So after spending half the day driving to all the junk/salvage yards within an hour of me. With no luck. I decided to see if I could fix the one i had. Which is a ford deck in my 1985 f150.

It had no audio at all. Nor did the tape deck turn on, when a cassette was inserted.

After an hour or so of re-flowing solder and checking caps. Audio has returned and is crisp. Everything turns on, even the cassette deck.

However this is where my problems begin. The cassette deck, with a normal cassette and not a cassette adapter. Will begin to start clicking as soon as the tape is inserted. After doing some googling, I discovered the issue with the auto reverse and cassette adapters. All the solutions I could find, involved modifying the adapter. Which isn't fixing what's triggering the auto reverse.

Does anyone on here have any recommendations, to either fix or disable the auto reverse on the deck?

I have no interest in upgrading to a newer style deck. I quite enjoy the look and feel of this one. Worse case I would spend the time hunting down another.

Image is grabbed off the internet, mine isn't silkscreened with premium sound.




If this is in the wrong sub forum. Please delete or move this thread.
Thanks

 

I don't think it's in the wrong forum, just hasn't been addressed as of late.
It may sound a little crazy but, contact a local Ford dealer and inquire about a possible local authorized repair facility. Most dealers use them for instrument cluster and radio repair. Keep in mind that the repair cost will significantly surpass a JY replacement (if you can find one). I guess it comes down to how important the radio is in a restoration or one's comfort level.

 

here is how I fixed radio issue

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post15585701

 

Try the "Services Offered" section of Hemmings Motor News. I bet you'd find somebody there who could repair it for you:

Advanced Search | Hemmings Motor News

For some reason, the online search only showed a few results. The paper copy will have several pages for that section.

 

Now you have me going, I pulled a unit out of my 86 when I stripped the truck down.
Guess I will have to see if it still works. Chunky thing, not 100%sure it is the original by how it was mounted.
Will have a good look in the morning

 

Does the radio work OK? It's just the cassette part you're having the problem with?

 

How did you check them? The 30+ year old electrolytics need to be replaced regardless, all of them. If they last 10 you're doing good.

 

That's correct, only the cassette player isnt working properly. I will most likely try disassembling it. Giving it a good cleaning and re lube what must be re lubed. If that fails, then i'll follow the recommendation to contact the local ford dealership and see about finding what out fit they send to do repairs.

 

Thank you for your concern.

I used my cap-wizard. All the caps were well with in spec. No bulging or cracking of any of the caps. Comparison of capacitor failure or damage with my experience with working with crt chassis repair. The normal wear and tear was not present in this deck. Crt's deal with a lot more heat, current and voltage then a stereo deck will ever see. In my opinion. So that is understandable. Though I would normally agree with your stance on the age of the electrolytic caps. Replacement would be recommended, if not mandatory. Until I learn what's going on with the cassette portion of the deck. With consideration to the caps still performing within good standing. I didn't feel the need to invest the time or grabbing from my capacitor inventory, to do so.

 

No, don't misunderstand I don't give a ****. Bulging or leaking caps isn't a useful metric because caps fail long before they spew. If they passed ESR after 30 years I'd be surprised, though I suppose anything is possible.

Given how old they are now, how inexpensive they are, the fact they will likely fail at any time now, and the unit is malfunctioning it always makes sense to swap them out. A bad PS causes many ills.

 

I did and do agree with you. Also, yes they did all pass. I actually keep an inventory of this type of caps ranging from .01uf up to 440uf, ranging voltages from 6.3v to 400v.


Since my last post I have done some cleaning of the cassette portion of the deck. The issue is still there, though to a lesser extent. Happening anywhere from 1-30 seconds, vs the pervious 1-6 or so seconds. I've shelved the cassette portion of this repair till I can get more info. Perhaps at that time I will proceed and replace all the caps with the high temp low esr ones I have on hand.

 

There is a fellow forum member, LARIAT 85. PM him and ask where he found a NOS factory AM/FM cassette unit for his truck, which is being restored. That is if you want to go that route.

 

If the deck keeps trying to auto reverse, it's because there is a sensor on one of the wheels that is not picking up motion. When it does not pick up motion it thinks the tape is at the end of it's travel and it tries to auto reverse.

This could simply be a belt slipping. Or a rubber wheel slipping. Or the motor is not turning something else.

Does it do it with a regular tape? On the cassette adapters they have a gear system inside that drives both wheels in the deck to simulate a real tape. If something is wrong with the gearing it will cause this. I have had several adapters and while they sound very good, I have gotten one before that didn't work correctly, and had to take it apart to fix it. They slop everything together at the assembly plants and sometimes they need a little TLC.

 

I only have real tapes, no adapters. Since your post earlier today. I've put several other tapes into the deck. Did a fast forward, rewind trick on a crap cleaning unit. Above the manual cleaning I did before. The original tape I used still does the flipping back and forth. Were the other tapes do play fine. Another observation is the original tape I was using as a test piece. Seems to give resistance during insertion. Compared to the other tapes I've tried out today. Which give minimal resistance force upon insertion. Additionally, no auto reverse issues.


So in short, a good cleaning may have remedied some of the issues. Where as the test cassette may be part of the problem. Should have tested more tapes in the first place. Only time will tell.

 

guys I'm following this post closely as I'm having the same auto reverse issue on mine. (just sits there and clicks back and forth when I put the tape in) Even if I take the belt completely off, still clicks... any new information ?

If receiver and other components seem to be working legit what capacitors should I be looking at for replacement?