I've just received a Sony WM-3. It was listed at a good price, stated as "battery light turns on, but cassettes don't play." I've fixed quite a few of these, and they usually just have a seizd motor requiring a bit of cleaning and loosening up. This one, though, have a different problem. Upon starting the unite the motor does turn for a short time, then stops while the battery light stays on. If you pressed stop and play again, it will turn again and stops, but quicker. If you leave it off for a while and tried again, the duration cylcle repeats again. Any idea what may cause this? Thanks in advance!
In this situation i would run the motor directly, connecting battery terminal to motor wires. This way you can exclude the motor issues. I had similar issues with TCM-600 and BM12 , they are now functional after lubricating the motor several times.
The motor wasn't seized at all, and I had lubricated it. Following your suggestion, though, I tested the motor directly, and it runs fine. Meanwhile, I tested the voltage going to the motor, and found what's causing the motor to stop. It starts at around 2.5 V, hovers a bit then quickly lowers to 0. I'm not at all adept that understanding how the electronics stuff works, so I'm at a loss as to what's causing that voltage drop.
The culprit of the problem has been found, it is discussed on this thread: http://www.stereo2go.com/forums/threads/anyone-know-how-to-access-capacitors-on-a-walkman-wm-3.3073/
