anacortes

Original tape player will only play on the passenger side. Shifting the balance to the left reveals only a hiss. Switching tape directions yields the same. Hoping for a miracle (but not expecting one), is there a fix for this other than replacing the unit?

Beetr00t

I have no idea but.. you own cassette tapes?

anacortes

Yes, several. I also own a 1986 Porsche 944 Turbo with the original Blaupunkt. Before CD's were around, it has a tape player. Always looking for new cassettes at garage sales. I'm trying to keep my SC300 as original as possible and everything working.

FatBrian81

iTrader: (2)

I imagine the radio plays on all the speakers since your question is specifically about the tape player? Have you tried other tapes? Maybe this one is biased to the left channel only. If another tape gives the same result then there is either a short somewhere or the pickup for the left channel could be damaged. You can usually see the little pickup that rides on the tape, get up close and see if its obviously busted somehow. It would be helpful to find out if the tape player and radio output are on the same or different pins in the head unit connector. If the outputs are on the same pins then the short has to be in the head unit itself but if the outputs are different then the short could be anywhere between the head unit and the speakers.

anacortes

Thank you, Brian. I should have mentioned the stereo sound is normal for the radio and CD player, and I have tried different tapes with the same results. I will check the pickup in the unit and see if anything might be blocking it. If not, I'll have to decide whether to exchange/fix the unit or just live with what I have. Bob

anacortes

As a follow up to this thread I did use a head cleaner and demagnetizer on the unit with the slim hope it might come back to life (the driver's side). Unfortunately it didn't so, barring some miracle, I'm stuck with a monaural tape player.

zazzn

Open the radio look for blown caps.

There is a L/R test port which you can text by putting in an aux on that (search the forms for that mod) and if you get L/R while a tape is in while using the aux, you can narrow the search down to specifically the tape deck and not the electronics.