Let's save and give a new life to this early 2000s Panasonic RQ-E20V walkman by replacing the belt, cleaning it, lubricating the mechanism and calibrating the speed. Please consider making a donation: paypal.me/noverbia
this was very helpful. it made fixing mine a breeze. my autoreverse doesn't quite work. I'll mess with that another time but it plays and sounds surprisingly good.
Thanks ! Hope you managed to do it. Indeed it's a bit tricky, due to the thin plastic hinges, but it should be easy to do using a small flat screwdriver to push out the hinges
Thanks for sharing! I have a RQ-E25V which has a similar layout. I replaced the belt using your video as a guide and also I had to solder the 5 pins at the bottom right. However, when putting back together, the motor does not start although the display and radio are fine. The rollers do not move at all, whether FF/REW/Play. Any idea what is wrong? It was working before with the old belt but not steady.
Never mind, figured it out! I didn’t solder all 5 pins properly to the board… I had to re-flow the solder, and now it works great. Also i want to point out that pins 1-4 are all shorted together. Pin 5 (the one nearest to the corner) is a separate connection, so make sure you don’t accidentally short it to pin 4 when you re-solder!!
Just fixed mine a few minutes ago (RQ-E25V belt exchange) without desoldering. Kinda tricky, but worked out for me using some tiny tools through the small gap…resurrection was a success!🎉
Thank you for your help ! I have this exact model but I can’t open the case (I can’t remove the rear cabinet), I fear I break it, because when I push the claws, the part with the volume button stays fixed, I don’t see why, there are no screws or others claws… how did you do ?
I couldn't say exactly how, watch closely the part where I open it up and also the part where I put the cabinet back together, I think it will help you see exactly where the claws are and how to do it
thanks ! Isopropylic Alcohol for cleaning. And for lubricating the wheels I recommend Technical Oil for Fine Mechanics, but in the video I used some siliconic grease.
Hey, although there are chances of breaking it, please look for the service manual for your model. There you will find the drawing with where the plastic clamps are, which hold it together. You can then use a butter knife to open it.
I have a feeling that I used slightly loose belt, how can I be sure I used the right one? The walkman works fine, but the music seems not to keep one speed. Could that be a belt?
Yes, a belt that's loose or too tight will create uneven speed that's audible when listening to music. Belts made precisely for this model can be found on ebay, that have the right diameter and length
Sorry, I didn't measure it. If you watched the video, you can see that I tried one that looked okay and it fit just fine. I recommend buying a pack of various walkman belts from ebay !
Don't worry, it's not that difficult, just beware not to break the clips when opening the case, as for desoldering the motor, it's way easier with desoldering wick. I did it the hard way in the video :)
Many of the 90s Panasonic and Sony Walkmans required a single R6 battery to function. It was enough to listen up to 6-7 cassettes until it drained out. That was because of the slim design.
