Ok, here's the details, since you asked
I have a 2000 Ford Windstar with original radio/tape deck. About 6 months ago, my tape deck (yes, I AM stuck in the 80's) started to "flip" the tape while it was playing. I would be listening to side A, then it would flip to side B, and back & forth until I finally stopped using it. The radio still worked fine until a week or two ago. I would be listening to the radio when the tape deck would click on and continue clicking (with no tape in it). At first, I was able to push the tape eject button or turn the power off to get the radio back on, but eventually that stopped working and the tape deck would click continuously, so I would have to turn the whole thing off. Yesterday, just to make this interesting, whenever I would go over a bump the tape deck would click on. If I went over another bump, the radio would click on. Randomly, the tape deck would still click on, I would power the system off, and wait until I came upon another bumpy road to get my radio back
During my last car inspection, the mechanic loosened a fuse which caused my radio to stop working. DH fixed it. That was before all this craziness started, so I don't think it's related. Nothing else seems to be broken.
I probably will just buy a new unit. I can find them very cheap on E-bay, esp. since I don't require a CD player. I'm just hesitant about self-installation. I'm a technical moron, and DH is not much better when it comes to cars.
Side note: My kids did ruin my mother's car radio by putting coins into the CD slot. It's not beyond imagination that they could have performed a similar stunt in my car...so could loose coins cause this type of malfunction?
Thanks for your input!!!