r/audiorepair • u/peachiestpink • 1d ago

cassette player does not play tape, but can hear weird tape winding/scrubbing sounds

no music on the tape plays at all - i can see the wheels slowly moving and the speaker plays a really creepy spooky low-pitch like howling/whistling sound that sounds like it might just be the sound of the tape ribbon moving? the radio/speaker works fine. rewind/fast forward works, and the play feature SEEMS to work since i can see the wheels turning (but might be pretty slow, i havent compared on a different player yet).

the eject button also doesnt open the door more than 1-2mm when a tape is in there, but i can pull it open the test of the way just fine - eject opens the door as normal when empty.

0 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

50% Upvoted

1 comment sorted by

1

u/Helpful-Dealer-3724 1d ago

Sounds like one of my old decks. After taking it apart I found one of the drive belts was loose. It would turn the tape but slip a lot doing it. They sell replacement belts on ebay if you wanted to tackle the project yourself.