?

The tape deck in my truck is shot. I can't get it to work anymore. It's a Clarion and it's about 15 years old or around that age. It's a stereo deck. I have two speakers, one in each door.

The deck is getting power, because the clock is on, but it will not play a tape nor will the radio come on anymore. Over a year ago it ate one of my tapes, but then it worked ok after that for awhile. I'm thinking maybe the deck is stuck in tape mode and that's why the radio will not come on, but the rollers for the tape are not moving. It just does nothing.

So is there anything I should look at to fix this deck? I don't know what to look at. I took the top cover off and blew some dust out of the unit, but that's about all I could figure out to do besides spraying a little tuner cleaner in it.

I've been thinking about getting a new deck, but they don't really make many in this form factor anymore with the two knobs. Somebody told me Kenwood makes a deck, but I HATE Kenwood, so that's out. Anyone know of a good deck that's not too expensive? And preferrably not Chinese made? Anything I can do to fix this one? The buttons and knobs are all still in good working order on it, so I'd prefer to fix it if possible.

If the radio isn't coming on, it's an electronic problem and you have to open the thing and do electronic troubleshooting. If you know how to do that, have at it. Otherwise I'd say it's not worth spending money on. I have a JVC cd/mp3 player in my car and I'd never go back to a cassette player. Each cd-r holds about 11 hours of music. They have some models now that play mp3's from dvd-r which means each one holds 80 hours. That's way easier than swapping tapes or cd's around. Of course it means you have to rip your tapes to mp3 if you have a lot of them, which may or may not be too much trouble.

I'm an old school audiophile who hates MP3's. It's not really whether or not I want to get a CD deck, it's that there's not enough room to stick a CD between the knobs on each side. I don't think they make CD players in this form factor.

Regardless, I want a tape player, I have some old records and recordings that I play from time to time.

For electronic troubleshooting, I wouldn't really know where to begin. I have a multimeter, but I don't know what to look for.

www.crutchfield.com I've done business with them for over 30 years and have never had a problem.

They have a am/fm/cass with knobs for &79.99. Sony or Sanyo I think. That should put you under $100 delivered.

I found the Sanyo deck that fits. I can't believe that it's $80 + shipping for a 5W/channel tape deck!

Gonna keep looking cuz Sanyo is not exactly my brand, but that's an option I'll keep in mind and may end up going that route. Thanks.

Oh boy, I just read on another site the frequency response for the Sanyo tape deck section is 50-8000Hz. Jeez that's terrible!

Very few companies still make tape players for cars

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-T9wQ1pB75Pg/cgi-bin/ProdGroup.asp?g=200&avf=Y&skipvs=T

Have you looked at the XA311 by Clarion?

yuandrew said:

Very few companies still make tape players for cars

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-T9wQ1pB75Pg/cgi-bin/ProdGroup.asp?g=200&avf=Y&skipvs=T

Have you looked at the XA311 by Clarion?

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Yea, would have to modify my dash for that one though, which I don't want to do. I may have to seek out this Kenwood deck after all.

I know this might be obvious, but did you check if it has fuses in the back and they didn't blow?

IsaacHayes said:

I know this might be obvious, but did you check if it has fuses in the back and they didn't blow?

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I don't remember seeing any. But I will check it out! Thanks for the tip!

I bet it's a fuse.
You will have two if the deck has a clock. one is for the power of the radio, the other is for keeping power to the clock and memory.
The radio will have two in line fuses, it will be the larger of the two. (if it doesn't then someone removed them, and the thing is probally toast)
The book, if you have it will call them constant and switched power fuses.
Dig around and you will find it.
When a power supply in a radio gives up the whole thing goes dead, your problem is not serious.
However, it would be pretty easy to just go buy a new one, they have come a long way since yours.

What kind of truck? I have the AM/FM tape deck from a '95 Ranger sitting around somewhere. I replaced it when the truck was new, so it _should_ still work. Its yours for cost of shipping plus a couple of bucks for packing materials. PM if interested.

Oh, I see.
Your dash template looks somewhat like this...



