I own a 1997 Ford Taurus. I am trying to use a tape to mp3 player adapter in its tape player. When I push the tape in the player, I get a "TDE3" message and the tape spits out. I tried using another tape, and the same thing occurs, while the radio plays the entire time. What do I do to fix this?

It's the tape deck there must be a tape that got caught inside and is wrapped around the capstan or the heads and the radio stays on because the switch is not activated by the deck lowering down far enough you have to take it out and clean it and look for any tape or other obstructions that would stop the mechanism from working including the belt you may need parts and a 20 year old radio there hard to find try the junk yard for a replacement but you can operate yours with the cover off if you can get it out far enough to see inside while it's on and that will help you find the problem but first bring it inside your house so you don't loose parts after cleaning with alcohol and derusting if any and a light lubricant you might be lucky see what happens I also use an adapter for my cell phone music in a 2007 bull and I also did it in an 87 bull with a cd player so I know what your talking about also make sure the adapter wire is not hanging up when pushing it in good luck also brand new replacements might be the best way to get the music you want they have auxiliary input jacks for cell phone mp3 players but try to fix yours first the learning part is priceless for the future radios you will own