I gave up on my 1983 Delco and found this one in the junk yard for
10.00. I don't know the year of the van it came out of but it actually
is a direct fit into my 1990 Chevy van so I was glad to find it. I
cleaned the head, tape path, resurfaced the pressure rollers, and
removed the slick from the belt. I tried it on the bench and it
performed very well. In the van it worked well initially however now
sometimes after inserting a tape the thing just continuously clicks.
Sometimes repeatedly inserting and removing the tape will get it to
work but eventually I pulled it and put it back on the bench. I opened
it and found that when it does this just giving the solenoid in the
back of the transport section a little help seems to lock it in. But
there seems to be more going on here. And I don't really know how this
mechanism is supposed to work. It seems like a mechanical nightmare
actually. Its so tightly packed I hesitate to start dismantling it
further than just enough to service the main belt. Unless someone
knows for certain that the fix for this is a definite and relativly
minor one, (which I feel that it could be), I may have to return this
to the junk man and scrounge another junk yard for another one. The
numbers off the unit are as follows:
Model:16129895
Pkg.# 16124591
Prod. ID: FM20EV
(This number is also on the unit, which leads me to believe it was a
1989 model):
89APBH
I'm really missing my tunes! Thanks for any assistance with this.
Lenny Stein, Barlen Electronics.