This ’98 Honda Civic died at 90,000 miles, which is less than half the expected lifetime for this car, and it happens to be the mileage when its timing belt is supposed to be replaced. But I’m giving away the exciting conclusion to an excellent example of effective troubleshooting.
Category: Tech
Tightening My Belts Again
With the successful repair of my Sony CD 300-disc changer under my belt, I am now confronting the need to fix a broken mechanism in another piece of Sony audio gear. It’s a dual cassette deck I picked up a few years ago for ten bucks at a thrift store.
The TC-WE435 worked perfectly until a couple of days ago, when one of the drives started making a noise and an error message appeared on the LED display. I have taken the cover off and looked inside to see (no surprise) the same thing that the CD changer had — loose belts.
The guy who made this video had the same problem with the same cassette deck model. Let’s see what he did to fix it.
Okay, I watched the video and have ordered a set of four replacement belts for $30, including postage. I hope to have the repair done by this time next week. In the meantime the second drive is still working, but I’ll replace its belts too, of course.
Doing a Double Take
A Facebook group I enjoy is “At the Controls,” featuring vintage photos of control rooms and equipment. Radio station and recording studio photographs are particular favorites.
A picture posted in the group caught my attention immediately. You can see why by recalling my post about the original art for Bernie Krigstein’s “Master Race” being up for auction at Heritage.
Supertech!
Sometimes I think the best part of my post-college working life was seeing the incredible advances in technology from the inside of the high-tech industry. I marvel every day at what’s now available to consumers for next to nothing compared to 25 years ago, when I first accessed the Internet from home with a DOS/Windows 3.x computer that, with add-ons, cost $2000, which is equivalent to $3500 today.
For only $100 you can buy a 10-inch tablet with an HD screen, and for another twenty bucks add a Bluetooth keyboard and turn it into very workable desktop computer. 25 years ago that would translate into a measly $70. Some of the new keyboards even include a built-in bracket for holding the tablet, but I’m using an old wire book holder and, no, I still don’t have a smartphone. Those things are expensive!
Jukebox Joy
It’s alive! After replacing the belts in my 18-year-old Sony CD 300-disc carousel I was frustrated by a skipping problem. I’d been using an otherwise idle Panasonic DVD player for CD’s, but I missed having the changer.
So, with my Trustee duties mostly completed, and having lots of free time in retirement, I took one more stab at fixing the skipping and succeeded, with a couple of Q-tips and some silicone lubricant. It’s working perfectly in every way, once again. Yay for me!
An old PS2-type computer keyboard is used to enter text for CD’s that don’t include CD Text and, alas, none of the CD’s I stuffed into the changer offer CD Text. As mentioned in the previous post, the forward-sounding Sony is different than the more reserved Panasonic, but I like the strong bass.
Calling All Hipsters!
Millennials have come around to what we Boomers knew when we were young — for music, vinyl is groovy both figuratively and literally. For those who want to get into records, but without the hassles associated with hooking up all the gear, Yamaha is introducing a networked turntable.