chris hipkiss wrote:

Thanks David,

I have only cleaned the moving bits with contact cleaner so far.....not
wanting to get any stuff on the head that might cause probs.

I resisted the temptation to get in there with WD40

Some mechanical fault causing tapes not to load ,it just keeps throwing up
error message numbers 1 ,3,5 and its even given an 87 error message !!

I have taken the deck to bits so that I can see what is happening but to no
avail.

I have spoken to Tascam UK and they tell me that deck mechanism replacement
is the easiest answer.(£400.00)

Yes, it may be the easiest but its also the costliest !!


Try talking to an independent repairer. They may know a few tricks that
Tascam wouldn't want to do (usually because they aren't guaranteed to
last as long as the officially approved repair). You can probably buy a
working used Tascam DA20 for little over £100 if necessary.

Cheers.

James.