'99 Taurus SE Car Stereo Help Needed (badly)! - Ford Forums

slackerjack · 03-24-2008, 23:05

Hey folks! I just introduced myself in the introduction forum, but here's a little recap...I'm a struggling musician living in Arkansas, and I just bought my first car (and as you've probably figured out by now, it's a '99 Taurus SE).
I've got a couple of problems...The first problem is that I know absolutely NOTHING about cars or anything pertaining to cars. And here's the second problem. Since I am on a tight budget, it couldn't afford a car with a great stereo (or even a CD player), my Taurus only has the factory FM radio/cassette player in it (although it has the CD changer control knobs), but as I am a musician and a big-time music junkie, I need to listen to my CD's while I drive, or at least what's on my MP3 player. Ok, so my car doesn't have the CD changer, so I figure I'll just get one of those cassette adapter things that let you plug your own music device into and viola, problem solved. No, not at all. I plug my MP3 player into the cassette adapter, put the adapter into my car stereo, but now I am only getting monophonic sound. I tried the same set-up in my friend's 2001 Toyota Camry and it worked perfectly, so it's definitely my car's stereo that is producing the mono sound.

Questions:

1. How can I get my car stereo to play the music from the cassette adapter in stereo and not mono?

2. If I could get my hands on a CD changer for the Taurus, would it be possible for me to install it myself, seeing how I know nothing about that stuff? And what would I need in order to install it?

I know that's a lot of stuff to take in, but any help on any of my "problems" would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

**jwko** · 03-25-2008, 06:23

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Have you played a cassette tape yet to see if it sounds ok? You might need to clean the head in the cassette player. A little alcohol on a Q-tip should do the trick or a wet cassette cleaner if you can still find one. Radio Shack would be your best bet for that.

I don't know much about the CD changer but im sure someone will come along here shortly that knows.

**tbird100636** · 03-25-2008, 17:04

The factory CD Changer mounts in the LR corner of the trunk. It plugs into the rear chassis unit behind the trunk carpeting (Brains of the radio, the radio controls on the dash are just that-controls and display.) I'd say try a junkyard/salvage yard first because it will be cheaper then the dealer new.

slackerjack · 03-25-2008, 23:18

My sincerest thanks to you both for your advice and info on both the cassette adapter and the CD changer. It is greatly appreciated!