How do you fix a cassette player on a car?

Answer 1

1. "Fix" as in attach on or install in a car?

2. Or repair one that's stopped working "in" a car?

If 1, read the install manual. Why or where you'd find this obsolete technology I can't guess.

If 2. Basically the same way you'd repair a unit in your home entertainment center.

If you played a tape that was old or damaged by heat it likely only requires a long wood handled "Q-Tip" and some rubbing alcohol or head cleaning solution readily available at Radio Shack. (Radio Shack employees are great sources of info and may actually fix it for you.) Open the "flap" and clean the read head, (erase head also if car deck is able to record)

There are "cleaning cassette's" available but over the decades they proved worthless.

If it "ate a tape" it may make this far easier if you removed it and partially disassembled it and removed the damaged tape and cleaned the head[s].

Ultimately you'd be far better off to by a console type cd/dvd recorder and convert everything cassette or VHS to CD/DVD disk. A home cassette player is FAR easier to clean so you may be able to save some of your cassette collection during the transfer process, and be able to easily clean the heads as the decaying magnetic media fouls them.

Once you salvaged all that you can, any that seem in good shape can be put up for later generations to marvel over. If you actually fix it, NEVER leave any tapes where heat or humidity can get to them! The "life expectancy" of a well cared for cassette/VHS was 20 years. CD's/DVD's 100. Half or less that is the norm.

Any old favorites you have, working or not, are easily replaced, at a fairly low cost, by more modern higher quality sound media. I had to hope and pray some early personal recordings were salvagable and re-mastered them on CD/DVD. Thankfully they were recorded on blanks that cost as much, or more than a commercial album, had been kept indoors, and were recoverable.

Note: CD and DVD (BluRay) digital media does NOT lose quality with "generational" recording. If it's something irreplaceable, make new copies every year or 2 and keep the older ones. You may find that you can use the originals for years and copy them before errors show up. CD and DVD blanks cost from .20 cents to 4 or 5 dollars each. No noticable difference in the short term. Some $5 cd/dvd's were unreadable 6 months later and some .20-.30 cent ones readable 6-7 years later. The older this tech gets, the more dependable.