RCA VBT200 video output issues
 

I have been working on a RCA VBT200 VCR for about a year now and have finally run into a problem that I can't seem to figure out. The color picture seems to have completely died and the AV output stopped working. This problem manifested slowly as I continued to work on the machine. It seemed like the longer it ran, the more likely the color would die and the machine would have to cool down for it to come back. This is how it was for about two weeks than the color completely died. For a little bit the machine worked just fine, playback was perfect except for having no color then the AV (the best quality output the machine has) stopped working. The AV picture flickers to black every second or so, yet the sound continues to play. The RF picture still works in black and white, but has faint lines running across the screen at a 45 degree angle so it must be related to the heads. Any Idea what might have failed and if it can be fixed?

The electrolytic capacitors are probably failing. 45-degree angle lines are not always head issues. Since your using RF it could easily be an RF interference issue.

Does it E-E video? Video in to video out?

you mean plug its output into its input and see what happens?

NO!!! E-E means electronics to electronics. Feed a VIDEO signal to the input and observe the VIDEO output on a monitor (or scope) while in stop mode. We're not talking RF here. There should be a switch on the front that selects video or TV mode.
This checks the video path from input to output.

Thanks for the clarification. I ran video input through the VCR in the stop position and the picture had sound but no color just like when I play tapes when in VCR mode. The picture was in color when in the TV mode

Hmm.
FIRST thing I'd do is clean the heads REAL good. Do you know how to do that?
You can probably find a youtube on how to do that. Alternatively ,you can use a cleaning tape.
I'd also use a factory pre-recorded tape as a test tape. If it is STILL bad, you've probably got a bad cap in the chroma demodulator circuit.
That's an old machine. Its not unusual for the caps to dry up over a period of time.

I followed up on your advice and opened up the machine to inspect the boards. I found a couple leaking capacitors on the video level and chroma level boards which seems to be the culprit. When I get the time I will replace them and see what happens. Thanks for the help