Got the stock radio in, but I'm having some issues...

[Fireball5657]

Finally got a stock radio with cassette and 5 bar EQ in my 94 Sierra, but there is a handful of issues.

1. Cassette deck almost always plays audio on one side. With a real cassette and with a cassette to aux adapter, it sounds great on the right side, but the left is extremely quiet and even the balancer doesn't help. I got it to play out of both sides once, but since then it hasn't worked. Most answers online are doom and gloom, but everything has a solution...

2. Eject button likes to not work. This one is probably as simple as cleaning the contact where the button presses, but you have to press the eject button about 40 times before it decides to actually eject. Otherwise it just ignores me. Every other button works just fine, but the eject button just refuses to work 95% of the time. Is it really just as easy as cleaning the buttons, or is there something else going on here?

3. Buttons on the head unit stick. Again, the fix is probably just to clean the buttons, but when I press the volume buttons they stick or take an extra second to "unpress." How hard is it to clean the button contacts on the head units?

4. And finally, screws. What size screws hold the cassette deck/EQ to the dash? Is it the same screws that hold in the head unit and climate controls?

Overall, I'm very happy with the stock radio, it looks great, it sounds great ignoring my cassette issue... In fact I would say that it sounds better then any aftermarket radios I've ever heard, and my friends who remember my older radios agree.

CDM model number: 16169561
Cassette/EQ number: 16191455
Setup came from a 1994 GMC Burb

 

[AK49BWL]

1: The tape mechanisms most likely need to be lubricated. Two of the decks I have wouldn't engage the heads fully, leading to muted audio and sometimes even the gears wouldn't mesh. A little 3n1 oil around the metallic bits' pivot points and lots of actuation between the modes should help this. Since you DID get both side audio at a point, I would have to not assume the worst of fried caps or other electrical bits. Cleaning and lubing the deck is of course easiest when the cassette player body is out of the enclosure (what the EQ is also mounted in) - the set is not too difficult to take apart, but be careful with the ribbon cable to the front panel buttons. They tear easily.

2: The tape deck buttons are NOT that simple, unfortunately..... You pretty much have to R&R them individually, which is no easy task. Wanna see? https://www.gmt400.com/threads/blue-leds-in-a-94-stereo.49103/#post-1096165
The eject buttons always seem to be the first to go... They corrode internally. Can be fixed, sure, but it's not easy.

3: the head can be fairly easily taken apart without risk of damage. Remove the cover, remove two screws to pull off the upper circuit board (pry around the two passthrough connections to avoid bending the pins) - once that board is out of the way, remove several screws from the display circuit board. Be careful when removing this board because it holds all the buttons in place. Once you're down to the buttons, clean around the edges of the buttons themselves AND the edges of the front face. That will alleviate most, if not all, of the stickiness.

4: Yes, same screws.

 

[DerekTheGreat]

In addition to what AK49 said, you could try cleaning the tape head with isopropyl alcohol and see what that does. That's one of the things I hate about tapes, and why the adaptors aren't really the best route. You really want to do the aux input mod so you bypass all that sound quality sucking, noise adding garbage and essentially use the tape's line into the CDM.

Last I checked, my tape deck worked perfectly. It was a Frankenstein's monster of at least three different decks grafted into one working deck though. Haven't checked it in at least a year as I really just have it for the equalizer.

 

[RichLo]

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Not for a GMT400 but theres is some really good info in here.

 

[Steven Petersen]

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Finally got a stock radio with cassette and 5 bar EQ in my 94 Sierra, but there is a handful of issues.

1. Cassette deck almost always plays audio on one side. With a real cassette and with a cassette to aux adapter, it sounds great on the right side, but the left is extremely quiet and even the balancer doesn't help. I got it to play out of both sides once, but since then it hasn't worked. Most answers online are doom and gloom, but everything has a solution...

2. Eject button likes to not work. This one is probably as simple as cleaning the contact where the button presses, but you have to press the eject button about 40 times before it decides to actually eject. Otherwise it just ignores me. Every other button works just fine, but the eject button just refuses to work 95% of the time. Is it really just as easy as cleaning the buttons, or is there something else going on here?

3. Buttons on the head unit stick. Again, the fix is probably just to clean the buttons, but when I press the volume buttons they stick or take an extra second to "unpress." How hard is it to clean the button contacts on the head units?

4. And finally, screws. What size screws hold the cassette deck/EQ to the dash? Is it the same screws that hold in the head unit and climate controls?

Overall, I'm very happy with the stock radio, it looks great, it sounds great ignoring my cassette issue... In fact I would say that it sounds better then any aftermarket radios I've ever heard, and my friends who remember my older radios agree.

CDM model number: 16169561
Cassette/EQ number: 16191455
Setup came from a 1994 GMC Burb

I can help with your mounting question. The main thing on the cassette/equalizer is there’s a thin sheet metal bracket that screws down to the lower, inner dash cavity. The other end has a single hole with a retainer clip. There’s a plastic dowel on the back of the cassette/equalizer that pokes into that hole. This gives the rear support. Without this bracket there would be too much leverage on the front screws and I’m sure the plastic would break.

 

[AK49BWL]

That's odd, yours looks different from my support bracket. Mine looks similar to that, but has two legs extending down from the back of it to get screwed into the dash metal frame.

I'll have to pull mine out and get a pic of it, some reason I never took one.

 

[Steven Petersen]

That's odd, yours looks different from my support bracket. Mine looks similar to that, but has two legs extending down from the back of it to get screwed into the dash metal frame.

I'll have to pull mine out and get a pic of it, some reason I never took one.

The piece with the legs is separate. I was missing both pieces. I first ordered the piece in my picture not knowing I needed the other part.

 

[AK49BWL]

Interesting. Mine isn't like that.

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[Steven Petersen]

Interesting. Mine isn't like that.

You must be registered for see images attach

I’ve never seen one like yours, especially being blue. You can see the 2 holes in my extra piece where the legs part bolts to it. Yours looks to be all 1 piece.

 

[AK49BWL]

Oh I painted it lol. It was rusted before. And yes, it's all one piece. Maybe they changed things halfway through like they did other things in 91/92. This one came out of a 94 Suburban.