since the radio in my 240 has long since stopped broadcasting, i get by using one of those cassette tape converters that you can plug into a headphone jack. i stream radio on my phone and get music on my mp3. just the other day, the deck started to repeatedly attempt to turn the tape over.. and over and over.. anybody ever experience this? was thinking about trying one of those head cleaners, if they're still manufactured?
i guess i'm just hoping i don't need a whole new deck.
any comments are appreciated.

 

You sound a lot like me. I just got another 240 and it had a tape deck in it. I'm hoping that thing lasts through the life of the car cause I'm too cheap to buy another tape deck at goodwill or upgrade to auxiliary input jack/CD player.

Good luck, let me know what happens.

 

The player is probably bad-repairable but cheaper to get something else.

 

Get a new cassette tape converter. They go bad. Mine did & i bought a new one & it worked fine. Try that.

 

If it's attempting to turn the tape over and over and over again. You don't need to clean the tape, heads or even buy a new tape or radio. The reason it is turning the tape over is because it is feeling too much resistance in the tape's gears themselves, as if it was an actual tape and it being at the end of it's play.

The fix for this is incredibly easy and simple and takes less than a minute or two.

If you take a finger a stick it in one of the holes with the teeth and try to turn it, you'll feel resistance and it's hurt, right?

So.....
1) Unscrew the tape, and you'll see the interworkings of it.
2) In one of the corners you'll see a piece that's at the same level as the head at the top.
3) Simply remove that piece such that you're left with only the pieces/gears that turn/have the holes in them, I believe you should be left with the two spacer rings, the gear(s) that sits under them, and the one or two that fits/sets inbetween both of them in the middle of the tape.
4) Put the tape back together and try the finger thing and you should be able to spin it freely.
5) If that works, put the tape in the deck and enjoy your music for years to come.

I did this for a few of mine and it's worked flawlessly. 4 years later, and it still works and less stress on the unit/player.

Let me know if it works for you or any questions.

It won't play a real tape in my 240 nor would it play my tape adapter until after I removed that piece from the adapter, than it worked and I had no troubles

 

send me the postage and I will mail you a new one for free

 

I stuff a $100 pioneer or whatever CD/FM deck in mine that has minijack input ($120 gets you USB and ipod, $150 gets you bluetooth speakerphone)

 

^^^This. Quality head units are cheap these days...FM/CD/USB/IPOD input...$100

 

I put a alpine 105 in my 245 that I got on ebay for 55. Fit perfect and has aux. AND USB!!! Really like it, but can't justify paying that much for the stereo on a car that I paid 200 for. Yeah, I'm cheap like that.

 

thank you all for the feedback.
i should have mentioned i tried using another tape converter i was sure still worked, but to no avail. i just looked to see about taking about the tape itself apart, unfortunately mine does not have any screws at all.. i could try prying it open, but i'm certain i'd break it (even moreso).
i went ahead and bought a new receiver yesterday (pioneer, $80). a friend recently offered me an old amp and speakers so i was sold. this receiver has an aux input, which is good seeing as i mostly use an ipod.

swift, that console looks fit for interstellar travel, well done.

 

even a $80 new pioneer is probably 25W x 4 already, thats actually plenty of power for a car stereo, unless you're going for a boom box competition.

 

LOL! That's my 73 144...it doesn't even have warp drive and the plasma conduits are rudimentary at best!!

 

moving on: trying to install the aforementioned receiver.
i bought a wiring harness, wondering where the amp is? i've heard under the driver's dash, behind the glove box. tore both apart but to no avail. i think i'm spying it behind the heater control, etc? i see a silver box with a similar looking connection plugged into it. just want to know for sure before i dive in. i'd like to use this harness if possible, as opposed to sending a wire to each speaker individually. any advice/insight is appreciated.

 

The Volvo amps for 240's that I have seen have all been black...but they were for older cars. At this point, I'd consider tracing the speaker wires from one of the door speakers back to their origin. I'll check AllData and VADIS later today to see if there's any info on location...

 

the factory deck should have had a DIN style plug/cable to the amp if in fact one is in use. on a 240, I sort of doubt it, most had the speakers wired to the deck directly.

on my kid's 940SE, the amp was on the drivers side, left of the steering column, and behind the knee brace.

 

OK...here's a pic of the amp, cables and location. It's a Brit car but should be the same location...

 

ah, and to complete things, here's the factory radio on 91+ 240's...



so, the amp, if any, is in the bottom bay, the radio on top. if your radio has an amp, it has two connectors, the rectangular regular one, plus the round 'din' connector to the amp. if your radio does NOT have an amp, it just has the rectangular connector, and the speakers should be on this.

fwiw, on our 87 240GL, the radio was in the bottom bay, and the top bay has a 'pocket'. no amp. I put my speakers in the rear deck and ran my own wiring, plus small speakers in the factory door positions. my rear 6.5" speakers are SO much more powerful than the door speakers, you can hardly hear the fronts unless you fade the rear way down.

 

swift, that image was just what i needed to see this morning. the amp was right where i thought it was, in the third 'bay'. cutest little amp ya ever saw. got it finished this afternoon, looks and sounds great (photos to come). i knew i wouldn't have to resort to running wires to each speaker (suckas!)
pretty smooth all in all, once the situtation was completely in view. although just when i finished splicing all the wires, i went to test it before the finishing touches. nothing. no power. my heart broke. it didn't occur to me, but luckily a friend suggested a fuse, sure enough #'s 1 and 8 were fried. (who disconnects the negative battery terminal, anyway?).
bada bing, thank you all very much for the input.
next: what are the speaker sizes? a little improvement can make a big difference, so i've heard.

 

a before/after set.. sorry about angles/quality. isn't that the cutest little amp you ever saw?

 

so, i was listening to the new radio at a reasonable volume when suddenly the power starts going on and off intermittently. i crank the volume down and it stops. this was yesterday. today it flickers on and off so quickly i can't get in quick enough to turn the volume down. i should note that it had been working great up until this point, and i tend to crank the volume. what could be causing this?
not enough power? a short somewhere in the spliced wires?
thanks!