My Sony WM-7 cycles rapidly back and forth between reverse and forward when either forward, reverse, ff or fast reverse buttons are pushed. It won't play. It will respond to the stop button. Any suggestions on a fix? This was sent for factory repair years ago, and after repair played a tape or two and reverted to the problem.

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, this does it on every tape, commercial and otherwise. I hope it's loose belts and not something more complicated, though replacing belts would be no fun either.

it definately needs a new belt...

of course it needs a new belt but you missed my point. i can run tape after tape through my wm-7 right now till the battery runs out without the auto reverse flipping back and forth. if i use the 75 cent sony tapes that are sold now all it does is stalls and reverses just as he described. i can run the old maxell's or other better brands from 10-20 years ago it makes a world of difference. i don't start hearing the wobble until near the end of the tape. the quality is bad not only in the build but also in the sound.

Sorry, but I guess I wasn't clear. I can put in tapes made of gold and platinum, and it starts switching back and forth from the get go. I've got a supply of 20 year old Maxell CrO2 tapes and other decent types, but it doesn't matter. I can put in brand new tapes and it doesn't matter. When I was recording to my own tapes, I used the best ones I could buy, never used brand X. The WM-7 needs repair. It probably was a bad build.

quote:

Originally posted by rerooted:
of course it needs a new belt but you missed my point. i can run tape after tape through my wm-7 right now till the battery runs out without the auto reverse flipping back and forth. if i use the 75 cent sony tapes that are sold now all it does is stalls and reverses just as he described. i can run the old maxell's or other better brands from 10-20 years ago it makes a world of difference. i don't start hearing the wobble until near the end of the tape. the quality is bad not only in the build but also in the sound.

...got your point, mate, believe me, it's a question of a new belt

if i am not mistaken somebody did a nice set of instructions a few months back on replacing that belt. when i get a new one i am going to look back to find it. i remember thinking that it isn't one of the worst projects to undertake with the instructions. i remember not long ago that it is not one of the common 8mm sizes either. the last i looked the parts store still had them. i wrote the part number down and kept it. it is 3-310-146-00. if you are just a little mecanically minded and have some patience and good screwdrivers it can be done. refer back and the instructions are there. they charge 3.95 ea. the last time i ordered belts but i paid about 8.00 shipping. they appeared to be origonal too. it said on the package "made in japan".