VCR has a cyclic lines/jump issue on playback
 

I have a General Electric VCR1 2014w top load VCR from 1981. It has a great image for like 5 seconds then I get lines thelat converge in the moliddle and the screen jumps. It goes back to a great image and does the line/jumps all over again. Belts and idlers are good, tension is good, and the tracking and tracking slow adjustments do nothing to help this.

https://streamable.com/3j5z0k

The link above shows the behavior. Any ideas? The heads look clean. I want to keep a top loader for my Zenith console TV so I'm not looking to replace with a newer one.

Thanks

The image going in and out indicates an issue with tracking/servo lock somewhere. There is could be an issue with the audio/control head that picks up the tracking signal from the tape, or something electronically with the servo circuitry. Hard to say.

So the audio plays fine isn't really effected by the video issues. Unfortunately I haven't found any diagrams for this VCR. Anything in particular to look for?

If it's an old vcr (80's kind) see here: https://youtu.be/8An2f1xk_zs?t=1356

Could be a grounding problem of the heads drum, the solution is fairly simple, watch the video