'96 Eddie-cant use portable cd with cassette adapter

[jopulice]

My '96 Eddie Bauer has cassette only...which I prefer to CD. I would occassionally like to listen to a CD & have always been able to (on other vehicles) use my portable CD player with a cassette adapter. After much experimenting (different portable CD, different CD, different adapter and different cig-lighter adapter) I gave up & went to Ford. They sent me to the local car
audio Co. who told me that the factory units in some Ford Explorers "just don't like the cassette adapters"
The cassette adapter works fine for 2 or 3 minutes then
flips-side 1, side 2 and side 1 again, then ejects. I hate to spend the cash just to play an occasional CD. Anyone
else have the cassette only and found a way around this? I have installed aftermarket systems in other
vehicles....but after reading info in this forum....ummmm
the headaches hardly seem worth it.... Thanks for any
replies....Jo

 

[Flounder]

If you see my signature, a Pioneer Double Din (CD and casette) can be installed in an Explorer. The install isn't bad since a company now makes install and filler kits. The killer would be the price of a Double Din headunit.

 

[03ExplorerSPT]

I had the same problem before I bought my Pioneer HU. Have you tried the Sony adapter? That was the only one that would work with my cassette player. On the others, there are warnings that it might not work with auto-reverse players such as our X's have. Try the sony. It also addes a bit of bass

 

[jimbo74]

or make a mixed tape of your cd....... or upgrade to a cd player...or get an fm modulated portable cd to car adapter.....

 

[jopulice]

Thank you for the replies. My mission today is to find
a Sony adapter....looking for the cheapest solution.
Gotta wonder tho...if Ford made them incompatible on purpose. ??? Jo

 

[jopulice]

It works!!! Thanks soooo much. I like cheap solutions.
I drove as much as I could this weekend...just to blast
the Nelly CD (volume at 30)

 

[95xeb]

I know you've already got the problem solved, but I had another option for you. If it keeps reversing and stuff, its almost positively the same problem i've had before... what i did was take a razor blade knife and cut the teeth off of the little white wheels on the cassette adaptor. The wheels are in no way needed for the adaptor, and when they get old they tend to bind. This makes the tape player think that the cassette has come to an end. Being the super smart thing that it is, it reverses, or stops all together. By removing those tabs, you wont have the problem anymore...

 

[jopulice]

Now thats good thinking. I almost bought a spare
Sony adapter in case I had trouble finding another when
this one goes....but I also have 3 (others brands) which
I cant find the receipts for, when I was experimenting.
Lol...I'll sell the truck before I can use up 4 adapters.
Thanks for the tip

 

[Crankcase]

Originally posted by jimabena74
...or get an fm modulated portable cd to car adapter.....

Do they still make those? I used to have one years ago, and it was the best car adapter I ever had. The cord broke though, so I was wondering where those are still for sale.

 

[Blind]

I realize this is a really, really old post but this is a current situation for myself.

I just picked up a Kenwood Sirius satellite radio tuner and installed it today, simply put the FM modulation is horrible so I went to radioshack and bought a $20 cd cassette adapter which I figured would solve everything for me and be nice and simple.

Too my surprise, I plugged it in, insterted the tape, and it played and sounded WONDERFUL with much clearer sound than the FM modulator....then a second later the radio flipped the tape to side 2 and the sound got quiet, then it flipped to side 1 again and sounded GREAT...then it ejected the tape and I turned red.


I did as one of the posters suggests up above and took the adapter apart and removed the teeth from the rollers and that didn't work, then I removed the rollers completely and that didn't work either.

uhh, now what?

I found a device called a "PIE X3" that connects up to the CD changer in my truck and gives me 3 RCA aux-inputs, but it costs $85 shipped...a bit spendy considering my Sirius tuner was $50....but if thats what it takes to make it work I'll do it, but I'm not giving up on the cassette adapter yet.

can anyone give me any advice on what to try to make it work next?

The radio in question is:

1996 explorer XLT, with tape in dash, and 6 cd-changer in arm rest, without factory sub.

I have added on a set of 2 12" MTX subs in the back with an MTX class-D amp and I am on the road a lot, really want my satellite radio to work


On a side note:
The sirius tuner works AWESOME in my mustang which I have a Panasonic DF-88EUC cd-player that has RCA aux-input in the back of it, and I want that quality in the explorer too! But I dont want to lose my CD-changer either!

 

[gavin]

I know at wal-mart (cuz I work there, haha) they sell an FM modulator.. it plugs into the headphone jack, then you set it to the FM frequency you want to use.. set the radio to that frequency, and you'll get the sounds coming from your device.
if you have no way/don't want to hard wire it, and cassette adapter doesn't work, that's about your only choice.

 

[Blind]

fixed it, got a "maxelle" brand tape adapter which the difference from it and the radioshack brand one I tried previously was that it had "dual head" on the tape meaning it had a wider contact area for the tape player to pick up the signal.

gavin: my sirius tuner has a built in FM modulator and it sounds like absolute garbage with that, sounds crystal clear with the tape adapter :-D