Wow, that does limit your options in finding a replacement. [since cutting the dash is out of the question.]
Had an old Toyota Corolla w/the similar setup. Had an old Tape Deck in it, too.

Good Luck. Let us know how things turn out.

Danno

Pydpiper said:

I bet it's a fuse.
You will have two if the deck has a clock. one is for the power of the radio, the other is for keeping power to the clock and memory.
The radio will have two in line fuses, it will be the larger of the two. (if it doesn't then someone removed them, and the thing is probally toast)
The book, if you have it will call them constant and switched power fuses.
Dig around and you will find it.
When a power supply in a radio gives up the whole thing goes dead, your problem is not serious.
However, it would be pretty easy to just go buy a new one, they have come a long way since yours.

Click to expand...

Yea, I saw a fuse in one of the cords that goes to the back of the deck. I was looking on the deck for fuses! See how dumb I am about this stuff?? Hehe. So there must be two fuses to look for. I'll try to take a look behind the dash and see if I can find both fused lines and look for the larger of the two, but I'll check them both. I hope it's that simple, just a burned out fuse that keeps power. That would be nice!

danielo_d said:

Oh, I see.
Your dash template looks somewhat like this...

Danno

Click to expand...

Yep, that be it. It originally came with an AM radio. And this truck was almost completely loaded when it was new.

The replacement Clarion deck that was put in early 90's is actually pretty nice though, it's not a piece of crap stock setup like most people would assume. I think it cost around $100 back in the day. I'd rather figure out how to fix it than toss it and buy a new Chinese made one for $100 that will probably last about five years if I'm lucky.

GalvanickLucifer said:

What kind of truck? I have the AM/FM tape deck from a '95 Ranger sitting around somewhere. I replaced it when the truck was new, so it _should_ still work. Its yours for cost of shipping plus a couple of bucks for packing materials. PM if interested.

Click to expand...

It's a 1977 K series Chevy 4X4, so I don't think it would fit. But thanks for the offer!

Ok. I got a chance to look at it some more on Sunday. What I found is not encouraging. I found the switched power line which is the blue one. And I also found the memory power line which is the gray one. I didn't see a fuse on the memory line, but I didn't look that hard.

I found the fuse on the main power line and opened up the plastic holder that contains the cylindrical fuse. The fuse WAS burned out. So I took the fuse to Radio Shack and they didn't have a replacement. Wow, that store sucks now. I checked Sears and they had nothing either. So I went down to a local car audio shop and they gave me three 250V 3A fuses for a dollar. So I put one of the fuses in and try and turn on the radio. Nothing! Still won't turn on. So I check the fuse and it's still fine. I try another fuse and Nothing! Radio doesn't turn on still just the clock staring at me. What gives?

So I look a little bit more and find a box on the line. I think aha! I've found another fuse. So I tried and tried to open up the black box, but could not get it to open. Frustrated I cut it out of the line. I crack it open with a pliers, and find a transformer of some type inside. So now I've just destroyed this part!

So today I went down to a local car audio shop. Talked to a tech there and he said they would not be able to find parts for it so they couldn't help me. He said the 'transformer' that I broke is probably a noise transformer to cut out extra noise. So what part do I order to replace this? Do decks normally need this part? I've never seen one before.

I'm so frustrated right now, I have my truck torn apart still and I don't know what the hell to do and nobody will work on it or has any radios that fit it. Plus the clothes dryer just broke last night and I don't know how to fix that either and I gotta work this weekend.

You found a little cylindrical bulge in the wire and cracked it open and found a transformer inside? That's probably an RF choke, intended to keep ignition noise out of the radio. You need to replace it but missing it shouldn't get in the way of diagnosing the power problem.

It was actually square shaped. I suppose I'll have to look at Parts Express or something to see if I can find a replacement.

i thought most altenaters had a noise supser circuit already insdie but i may be wrong.i alos thought the plugs was disgned not to give noise either far as a radio id just get a cheap one my freind found one at freds for 17 bucks but it was his fuse anyways lol it the old kind that had knobs one on either side