Seeking advice on tape deck issues with LW200

[allanlw200]

Hello There.

I am posting about a factory-installed stereo in my 2002 LW200.
This stereo has a 6-disc changer, tape deck, and AM/FM.

For the past 7 years, we've been using a tape adapter in the tape deck, which gives us the functionality of a line-in plug. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, search Google for "Cassette Tape Adaptor")

But now the tape deck has completely stopped working. If you put in a real tape, you get a loud buzzing noise. The tape deck auto-reverses a couple of times, and the tape gets ejected. The tape adapter doesn't give quite as loud a buzzing noise, but it doesn't work either.

The stero display says "clean", but we tried a head cleaning tape to no avail. I suspect the head of the tape deck is physically off-center, although that's just a hunch.

I managed to take off the faux-wood finish, in front of the stereo and A/C vents, and I see that the stereo could be removed by taking off two bolts.

So I went looking online for a replacement stereo. I don't need anything fancy, all I really want is AM/FM and line-in so I can plug in my MP3 player's output.

After browsing some cheap stereos, I realized I probably couldn't find something that was as tall as the 6-disc changer + stero + tape deck. This is probably 2x or 3x taller than the standard stereo. So I'm not sure replacing the stereo is the best way to go.

But I'm wondering what my other options are...Trying to fix the tape deck seems really unlikely, especially since tape players are such ancient technology. I also tried an FM transmitter to take my MP3 player's audio and transmit it to the FM stereo -- That failed miserably.

I'm wondering if this stereo might have any sort of RCA in, or line in behind the enclosure, or maybe some cable taking the output from the tape deck/CD changer into the stereo itself -- Anything that I could use to bring in sound from another device?

I can, of course, take this apart myself and try to find out. But if anybody is already familiar with these device, I would appreciate any assistance you might be able to offer.

I have read the Owner's manual, of course.

Thanks,

Allan

[jcollins]

Any car stereo shop will sell a Saturn adapter kit that will block out the whole pocket while providing space for only a standard size head unit. You buy that and a head unit with a line-in and you are good to go.