Audio Systems: jammed cassette, needle nose pliers, tape decks

Question
Is there anything I can do to check it before taking it to a shop?  I'd love to do this myself if I could.

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Followup To
Question -
Hi Tom!  I bought a 2000 Impala in Nov.04.  We were on a long drive, listening to books on tape, and after several hours, one of the tapes we were putting in jammed and we can't remove it.  The tape won't play either.  We've followed instructions in car's manual, but no luck.  Garage guys pried it up to get needle nose pliers on tape, but can't pull it out.  This is the OEM cd/cassette/radio.  Any suggestions before we have the whole unit removed?  Of course the tape belonged to local library!
Answer -
Tina,
It burns me up when mechanics that should know better destroy tape decks by prying on them to remove a stuck tape. In most cases a very minor problem could have been repaired, but now that the deck was pryied on, the cassette holder and possibly the load assembly may be bent beyond repair and will need to be replaced. You may want to have a repair shop look over the stereo.


TOM,
T&D ELECTRONICS
tdeser@zoominternet.net

Answer
Tina,
You could remove the stereo from the dash and open it up to remove the tape deck assembly. You may get lucky and find that any bent parts can be taken out, straightened out and put back into the tape deck. The problem with the tape deck may have only been a misalignment or possibly a broken belt.


TOM,
T&D ELECTRONICS
tdeser@zoominternet.net