I got the Walkman with a broken center gear that had a pretty wide gap. It would randomly stop during playback so I figured of course the gear was the issue. I replaced the gear but it still triggers the auto-stop often with no tape in the mechanism and always with a tape in it (90, 45 and 5 min tapes tested). While looking at it in operation, I noticed that the lever that is supposed to catch the auto stop arm seems jerky in it's movement, almost like it is caught up on something but I can move it with no resistance using tweezers. I don't understand enough about what is responsible for moving that arm. I pulled the Spindle knob on both sides. The side by the buttons was fine and the gear was intact. The side next to the motor was also fine. I pulled the arm, gear and hexagonal piece and cleaned them. If I do not have the gear and spring attached to that hexagonal part, the arm does not move at all. All I can assume is that friction from the spindle knob moving is supposed to move the arm back??? Here is a video I took of the problem I am having since I am likely not knowledgeable enough to be explaining it correctly. Can anyone give me some pointers of what to look for? Attaching a pic of the arm I am talking about. I searched the forums but could only find info on the opposite problem (auto-stop never engaging).
For explanation of how the auto-stop system works on these mechanisms, please reffer to page 4 of WM-2 service manual. Is that detection lever intact ? Does the takeup reel shaft stay pressed firmly in the hexagon part on the other side ? It's common that these hexagons get cracked.
Thanks for the service manual recommendation. I wound up pulling the arm from my WM-2 and swapped it into this WM-F5. It worked perfectly so in inspecting the two side by side, I could see that the arm from the WM-F5 was slightly bent and was making contact with the white gear under it. A little bit of heat and some careful bending and now it works perfectly! I just knew it had to be binding on something.
