Hello, A few days ago, I bought myself a WM-EX508 with what I thought was just a belt issue on it... Boy was I wrong ! After fitting a new belt (same size/thickness as the original) when I press play, the mechanism seems to auto reverse indefinitely. I made a little video so you can see (and hear) what's happening. Thanks in advance for any suggestion, advice
Re, So after a LOT of pondering, I took the "the electronics are whack" route. And I was right ! The IC701 chip (the system controller) had soldering issues, some joints cracked. I didn't notice it until I randomly pressed on the chip : the mechanism stopped doing weird things and started to play my tape I tacked every pins (with solder flux added) and the EX508 is alive again ! I hope that can help somebody as in those old devices, cracked joints invisible to the eye might fudge a lot of stuff up. Anyway, I'm off, I'll be listening to all my old D'n'B tapes
Great fix! Did you happen to take before/after photos? so we can see what "bad" looked like, and what "fixed" looks like? I have other walkmans that do this strange behavior I will look more closely, i presume solders are "good"! thanks for sharing! mike in SC
Well, the solder cracks in my case were absolutely invisible, I just pressed randomly on the legs of the chips in search for bad contacts ^^ On another note : I have to replace the pinchrollers as they both have an indentation where the capstan was and it causes a lot of wow/flutter, definetly some work left on this bad boy. I bought some others on ebay recently, I'll see if any of them exhibit the same issues.
I'll check for something like that! I'm familiar with this unit, I have EX-502, and there is a thread on www(dot)tapeheads(dot)net/threads/sony-wm-ex508-any-thoughts-opinions-about-it.41384/page-2 and I've got an EX-808 that is doing something that sounds similar! just keeps "reversing"! great find! I have not tried ebay rubber rollers, I haven't had good luck with belts I've gotten from ebay (too big), so I have been buying from Marian at "FixYourAudio.com", they arrive from Slovakia to SC/US in about a week, and quality seems very good (his tutorials on website are good too!)
I always let Marian at the website determine what fits what, just email him... there is a lot of compatibility within Sony, Panasonic, etc, e.g. when i need a belt for a Panasonic NX-60v or a RQ-SW-88v, neither listed on his site, he will find correct size and send. I've learned changing those rubber rollers usually makes a huge improvement!
Sorry for updating old thread, but I think it might help someone in the future. Just had similar problem with slightly newer WM-EX51o - rewind works fine, but randomly sometimes play, but mostly just tries to engage and drops. There were initially some signs of corrosion when I got it, so I reflowed IC701 chip with soldering iron, but apparently it wasn't enough, so I ended up updating soldering joints on other SMD components around IC701 and after that it works flawlessly.
Hi everyone, sorry for bumping such an old thread. I recently picked up a Sony WM-EX508 that was sold as defective. The battery compartment was a mess it looks like an old battery leaked and left green corrosion everywhere. I tried cleaning it with some vinegar, which seemed to help a bit. After opening it up, I saw the belt was shot, so I replaced it with a new one. However, when I try to play it, I hear a very faint mechanical sound almost like something is scratching or rubbing but nothing is actually turning. What could the issue be? Are the gears bone-dry and in need of lubrication, or could it be something else entirely?
Try to power it on without the belt. If motor doesn't rotate, remove the battery contacts and clean them with wire brush. Regarding mechanism, you can try rotating the FWD flywheel, you should be able to get the mech through its paces by rotating in both direction (this mech has no solenoid).
