Audio Systems: F150 radio/cassette player, radio cassette player, ford f150

Question
I have a 1991 Ford F150 truck with a radio/cassette player. The radio works perfectly, but all of a sudden the cassette player just makes noise.I thought it might just be dirt or metal filings (from the tapes) on the heads, but after using two different head cleaners with no results I am baffled.I have been told that the heads might be out of alignment, but how could this happen when I rarely use the cassette player?Your thoughts on the subject please>tyvw7

Answer
Hi there Angus,

Yes, It is possible for the heads to fall out of alignment as the vibrations from the car can cause this... I would like to point out that it may be dry joints also caused by vibrations. Another possibility is the mode switch - this selects which heads are used in forward or reverse mode. Dust/dirt may have contaminated this. Can be fixed with a can of contact cleaner and flicking the mechanism from forward to reverse several times.

Hope this gives you some answers.

Regards Baily :)