Sony SL-300 Betamax VCR eject issues

[captainclock]

Hello everyone I'm currently working on a mid-1980s Sony SL-300 SuperBeta Betamax VCR that is having issues with not wanting to eject the tape, it plays, rewinds, fast-forwards, and pauses just fine but when you go to try and eject the tape the eject mechanism will load the tape back into the cassette housing and attempt to unload the tape from the VCR but then instead of ejecting the tape out of the VCR it makes a loud clicking noise like the mechanism is jammed or something (its a direct drive loading/eject mechanism with a worm gear that is driven by a small 12 volt Marbuchi motor) and then the tape goes back into the VCR where the mechanism loads the tape back around the heads again.
By the way this my first time ever working on a Betamax machine as I have never seen one in person before until now let alone service one, only thing I know about Betamax is that my parents wedding was filmed on beta, and that's it.

Any ideas as to what could be causing the issues with this Betamax's loading/eject mechanism?

Any help would be appreciated.

-Levi

 

[usedto]

I'd bet there is a limit switch of some sorts that isn't doing it's job. I'd soak any switch inside with contact cleaner and see if that helps.

If not, a proper burial would be nice.

 

[captainclock]

I'd bet there is a limit switch of some sorts that isn't doing it's job. I'd soak any switch inside with contact cleaner and see if that helps.

If not, a proper burial would be nice.

Well I'm trying to fix this for a friend of mine from church who has a lot of old home movies on Beta he wants to try and transfer to DVD and he wants to try and get this machine up and running if at all possible.

Where might I find this "limit switch"?

 

[usedto]

Where might I find this "limit switch"?

No idea. Units like that are notorious for having sequential switches that control the operation. No online service manuals?

 

[captainclock]

No idea. Units like that are notorious for having sequential switches that control the operation. No online service manuals?

I have no idea if there's a service manual online for this Betamax VCR or not, but considering that no one's serviced Betamax in probably over 20 years I kind of doubt that the service manuals for them made it online considering that Betas were discontinued long before internet came around as we know it and that if there was anyone out there that had the manuals for them I doubt they bothered uploading them to the internet when the technology came along since most people by that time had either VHS or DVD by then...