I recently bought a WM FX-101 but it played cassettes extremely slow. When I opened it up to adjust the speed, the potentiometers maximum was still way to slow. I’m not really sure what to do, the belt looks fine.
Maybe a capacitor issue? It could be the tape mechanism doesn't get enough power because of a defective capacitor. Have you checked if there isn't maybe some rubber leftovers from a melted belt in the mechanism? It's nasty because it can hide below the gears. Perhaps something else is stuck in there too.
Well there wasn’t any of the nasty goop but what I think are the capacitors are crooked; could they have maybe come loose during shipping. Do you know how I can fix it?
With small capacitors it's harder to tell if they're already junk or not. Big ones with the cross (that clearly bulges in most cases when broken) are far easier to identify at first glance. I have a tape walkman which got some crooked ones as well, so does my computer's LCD screen, both are working flawlessly. Sometimes they just weren't attached in an aesthetical way, but are still fully functional. Resoldering them would probably be the best way to fix/readjust them, but I'd rather suggest to check power flow at different points before you do any of that. That might help you identify if and which one of them could be the culprit. Though generally if you're already going to do something like that it might be worth it to recap the entire device. I only know the basics so I'm afraid I won't be able to help as well as some other members here who are more into fixing devices. I'd advice to search for a service manual (at least a scan/pdf), there's plenty of sources to get them from. That way you will be able to find out which capacitors you might want to have replaced or checked. Sometimes you might find a FAQ on what could cause your issue in them. Also how is the battery compartment? If the sound is also fairly silent it could be the metal's dirty thus no proper contact being established. It might just need some proper cleaning. I've fixed a different device (not a walkman) this way and it was all up and running again. Resources I could quickly find on the net on slow motor speed: http://www.tapeheads.net/showthread.php?t=63994 https://www.reddit.com/r/cassetteculture/comments/5xhbpw/walkman_playing_slowly/ (WM-FX163 seems to be a similarly built model) http://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/walkman-playing-slow.2444/ (first thought here was a recap, though in his case it was just the speed adjustment, which you already seem to have tried)
