I'm repeating my post here, but there is a photo also, showing the E-
F, E-off and F-off pots.

***
So I open her up for an inspection. First off, whats inside:

DAC: BB PCM54HP
Optical Assy: KSS-152A
Rubycon caps
Motors: pickup sled and tray drive: RF-510T; spindle drive:
RF-310T-1?? Mabuchi
The tray is belt driven and is clearly dry and slipping.

The lens looked clean, but I went ahead and dabbed it down with 99%
Iso, also air cleaned the mirror. The assy slides smoothly across the
two sled bars.

I connected/disconnected all connectors.

Still, same problem. Seems to always be able to read the startup
information (number of tracks, total time), but still occassionally
cannot lock on a track when FF or Rev.

It has been suggested to possibly adjust the E-F. Is this advisable?
Here is a photo of the pots available.

Any idea how I can get to that belt? There is a screw with suspension
on the far end of the transport, but I can't seem to guess how to take
her out. The face of the tray appears to be permanently mounted.

***

Apparently, this generation of deck has some intermittent problems
with tracking and skipping. Every deck I've seen on eBay is "working
perfect", but sold in "as is" condition, so there is the suspicion
that other owners are experiencing these issues and not being
forthcoming with them (as in my experience).

My problem does not seem significant, I can play straight thru and am
not experiencing skipping, just the occasional inability to lock onto
a track when using the skip track function. It may not make sense to
tamper with it much at this point, though I am going to have to
replace the belt. I also have the Dick Smith ESR meter, do you think
it would be worth checking the caps? Seems that if this issue is that
type that gets worse over time, that it be something like cap
degradation? Should I concentrate on the caps around the adjustment
pots, perhaps?

Also, in general, if I were to change a laser on a cd deck and the
laser is the problem (may or may not be here), is this usually a "drop
in" job with no further adjustments? I don't have a scope, but do
have most other instrumentation.

If I were to adjust the E-F pot and mark the original position, is it
very likely that I will at least be able to get back the operability
that I currently have? Would be a shame to tamper with it then end up
in a worse situation. What about cleaning the pots, can dirty pots
cause these symptoms? You should be able to go to that site to see my
type of pot (trim pot, haven't really checked for manufacturer),
perhaps you have a cookie issue, it is not the type of site that
requires registration.

Thanks for the help, I had not come across that E-F adjustment
procedure, I have a pair of stethoscopes that could assist in hearing
the symptoms you describe are needed for adjustment.