Aiwa CS-880 cassette issues

[CS-880]

Hello,
I am fixing my cassette deck on the cs-880. I replaced the melted belts and got everything rotating as it should. The issue is when I press “play” the head assembly does not move up to engage the cassette. I can push up the cassette deck with a screwdriver but it just goes back down when I let it go. When I put a cassette in and push up the head assembly, the tape won’t turn either. Any help is appreciate.
thank you!

 

[dubout]

If it is a soft touch mechanism there must be a gear inside the tape unit that turns once and lifts the head assembly. This means you will have to take the deck apart and examine the tape mechanism. Some times it is a loose spring but mostly in my experience something broke.

 

[BoomboxLover48]

In most cases switch contacts and leaf switches that activates play mechanism can get oxidized or fail. Some of them break off.
When you press play soft touch see what all switch contacts are involved. Try to clean those contacts and see if that makes a difference.

 

[stynger007]

As both posters have said, these approaches will fix your issue. A dislodged spring will also cause this. Just did a Sony CFS-99 and spring compression was paramount , the tolerances are insane!

 

[JVC Floyd]

I would make sure the belts are actually tight enough because they could be slipping and still not holding the heads up.