1995 factory radio troubleshooting

[bgreywolf]

I'm not familiar with the innards of this generation of Ford tape decks, but I think the blue thing in the corner is the switch for the tape. Give the whole tape assembly a light dusting with a can of spray duster or low pressure shop air (if using shop air, make sure it's reasonably dry first; don't want to blast condensation all over the thing).

Since you're lucky enough to have a mechanical eject, try inserting a tape and watching what moves. Insert and eject a few times; I think the little metal piece in the corner by the blue coil (I think that's an inductive switch?) comes down to touch (or very close to) the switch when the tape is in. That piece may not be moving, or a piece of dirt may be in there.
Also a good time to look and see if any of the gear teeth are crunched up (not likely) or any of the rubber belts are deteriorating (very possible, although bad belts cause different problems than you're having), since you're this deep in it already.

If your bluetooth adapter is a cassette with a cord, look along where the cord goes in to see if maybe it snagged and bent anything. On other tape decks, I've seen the cord bunch up and the metal cage get distorted by being vigorously removed; this would directly affect the operation of the switch mechanism. Gently bend the metal back and use a cassette to check that everything moves freely on insertion/ejection. I've also seen this happen when 25 feet of Led Zeppelin gets wound around the capstans and kitchen utensils are used to try and remove the wreckage...

[sly]

If you were still in Texas, I would say come and visit me, but it's quite a bit further to DFW now.

[Giraffe]

if you don't use the tape deck you can just unplug it. Its the wider connector. That will have the power and switching logic. The smaller one is the audio connector.

switch will be someplace in the mechanism but I dont know where offhand. Best suggestion, look for a pair of wires that goes into the mechanism that are not the audio wires to the head or to the motor. That should be it.

I actually was using the tape deck with a bluetooth tape adapter. I'd prefer to get this thing working if I can. I'll take another look at it over the weekend. I appreciate it.

[gadget73]

if you don't use the tape deck you can just unplug it. Its the wider connector. That will have the power and switching logic. The smaller one is the audio connector.

switch will be someplace in the mechanism but I dont know where offhand. Best suggestion, look for a pair of wires that goes into the mechanism that are not the audio wires to the head or to the motor. That should be it.

[Giraffe]

Yeah. I’m not really sure what I’m looking at in here. Do y’all see the switch I’m looking for?

[gadget73]

yeah, switch in the tape mechanism. I don't happen to have one here to look at but somewhere in there there is a switch that is activated when the tape is loaded into the deck and it flips from tuner to tape. Also might be worth making sure the connectors from the main board are plugged all the way into the tape deck.

There are two variations on that. Yours is the mechanical eject, the other one has the soft touch buttons for FF/RW/eject. Radio itself is basically the same, just the tape mechanism is not.

if you can't find the switch in there, let me know and I'll dig up my 1992 radio service manual. I think it covers both types. I know its got the soft touch control version.

[sly]

IIRC, there is a switch inside that triggers that mode switch when you insert a tape. Could be that it's got enough dirt/crud across it that it's doing a capacitive jump allowing voltage across the switch. May just need a good cleaning.

[Giraffe]

This is in my '95 Mustang, but it's the same as any panther radio of the same vintage. Recently the original radio in my car has begun to act strangely. It will stop producing any sound and will only display "TAPE" on the readout whether or not a tape is in the deck. It could take a few seconds or days to snap out of it. Any ideas?