On 11/10/2015 01:25, Madness wrote:
Replaced the belt on this deck (after spending well over an hour
cleaning out the tar-like goo that the old one had gone to). Completely
cleaned the head, trip-sensor & capstan w/ Q-tips & alcohol. Great, deck
worked fine for about a week, but has now developed an annoying flutter
(speed-variation) problem. Doesn't matter which cartridge I play,
happens w/ them all. So, after looking at the rather-spartan service
manual, I put a voltmeter across the motor to check for variations. The
manual states that there should be 20VDC across it. Running it w/o the
belt, it shows a steady 21.2V (so, no-load). But when I run a tape, I
notice the meter changes a few tenths-of-volt whenever the speed varies
(so w/ load, since I can cause the same under no-load by pressing down
on the pulley). Which makes me wonder if the capstan needs a clean-out
of old grease at its bearing. Would love to, but there's an E-clip
*under* the flywheel the holds the whole assembly in place. Would love
to know -- how-in-hell -- I'd remove that E-clip (the service manual
gives no such information)? Anyhow, if anyone has worked on this or a
similar Sony model (TC-228, 258, etc), could you please provide some
insight?

Is the wow cyclic? any repeat period could indicate where.
What state the pinch wheel, hard,soft,flatted? can you invert it
,initially before replacing, and see if it makes a difference, also
changing the applied tension by finger pressure.
Are you sure you've removed all the ex-rubber black goo? it is
annoyingly persistent stuff, it could trail in from somewhere unseen