Try (with the unit unplugged) turning the motor shaft/worm gear by hand (try to manually move the tray through it's full load/unload cycle) and see how much resistance there is....It is possible the grease on the load gears is starting to act more like glue....It's been about 5 years since I worked on mine, but IIRC the cassette load mech needed needed some fresh grease.

Load motors usually are not a high failure item in Sonys (you could try removing it letting it free run, and maybe applying mech resistance with your fingers to check it). Only load motor I've ever had to change was in a NEC S-VHS deck.

Well maybe, but that's what its acting like though, and maybe it is just a matter of just needing a relube, but I'm not sure what you would use to relube this with, the original lubricant is a bluish color, would maybe using some silicone based lubricant (like what they use on bicycle kickstands) or some lithium grease work to lubricate this VCR's loading mechanism?

Also is the Inside of the VCR I'm working on the same as the inside of yours?

White Lithium grease is what I use on VCRs...It works well.

It's been 5 years since I last opened mine, so the memories are foggy. It's under a pile of stuff on a shelf presently so it might be a couple of days before I can get it open again...

OK so I might just take a trip to the hardware store maybe tonite and maybe see if I can pick up a small tube of lithium grease and clean the old grease off of the gears for the loading/eject mechanism and the relube it with the lithium grease and see if that makes a difference in how it operates, if not I can probably assume a faulty motor for the loading mechanism.

I sent you a PM concerning this machine, and the possibility of selling it.

Oh no not that loading mechanism. I know this problem well.
My SL-2700 uses the same design and the loading gear is prone to jumping teeth, the loading arm slipping off the carriage or simply breaking. In my particular case it got so bad that the gear broke in two and being a thermoplastic it is impossible to repair. In my particular case it wasn't a grease issue. It's just a poor design.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...y/IMG_6137.jpg

Sony Apparently did issue a substitute gear later on that was made of metal instead of thermoplastic but I've never been able to source one both locally or online so my deck has sat on a shelf for the last seven years. :(
Looking at your photo I think I can see your arm has popped off the carriage and while it's fully ejected, the position switch is in the carriage if I recall so it just tries to continue ejecting but all that happens is the gear jumps teeth.

I would also like to point out that removing that gear is an absolute pain in the ass.

OK, well its good to know that actually. Maybe I could see if my uncle could maybe machine a new gear out of metal as he has his own machine for doing that kind of stuff.

Well I finally pulled it out to check if it was working the way it was when I shelved it....It is not.
It powered on and loaded and unloaded a tape with assistance, then went into fault power down...It did not power on again without instant fault after that....Even after I recaped the PS board....A few power up attempts after that there was a POP, the display went out, and the surface mount chip on top near the front got VERY hot...
As I said in my PM I have many better Beta decks, and don't care to put much into this one....Well it's reached the point of needing more parts and work than I'm ever going to care to give it. I no longer have any interest in buying parts for it.

If you want to buy my Beta deck you can have it for $7 plus whatever shipping will cost...If you don't want it I know someone local who'd be interested. It's junk to me now, and I plan to be rid of it in the next few months. I've got over a dozen more interesting projects waiting for me that have MUCH better chances of working.

Here are some pictures of mine.
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/...psvx6iflsl.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4ktad76f.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/...pslsllsv1o.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8qz8gci2.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/...pstnugnczs.jpg

Yeah, it looks like basically your machine is the same as mine with a few minor cosmetic changes. I would be willing to take your unit to see if I can get one good one going out of the two (my friend from church basically told me that I could just keep it for parts or to monkey around with because he has access to another one that also might be non-working but might be easier to get up and running than this one would be.) it would be sometime early next month until I could get the money around for it though if you don't mind waiting a few more days (my disability checks come around the 3rd of the month and that's when I usuall get my spending money from my mom.)

Next local swap meet (where I was planning to rid my self of it) is January the 17th so you've got some time.

OK thanks, so how much do you think shipping will be for your unit? I know its not going to be very light weight (as the unit I have is probably at least 15-20 lbs.) I want to make sure I would even have enough to cover the costs on it because I only get $30 for spending money every 2 weeks, if not then I would have to pass on it and wait to see if anything comes up in the goodwill or salvation army or one of the local flea markets (hey I have seen stranger things turn up at these places near me.)

I'll box it and bring it to the post office for a quote when I can....Could you give me your zip code for that quote?

zip would be 46514.