my tape player...

[misfortune]

I'm one of the few who actually doesn't mind owning a tape player. Seriously.

Anyhow, it takes the tapes, plays them for 5 seconds and ejects them. I've run a cleaner cycle and nothing improves. Has anyone here ever repaired theirs?

[ThoreauHD]

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-HLgW7QKxvgw/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=200&I=113KRC335

Costs the same as:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-HLgW7QKxvgw/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=300&I=500CDE9852

And if you like black with more options:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-HLgW7QKxvgw/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=300&I=500CDA9853

I wish I would have known that somebody on this Earth wanted that OEM tape player. I tossed mine in the trash. I cringed when I saw it. Old tech that breaks.. not my bag.

Anyhow, the auto eject thing is the first symptom that the tape rotating pulley is too tight. Both cogs spin in unison until tension is high. It thinks its at the end of the tape because either the tape is bad or the "cogs" are not syned anymore and that means that the parts are just worn. You can't repair it unless you have newer parts from the same player. It's plastic cogs, a rubber band, and springs. I built one when I was a kid actually.

Jist is that its turning out of sync because one of the cogs are not doin their job. It will begin to start popping the ribbon on your tapes pretty soon. It's worn. Worn leads to failure. Failure leads to brake. Brake leads to Crutchfield.

[wingman]

I still run my original tape player that I put my ipod through (one of those tape with the wire deals). I like the look of the original tape in the panel. When mine breaks I intend to search for a newer BMW version as I hate the look of the latest decks. Way too glitzy for the 'reserved' cockpit of the E34 IMHO.

[Bruce Kennett]

I hate the look of the latest decks. Way too glitzy for the 'reserved' cockpit of the E34 IMHO.

i agree 1000%. why do they all (the new ones) have to have flashing fluorescent lights, chrome, and complicated curves? gimme the old restrained look any day.

bruce

[pundit]

I still run my original tape player that I put my ipod through (one of those tape with the wire deals). I like the look of the original tape in the panel. When mine breaks I intend to search for a newer BMW version as I hate the look of the latest decks. Way too glitzy for the 'reserved' cockpit of the E34 IMHO.
So it's definately 'Wingman'.... and NOT 'Blingman'?!! :D

[sKilled]

Check out Blaupunkt (http://www.blaupunkt.com). Their car radios are awesome. Just like Becker (http://www.becker.de/beckerCC21/www_root/index.html). None of this fancy schmancy crap. Form follows function. And top notch quality to boot. Becker is (I think) the main supplier for most German car manufacturers, as is/was Blaupunkt.

*edit*
Blaupunkt also has an iPod controller so that one can hide their iPod in the glove box or wherever one choses to run the wires. This interface then allows one to chose songs via the receiver itself. Cool.

[sKilled]

Just did some searching - Becker also has an iPod kit.

[pundit]

Check out Blaupunkt (http://www.blaupunkt.com). Their car radios are awesome. Just like Becker (http://www.becker.de/beckerCC21/www_root/index.html). None of this fancy schmancy crap. Form follows function. And top notch quality to boot. Becker is (I think) the main supplier for most German car manufacturers, as is/was Blaupunkt.

*edit*
Blaupunkt also has an iPod controller so that one can hide their iPod in the glove box or wherever one choses to run the wires. This interface then allows one to chose songs via the receiver itself. Cool.
Just had a look at the Blaupunkt site. Sorry but even German designers have gone 'bling'. They look just as 'yeech' as anything else. There's only a few units that won't stick out like white balls on a black dog and two of them are made by Nakamichi and the other is the Clarion HXD2 which is two grand! Most car audio manufacturers make 'bling' because 'bling' sells. Peoples taste is in their arse but hey, bling factor is a huge money spinner because it maximses profit for the smallest outlay. Some people will let their children starve but spend obscene amounts of cash on 'bling' to feed their egos. When I see some moron draped in 'bling' just hangin' out trying convince everyone he's some kind of superior 'chosen' one I have the urge to cut off his head and **** down his neck... but then I come to my senses and realise there are more important uses for my ****! :D

[sKilled]

Check out Becker if you are set against the *bling thang*. I still find the Blaupunkt radios a s**tload more decent than e.g. Sony, Pan(ason)ic, Kenwood and co.

[pundit]

Just did some searching - Becker also has an iPod kit.
Well the Becker gear looks more compatible than the Blaupunkt.

[sKilled]

If I can't find a decent used BMW original radio, I'm thinking of either an older model Blaupunkt or a newer Becker. Seeing as the PO yanked the BMW amp, I need to start from scratch (I sense a wiring headache coming).

[Bruce Kennett]

If I can't find a decent used BMW original radio, I'm thinking of either an older model Blaupunkt or a newer Becker. Seeing as the PO yanked the BMW amp, I need to start from scratch (I sense a wiring headache coming).

i can;t speak for the bmw scene, being newly arrived, but i drove old-style saab 900s (so-called classic or C900 cars) for twenty years. there is a very similar complaint in that community about the bling factor, and a company exists that rebuilds the original-spec clarion radios/tape decks for those cars. might be worth contacting them to see if they extend to other marques? try a search over at http://www.saabnet.com/

i recently bought a gorgeous new-old-stock blaupunkt dallas radio with stereo fm *and stereo am* (a totally useless feature, of course) and the ability to control a cd changer, which i'm going to put into the next cit DS21 i buy. it looks a bit like a remote control and sits on an extended stalk, all black, very simple and serene markings. in-dash would seeem to be the better way to go with an e34, but int he case of the DS there's no good place for the radio and people often resort to glovebox, so the stalk-mount is a perfect solution. bottom end of stalk is mounted to driver's seat platform and comes up between the seats -- since gearshift is handled hydraulically by a wand up by the steering wheel, the stalk isn't in the way of anything.

bruce

[mzarifkar]

the beckers are not bad looking, distantly remind me of a TT radio

[Gearhead]

There are a few OEM units out on ebay right now. I'm looking at this one and another to replace mine as all the black has worn off the button faces and I get static every time i touch the volume control.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8058669726&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1