But when you push "play" or "reverse play," the rubber wheels in front of the
playback heads don't move the tape forward so it will play. There is a
"clicking" noise, and some slight motion in the rubber wheels and the mechanism
underneath, but that's it. Rather than playing, the tape starts to fast forward
or rewind, though not as fast as the actual fast forward or rewind speeds.

What you are probably looking at is either a worn out/deteriorated
drive belt(most likely fixable) or a broken gear(probably not fixable).
In any event the source of your trouble should be easily observed if
you remove the rear of the unit.

push "play" (in either direction), there is some metal thing underneath down
inside below the surface (like a lever) which moves slightly to the left (the
one on the right side does not move at all) -- this is connected to the
mechanism that causes the rubber heads to push the tape up against the playback
heads so the tape will be heard -- accompanied by a clicking noise. I took a

Clicking noises would seem to implicate either partial engagement on a
set of gears or a gear that has broken teeth. If that's the case all I
can say is I wish you good luck finding parts.

Hope this helps.

Chris