Situations like this need a reality check.
It really comes down to this:
A- Do you really want to keep screwing around with a likely hopelessly broken VCR?
B- Or would you like to start capturing your VHS tapes now, finish that project, and then move on with your life, on to the next project?
For 90%+ of people, I think that that choosing A is just insanity, glutton for punishment. B is to source a known-working quality deck from a reputable source (and yes, I am one, but there are some others too).
This person has already invested time and funds into a non-working VCR. This situation reminds of the stock market, and the "sunk cost fallacy". We humans have a bad habit of pissing away more time and money into an obvious loser, due to the misplaced hope that it regains value. That almost never works -- but even when it does "work", then you run into lost opportunity costs. In video, the lost opportunity cost is time. And time is more valuable than money, something you especially realize as you grow older in life.
(See also: many females, and "I can change him!", or "I still love him" when he abuses her.)
So:
- Can this VCR be fixed? Maybe, maybe not.
- Will it be fast? No.
- Will it be easy? No.
- Will it be cheap? No.
That answers the thread question of "What's wrong, can it be fixed?".
But the unasked question is "Should I bother?", and the answer is "No, move on".
NOTE: Don't junk the deck. It's good for parts. Either sell if "for parts" on eBay/Facebook/wherever, if you think you can extract value from it. Just be warned, that often doesn't end well. Better is to find a buyer here, or just donate it to somebody here (because, again, time to move on).
