I recently found a factory head unit in a 1986 L69 trans am (1 of 26) at my local junk yard courtesy of the cash for clunkers program. The radio looks way cooler than the one I have in my 88 so I bought it and decided to hook it up and see if it works. The radio, equalizer, and all of the fade and volume functions work perfectly. The tape deck however does not (yes I still listen to tapes). When I push the tape in it switches back and forth between fast forwad and reverse. I called a local stereo shop and they said it likely needs to be cleaned and lubed and may possibly need a sensor but should be an easy fix. They want $150 to fix it but the radio probably isn't even worth that much, I just like it. Has anyone ever worked on a cassette deck before? Is it difficult to clean and lube these? Please let me know if you have any experience in this department. Thanks!

 

Screw that. It's a blaupunkt tape deck, and it probably needs at least a new drive belt. It's a common problem and the parts used to be cheap (I haven't checked recently). But it could have other problems too, and it's probably not worth spending much money.

 

Yeah that's what I was thinking. I only paid $11 bucks for the radio. If it's not ridiculously difficult to do I was thinking of tearing into and see if I can figure out whats going on, I just have absolutely zero experience with cassette radios. How hard is it to work on them?

 

The tape deck part of those stereos is modular. I can't remember if I've ever taken one apart, but I know it's fairly obvious how it comes apart. The trouble is finding a good belt. If you search you'll find threads talking about the belt problem. You might find a source for a replacement.

The last one I remember having that was broken was out of a 50k mile Fiero, everything worked except the belt was broken. I sold that one for $50 on Pennocks Fiero forum. If I had another one, that's probably where I'd go with it. The Fiero guys seem more interested in restoration and correct parts then Fbody people.

The one my 86 T/A was identical, but it'd only light up and play static out of one speaker. I remember my roomate had a stack of about 25 GM stereos with the 5 band EQ/blaupunkt tape unit, and there wasn't a one in the stack that worked. The push button volume/tuning version is even worse then the rotary **** version. They have usually lead rough lives, but sometimes you get lucky.

 

http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/097519.html

Try that. You might have to register to see it, but there's pictures of how to tear down a **** style eq deck and replace the belts.

 

Thanks a lot! That is actually the exact stereo that I have. It looks awesome in my car but I hate to switch out my perfectly good stereo for one with a non-working tape deck. I'll see what I can do with it. Thanks for your help.

 

It does sound like the belts are a common problem with these radios. Would a bad belt cause it to flip back and forth like that?

 

broken or loose belt is most likely the problem-another
problem common with the blaupunkt cassette transport
is pinch rollers that have turned hard,causes "eaten"
tapes-replacements are not hard to find,rollers from
'80s alpine cassettes will fit with minor mods.
broken solder joints are common in the delco built part
of the radio i have fixed lots and lots of these stereos

 

Any idea where I can get the belts?

 

Well, I've never fixed a cassette player but I have fixed a VCR with a broken belt using an elastic. Its basically the same idea! There are many different sizes and widths to choose from, fixing the VCR was easy...Really! And it continued working for many years after......So DON'T throw out your deck because of a broken belt. Lub it, use an elastic for a belt and keep on listening to your WhiteSnake....lol!

 

You overpaid

 

Goto the yard and gut a few tape deck internals from other GM cars of the same era. Look in the bonnevilles and grand prixs even up to 93ish models. Its real easy to take them apart and work on them.

 

Best idea yet!!!

 

Ive replaced the internal cassette player in these radios.They are very easy to do.Like stated above just gut them at the junkyard.Once you pull the bottom cover you can usually see if the belt is intact or not so you will know weather or not to go further into the radio

 

Problem Solved! I took the radio apart to check the belts which ended up being fine. They looked like they had been replaced fairly recently. I'm not sure exactly what was wrong with the tape deck but I swaped one in from a mid 80's model cadillac. That one had broken belts so I replaced those, put it into my radio and it works great. Now I've got a sweet looking factory stereo and I can rock out to my Danzig tapes on my way to work!