Sony TC-255 problems

[razpones]

Hi all, I come today to ask for help.
I had started to repair the Sony TC-255 deck, and things were working out sort of ok. The main problem I had was the pinch lever assembly was stuck. A pretty common issue as I gathered. I took it apart, it wasn't easy, with heat and lubricant. Then I put it back together again after re-lubing it and also re-lubing the pinch roller, the capstan Idler, and the take up idler. I had to undo the whole head assembly plate a few times because the tape kept going too slow, the pinch roller had too much pressure it seemed to me, so i had to keep taking it apart and moving a plate in the back of the pinch lever that connects it to the spring behind that moves the plates that push the tape against the heads. It appeared to me that if I played with that plate, the lever went up or down putting more or less pressure on the pinch roller. So i did it a few times, every time turning off to take it off. The last time I did it it still was slow and so I took it apart one more time, but when I put it together again, an tried to test it, the motor didn't spin.
At first I thought it might be the fuse, but sadly it seems like it is not blown, I did not take the cover off to test the fuse, but I tested the wires going in to it and the diode continuity test on my multimeter went off so I figure since it seems to have continuity, the fuse most be ok. The only reason i didn't test the fuse directly, is because this tape has a lot of glue in many places, like many screws, and other parts, including the fuse cover. So I figured if the wires that go into the fuse test ok, then it most be ok.
It seems to get power thru the circuit board as well, but no motor action. The motor cap, seems to get some voltage, but not sure how much it should say, but when I turn on and off the switch it seems to show it, with power then no power, so there is energy thru circuits.
So now after reading some other posts on similar decks. I am thinking maybe it is the capacitor to the motor. When I check the motor after this happened, it was quite warm. Not like hot, but very warm, i had to take off the cabinet to get back into the motor area, so it might have cooled down enough to not be actually hot.
I don't have a ESR meter or a Capacitance meter. So I can only test with multimeter, in continuity it went off (the sound) and it registered about -0.020 in resistance mode it registered 56 ohms, it is a very big cap, the service manual mentions this which is kind of a weird data to me:
--MP Capacitor 1.5+0.5uF am not sure what those values mean, other caps are normally marked with number and watts and number and uF so it is different.
Any ideas anyone? I really appreciate some help, I thought I was getting somewhere and now this is kind of a bigger issue than just mechanical repair out of nowhere.
Thanks everyone for any hints or help.

 

[audiojones]

Read this thread, posts #5 and #7 apply to your problem (yours is the two head version of this three head model) https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/new-to-me-sony-tc-355.957502/

Forget about measuring esr and voltages, just replace the run capacitor as covered in the above thread; it is an extremely common issue with Sony single motor decks. If you are in the US or Canada and don’t plan on using the machine with 50hz power then the 1.5uf run cap is all you need. If you are overseas and have 50hz household power then the 2uf run cap is all you need. If you want to be able to convert between the two then buy a 1.5 and a .5 but I would recommend just installing what you need for your local power supply, it’s much easier.

 

[razpones]

Ah cool, thanks for pointing me in the right direction, I bet that is why the tape was going slow and not so much the pinch roller being too tight. Thanks!

 

[audiojones]

You’re welcome, yep that’s most likely the problem. The idler wheel for the capstan also causes speed problems when it gets hardened up and glazed over too (which it most likely is by now), but if the motor is stopping it’s gonna be the cap. Good luck with it!

 

[razpones]

Well thanks to @audiojones and the rest of the members here that have chimed in on other posts, I was able to get the deck going again, it seems to work fine other than I cannot get a tape I made with my personal Philips reel to reel to play at the correct speed it was recorded on the other deck, am not sure if there is just discrepancy on the speeds within both decks, I suspect probably this Sony is just playing slow, but I cannot find the correct way to set the speed, the pinch roller just seems way to tight and any adjustment I make on the pinch roller arm doesn't seem to make much difference.
The thing that is a problem is that every time I go back and take off the plate and arm assembly I manage to snap a wire from one of the heads. So I've had to re-solder many wires now, the last time i turned the assembly around I snapped 3 wires from the two heads. And the wire is getting really small, next time I will have to splice a new set of wires.
So am just going to leave it this way for a bit and see if I can make a few recordings and check the quality of them. If am happy with it, then so be it, I will just leave it that way and it won't be compatible with the Philips.
If anyone has a tip on how to set the speed or a way to set the pinch wheel arm assembly please let me know.
Thanks!
(edit, I tested a few recordings in it, and it sounds really nice, the only thing is that maybe I have to really figure out the perfect set for the pinch arm assembly, the playback can be a bit fast or slow depending on if I pause before i play or just play, it doesn't start quick, it takes off slow and then gathers speed. I don't think I set the pressure to the pinch roller correctly, but I will let it be for a little while, as I don't want to deal with breaking more wires from the heads)

 

[Twilks69]

H