I purchased it last year and replaced the cracked gear. I used it quite a lot since then and it sounded great. The last time I used it was a few days ago and there were no problems at that time but suddenly when I tried to listen to it yesterday it had a problem. I bought some new headphones and I was excited to try them out so I plugged them in and turned it on and the walkman shut off after a second or two. I assumed the batteries were dead so I grabbed a pair from my boombox and the same problem occurred so I charged all of my batteries overnight. And then today I was expecting to listen to it while working but even with fully charged batteries the problem was still occurring so I realized something was wrong. I did some testing and here is what I found: I removed the tape and unplugged my headphones. When I push the play button the battery indicator light turns on and the peg (the part that turns the white wheels in the center of the cassette) moved just a little and then stopped and the power indicator light turned off, then I pushed the stop button. I could hear the motor trying to move but it sounds like it's stuck. The fast forward and rewind features seem to work completely fine when there is no tape and the door is closed (or open). Fast forward doesn't work when a tape is inserted. I opened up the tape door and held down the play button and the peg and capstan both rotated fine without any problems. I realized that the problem was only occurring when the tape door was closed. There's a mechanism that pushes the tape head and pinch roller forward when you push the play button while the door is closed so I assumed the problem must be the pinch roller. I inspected it and it seems to turn ok but it did kinda look like a glazed donut so I cleaned it off with some 100% isopropyl alcohol and I tried my best to oil it but the problem still occurs even after all of that. I was able to get it to run in play mode sometimes, but I think maybe I spoofed it somehow so that the pinch roller wasn't making contact with the capstan or something, I'm really not sure. I was trying things like pressing play while the door was open and then closing it. I couldn't get it to rotate in "play" mode at all with a tape inserted. My best guess (and I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about) is that maybe the capstan doesn't have enough strength to rotate the pinch roller, but that also doesn't make sense because during my attempts to fix it I also tried cleaning the capstan and one of the ways I did so was to dip a q-tip into the alcohol and then hold it against the capstan as it rotates. I assume that if the problem were due to the capstan being weak than the problem should have also occurred while I was cleaning it, shouldn't it have? At the moment I am assuming that the problem is the pinch roller but I don't see how that could be the case either. It seems to be rotating just fine so I have absolutely no idea what is wrong with it or how to go about fixing it. Does anyone have any idea what the problem could be? I could really use some help. I also made a post about this on Reddit, you can see a video of the problem there.
The carriage activates a lever when door is opened, it's like the STOP button being kept pressed. It's designed to unlatch the mechanism once the door is opened. Watched your video on Reddit, it's obvious the motor is freewheeling in PLAY mode, slipping on the rubber ring. This is likely caused by some grease or oil on the capstan ring or motor spindle. Both need to be thoroughly cleaned with IPA. Another test you can do to confirm there's no other issue is this: with cover removed, batteries removed, press play and rotate the flywheel by hand (clockwise). You should be able to make the plastic slider pull the head bridge into position and latch the mechanism into PLAY mode. See picture attached for a visual description of what you should see happening. It's from WM-2 service manual, which uses a same, but belt driven mechanism. You will feel increased resistance when the slider starts pulling the bridge into position, that's normal. The slippage also explains why FF and REW do not work under load (with a cassette in). There's just not enough friction between motor spindle and rubber ring. As a sidenote, pinch roller will not cause the mechanism to not engage, but if it's glazed it should be replaced anyway.
Thanks for the info! Which one is the motor spindle? I guess it wouldn't hurt to clean both the parts just to be safe. Should I add new grease or something after I clean it or will it be fine without it?
I attach a picture with motor spindle. Clean both, there's nothing to grease both parts should be clean even from fingerprints. As a sidenote, no need to quote previous posts. Can type on box below post and press "Post Reply" instead.
