Cassette player spits out cassette

[53' Stude]

Good Evening BITOGERS. My late father’s Dakota won’t play cassette. I hear 3 clicks and spits cassette out

Worse case I’ll pull it out and hit junkyard for another one.

 

[eljefino]

There are belts and rubber parts that harden over time. The odds of a junkyard one working for long are also slim.

 

[FowVay]

Try some different tapes. If it senses the tape is at the end of its travel then it will eject it automatically. Stick a pencil into the cassettes drive/driven holes and turn it to make sure it's not binding up.

Ahhhh, I miss those days. At least it isn't spitting them out with the tape stuck inside rendering you a handful of destroyed mess.

 

[supton]

Isn't the right thing for the dashboard to spit out the cassette player and for the owner to cough up the dough for something newer?

Take it apart, as eljefino says, parts get old and brittle, maybe you'll get lucky and it's a trivial fix. If not, well, I'm sure there's nothing on the radio worth listening to. Forget if there are cheapo cassette radios at Walmart or other places--as stated, even the newest one in the junkyard is getting long in tooth. Might be a pain to deal with a convertor but I never found it that big of a deal, at least not on the older vehicles that I swapped radios in.

 

[ls1mike]

Good Evening BITOGERS. My late father’s Dakota won’t play cassette. I hear 3 clicks and spits cassette out

Worse case I’ll pull it out and hit junkyard for another one.

I had a ton of late 80's early 90's turbo Dodges with that same head unit. I am not sure you can even source parts for those anymore. Unless it is sentimental, maybe time for an upgrade. Those things are so easy to swap out the head unit.

 

[97prizm]

Good Evening BITOGERS. My late father’s Dakota won’t play cassette. I hear 3 clicks and spits cassette out

Worse case I’ll pull it out and hit junkyard for another one.

Go look (If you can find one) a tape deck cleaner kit. I think they look like a cassette but clean the heads etc. Second are you near or can you send the tape deck out. There's a place near me that repairs and cleans vintage audio equipment.

 

[dubber09]

Does it advance tape in the cassette at all? Do you see tape sticking out cassette in the middle when it comes out? FF o Rew work? Could be loose or broken belt or plastic gear, could be a sensor or motor going bad. I'd just replace the deck with a 'stereo' with USB port to play music off a stick. I still have a couple of high end decks and a bunch of tapes at home but sure don't miss cassettes in the car.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Belt is brittle, heads are misaligned, motor is week, sensor is off.

Usually the belt. You can actually still buy them on ebay, etc - you just need the right length.

 

[NormanBuntz]

Crutchfield is a decent source for a DIY replacement head unit, maybe a CD player?

 

[Tundragod]

What is a Cassette player?

 

[meep]

What’s a VU meter?