Ken & JJ,

Thanks for the feedback and advice. I will take a closer look to see what I
can do. Ken, Although I did not mention this, I had already attempted a
cleaning with 99% isopropyl alcohol and some Q-Tips and cleaning pads, but
had not yet opened the case so could not do as thorough a job as I could so
this is a good next step. JJ, yes, I was aware of the capacitor aging
problems and have observed occasional evidence of this over the last three
or so years with strange behavior, especially when the battery was not
completely fully charged. This is pretty much why I have resigned myself to
ultimate replacement, but I still would like to get it working if this can
be done very cheaply because I will likely choose to change tape formats (go
still smaller) and would like to be able to use it long enough to recover
tapes already made to other media.

Is there a service manual available anywhere on the web that would help me?
I have never worked on an 8mm unit before, although I pretty much try to fix
anything I can (TVs, various household appliacances, computers, automobiles,
etc.) and have been successful fixing several standard VHS VCRs (panel micro
switches, tape alignment issues, aging rubber parts, switching PSU
electrolytics/transistors) and even an old VHS camcorder as well.

The basic message here is I don't believe it is worth enough to send it off
for refurbishing and I have little to lose by attempting to repair it
myself.

Bob

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