This is very likely using the GEC transport which was common in most Yamahas and cheaper 4-tracks from back in the day. There is a bracket that, when the grease between the tapeheads plate and main plate of the transport, snaps due to old grease applying too much torque to aging plastic. It snaps and creates all kinds of transport issues. I can’t say for sure, but this is likely the issue. This transport also had issues with the idler tire not applying enough traction and the uptake spool wouldn’t keep up with the capstan speed and it would “eat tapes”. These issues are fixable but require a tech with experience with the GEC transport. This video is old but maybe this will help someone else trying to diagnose a similar problem on a similar unit.
You're going to have to remove the transport to see what's going on behind the chassis, you might find a gear is broken or it needs to be re-greased, you can't see much from this position.
Hi, I'm trying to disconnect the audio board but find it difficult to remove those 3 ribbon cables from the white connectors. Remove each of the removable plastic part but the cables don't come off. Any advice? thank you!
I don't know but I may have a similar problem. I bought a Pioneer CT-W616DR double cassette that has their Digital Processing/Noise Reduction System off of ebay. It's in great condition and was described as having been little used, which I have no reason to doubt, and I don't blame the seller for the problem. Both transports seemed to work fine when I first received it, but the recording transport now has a tape stuck inside it and cannot eject it. I accidentally pressed the (I think) rewind or fast forward button while playing, As far as I know this should be a full logic transport and the fact that I may have accidentally pressed a different transport function button without first pressing stop shouldn't have been a problem. I primarily bought it to use for transferring a few tapes that I still have (and for others that I may come across) to CD, DAT or other digital file/format. I don't really have any plans for using it for recording/dubbing any new tapes so the recording capability is not really needed. Besides, to my knowledge Pioneer never made a single well deck with the digital processing/NR system. Anyway, when powered on it does a similar thing to yours where it does some clicking/adjusting, trying to engage the transport. From what I observed it seems to be partially/fully engaged but won't do anything else, hence why I can't eject the tape. By the way the eject is a manual button, not a motor controlled one. So after a few seconds, after it tries to engage, it stops and then a error/service code is displayed for that side. According to the manual the error/service code indicates "mechanism operation error". Like I said, the recording function will not likely be used much anyway, so it's not that big of a deal. And the digital processing/NR is available on the playback deck. But I would like to at least get the stuck tape out of the record deck without any damage to either the tape or recorder since it is one of the tapes that I want to transfer (it's from 1985 and was never released on CD). I would also like to avoid taking it to a repair shop, if possible. It sounds like it should be a fairly simple fix but I'm not experienced. Any thoughts?
I'm afraid I'm not well-versed enough in your device, or this transport issue in general to say. Frankly, I find a good whack is successful some of the time. I'm lost, too.
It definitely looks like a broken armature that helps to load the tape heads. I repaired the same issue with the Tascam Porta 05 ministudio. Very easy fix.
