This is a car deck, but the compact mechanism is similar to a Walkman. I've been chasing a loud whirring noise for a while now. It only happens when cold, I made a few videos. I've changed the belt, pinch rollers, motor, lubricated the gears with plastic lubricant and the motor and capstan bearings with oil, calibrated speed and azimuth and the noise persists. It only happens on side 1, and FF/REW don't affect it. I just don't know what else it could be. The mechanism looks clean and feels smooth when apart. I have plenty of photos of the mechanism. Can someone help point me in the right direction?
My truck does the same thing, I figure it's the bearing on the tension pulley even though I changed it a few years ago, it goes away after a few blocks of driving. Since it doesn't change with the increased speed of FF/REW, I'd say it's the motor bearing but I'm no expert.
Thanks for the reply. I also suspected the tape, but it happens on a lot of different tapes, mostly TDK D and Maxell UR. It hasn't happened on any of my best tapes, but I don't use them that often in this deck. I lubricated the motor as well as swapped it out with another motor from a different production run, and the noise is still there. If I switch sides a few times, the noise goes away. Possibly one of the bearings of the gears resonating. I haven't confirmed, but I don't think this deck has any idler tires. Since it hasn't been cold recently, the noise hasn't returned. If the noise returns, I'll investigate further. In the meantime, I'll continue examining my backup mechanism to see what might make such a sound.
It sounds like rubber slipping, like a dried rubber tire. I wanted to say pinch rollers, but you say you already replaced those. Make sure absolutely every rotating part is cleaned and re-lubricated and every rubber part replaced. Tape can certainly cause noise, but it's usually more erratic when it's caused by tape. This is too constant. If you decide to pursue the repair I recommend doing the following: - take the unit out of the car and power it on a 12V power supply. - with the cover off, listen very carefully and locate where the noise is coming from. By the way, how does the capstan look ? Are there any side effects of this noise like increased wow&flutter ? Note that noise caused by tape sticking to the head can also be heard in the audio, which I assume is not the case here.
I never made it to the very center of the mech where the rubber tire would be, so I can't say if there's a tire or not. You make me interested in opening up my backup mech to finally find out. The reason I hesitated to look there is because FF/REW doesn't affect the noise, which I would imagine should be affected if it's a tire in the side-switching gears. I do intend to continue the repair. The mechanism is very well-made and quite pleasant to work on. As is, the deck sounds fantastic. This is the last issue. Capstans and bearings look great. I cleaned and lubricated both capstans. After doing so, W & F was lowered to qualitatively acceptable on both sides. One of the capstan shafts in the mech had some play, so I replaced it with a backup that did not. W & F is not affected by the noise as far as I can tell. The new pinch rollers are tracking excellent. Correct. Thanks for the reply.
Here are some notes and photos I took from my pinch roller repair. After this, I also changed the motor and lubricated the motor and capstan shafts, but I didn't take photos.
