M-90 Cassette Deck Clicking On Power Up!

Hi everyone-I just got my first M-90 and this thing rocks but the cassette is not operational-YET!
It makes a clicking sound when you power it up-like it want s to go but no action on any control of the cassette functions.
The search light light up but no FF or Rew.
What should I look for when I open her up tomorrow??
I know the first thing is belts but I'm not getting any movement on the capstan-it's like it's froze!
The Rew and FF spolls are like not able to turn by hand either.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
I'm very happy to get one of these and it's very restorable-may need a back to get a really nice look to it!
I'm psyched!
Thanks guys-GB.

So let me get this straight... you flip the selector switch to "tape" and you get a clicking noise? Is it just one click, or continual repetitive clicking?

And you get zero response from ANY of the deck controls? (REW, FF??)

IF you get in there and the belts look good, I'm wondering if it could be those same fusable resistors that were bad on my deck?

Go to S2G and see my M90 post and you'll see pics of the primary cuplrit. Any decent tech should be able to replace those for you cheap. The trick is getting ones with the proper values. I have the SM with those values if you need it...

Where's Ramon when you need him???

Hi Jaetee-The belts are fine and the motor was spinning there for a while!!(on back view0left one,the most visible one)
But I don't know about the second motor.can't get in there far enough to see that one if it's spinning.
The clicking is only when you power it up and that's normal from what Frank said and it only clicks once.
I really need to get this deck going-I excited as anything!!
It's pretty clean inside also-I cleaned it up though but still it wans't to bad-boards are all clean!!
I just wish the motor would spin again-who knows what would have happened if I was twiddling with the controls when that was happening.
I did see that all the belts seem be ok.
I'm going to take it apart one more time to clean the band selector knobs which are a little dirty but overall the sound is really nice.
I want to take the speakers out and clean them but the left one (front view) looks like a bit of work to get that one out,the other doesn't look to bad but again it looks like I would have to de-attatch the speaker wires and they're soldered so I'm still waiting on speaker clean-up.
Man I so want this deck to work!!.
Jaetee-I'll look for that post and check it out but I just don't feel comfortable taking this deck way down!!
There is alot of stuff in there to get to the belts-I can see in there but this thing needs more testing.
Thanks Jaetee-I'm very excited-Have a great one-GB.

normally when you power up you will hear a click sound thats normal if you press play and it does not do anything num 1 belts may slip under load motor may spin but is slipping on the belt or otherwise slip on the capstan wheel you want to make sure you replace the belt it may look ok but they can get weak num 2 need service for the fusible link to be replaced i think i would start with a fresh and tight belt first then it will unlock itself as soon as you hit play ,, there will always be other things but i have seen mostly a belt or the fusible link, if the belt does not correct the problem then you will have to see which fusible link is bad as they are the ones to supply power to the motors if that doesnt do it then something else maybe causing the problem but like i said before either a belt of a fusible link maybe the culprit

monchito said:

normally when you power up you will hear a click sound thats normal if you press play and it does not do anything num 1 belts may slip under load motor may spin but is slipping on the belt num 2 need service for the fusible link to be replaced i think i would start with a fresh and tight belt first then it will unlock itself as soon as you hit play ,, there will always be other things but i have seen mostly a belt or the fusible link, if the belt does not correct the problem then you will have to see which fusible link is bad as they are the ones to supply power to the motors

Click to expand...

Thank you Ramon!!
I'll check into it.
The belt motor(the left one on back view) was spinning but now it is not.
I just am not sure how far I can get into this thing.?
Does anyone have tear down photos of the deck so I can get in there??
Otherwise Ramon-would you want to fix this if I can't??
I'm just wondering if anyone like Oldy who lives in Alabama could work on this.
I do know that you and I think Frank have these and have worked on them.
Let me know if I can't get any action out of this I may want yout fix this or even a shop in the Nashville or something.
I guess I love the sound so much coming out of this that I want it to work soon if you know what I mean.
Thanks again Ramon-I'll let you know what happenes.
Have a great one-GB.

hey jeff --
this advice is 50 miles from what you want to remember right now !!

but while you are waiting to fix or to have a tech fix your deck --
you can hear and record your tapes right NOW -
by running i little deck thru your line-in/out jacks.

just my temporary 2 cents

redbenjoe said:

hey jeff --
this advice is 50 miles from what you want to remember right now !!

but while you are waiting to fix or to have a tech fix your deck --
you can hear and record your tapes right NOW -
by running i little deck thru your line-in/out jacks.

just my temporary 2 cents

Click to expand...

