How can I get a tape adapter out of my cassette player?
December 11, 2004 9:58 AM   Subscribe

Help. I am having trouble finding anything on google that actually works and I am otherwise useless as far as cars go. I have a 99 Toyota Camry that has managed to get a tape adapter stuck in the cassette player. (MI)

It's the stock CD/Cassette player that came with the car. I would just leave it be but the adapter doesn't work and now I can't even use the radio. Has anyone experienced this before and knows how to fix it?
posted by Restlessavenger to Technology (5 answers total)
 
I can't picture exactly what's going on here, but when I've gotten cassettes stuck in car tape players in the past I was able to get them out by holding down the eject button and using a pair of needle-nose pliers to wiggle the cassette out. The eject button often raises the tape so it is even with the opening.
posted by bendy at 12:29 PM on December 11, 2004


You could buy a new deck and get better sound quality. It wouldn't be expensive to get aftermarket speakers and a deck that would easily trunce your stock system. Of course, i'm not talking about dual 10 inch subs in the back but something clean and efficient in the front and some mid range (price not frequency range) rears would sound very good.
posted by Keyser Soze at 1:17 PM on December 11, 2004


This has happened constantly to both cars I've owned (a Nissan Maxima and a Honda Civic Wagon). The pliers trick works nicely -- I kept a Leatherman in the car for just this purpose -- but at some point it starts getting stuck so often it's not really worth it. You could buy a new stereo, as Keyser Soze suggests, or you could do what I've done for 9+ years: buy a $20 boombox and keep it on the seat next to you. I've changed batteries maybe five or six times during that whole time. Crappy sound, but oh so punk rock. Plus, stereos get stolen. Cheap boomboxes do not.
posted by climalene at 2:40 PM on December 11, 2004


Response by poster: Yes, I tried the wrench but it seems that the internal mechanisms still have their little teeth into the thing. It's quite odd actually, I noticed today that when I turn the volume up to max I can just make out the music from the cassette... even if I have it set to the radio. I think the things just gone batty at this point. Christmas is coming up and I guess I'll just have to get myself a new deck for christmas. Maybe even one of those nifty XM dealies.
posted by Restlessavenger at 6:09 PM on December 11, 2004


Just a thought: if it's an electronic eject mechanism (a button with a soft click rather than one that pushes in an inch or so) it may be similar to mine (OEM VW) and have a similar issue.

On mine, when the tape adapter's stuck, I can turn the stereo off, then hold down Eject while turning it back on. This resets it somehow and it pops out.
posted by mmoncur at 9:31 AM on December 14, 2004


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