Hi Ira-Thanks for that-been running my I-pod through it right now-sounds really,really good!
I've checked and the second motor has some rust on the outside but just the motor-not the boards or anything,maybe it is a fusible link or something like that.
I can wait for a while-just love this thing because it's getting better all the time.
Speakers are a-ok!! Just on the outside-dirty but no rot what-so ever the insides look fantastic even around the edges!
Another plus for me!
Thanks Ira-I'm so impatient sometimes BUT you can be sure I'll go in no further without photos of break-down or better yet-WHO WANTS TO WORK ON THIS IN THE NEXT 2 MONTHS-Heck-I'll even drive to Florida for this one!!
Have a great one-GB.

sounds like the deck is locked up ,one thing about an m90 its not good to turn off the power while the cassette is in play mode it botches up the deck big time , i think if you turn the flywheels back into timing and replace the belts you might be ok as long as the music search numbers light up then you should still have power getting to the motors.

Hi JVC Floyd-Yes the search numbers do light up and I have tried to turn the flyweels in there but no motors going right now.
It needs to be yested and tore into I think.
Just need a M-90 expert on these tape decks!
Thanks guys-GB.

hey did you have a cassette inside the deck when you tried to turn the capstan ? there is a switch that gets pushed to send power to the board so you have to have a cassette in there if no moter is working then you will have to have those fusible links replaced

Hi Ramon-No I didn't have a cassette in there when I tried,I'll try that this afternoon.
Man it's hot outside today-95+!
Have to do laundry then it's boombox time.
I'll let you know what happens.
Thanks Ramon for your advice!
Have a great one-GB.

Hi Ramon-yes I tried it last night with a tape in there and I got it to go out of play mode.
I spun the flywheel and had pushed stop and then it clicked and a lever on the right side went up and then down and there was big click like it went out of play mode.
Now if I hit play it will click like it wants to do something but again-no spinning on the left motor(the right motor,I don't beleive anything is happening there either!
I went back and spun the flywheel again to get it out of stop mode.
So when you turn on the power there is no click,you have to hit play and then it will click now-is it getting better.
I do think new belts are in order also but if there was power to the motor and there was when I first powered it up-the left motor was spinning!) Not now and I can't get it to spin again.
It seems then that the flywheel is easier to spin(I'm wondering if the 2nd. motor is froze up or something?)
I haven't torn it down yet and I'm not sure I want to without help or just have someone do it for me.
I think Ramon your right-as far as I can see-no power to the motors!
I used some spay air in there to get rid of some dust but things are pretty clean.
The belts don't seem to bad but the counter belt I think is slipping.
BTW-when I was spinning the flywheel the tape was moving inside!

I want this thing to work so bad!!

Ramon-you seem like you've worked on these before,I appreciate your help immensely!
If i could get some detailed photos or let me know where these fusible links are but is there somewhere I can test to see if there is voltage(I have a voltage tester)??

I can't belive how powerful the tuner is on this!!
I was listening last night and it was picking up everything and then some with external wire antenna.
I'm so hoping to get this thing figured out!
Have a great one-GB.

have you tried using a 12 volt test light to see if there is current getting to the motors?

JVC Floyd said:

have you tried using a 12 volt test light to see if there is current getting to the motors?

Click to expand...

Hi Floyd-I will be trying that tonight or tomorrow.
I'm totally guessing that there isn't because that motor spins freely)relatively so because there is a belt on it)
I did work when I first opened her up a few days ago.
I'll let you all know by tomorrow.
Once again-Thanks Floyd and everyone else who has been helping me on this project.
I do like that everything in this is 100% factory and nothing has beeen removed or altered in any way!
Have a super weekend-GB.