u/pourquoipasvous

First time spending the big bucks on ebay for a tape, I put the tape in and after a few seconds the video is wavy and noisy and my vcr starts squealing pretty bad.

I take the tape out, put another one that I played the day before without issue and it does the same thing.

I pull another known good VCR, play a good tape in it with no issue. I put the bad ebay tape, and again wavy image and the vcr is squealing. I put back the good tape, now squealing again.

Now I know the bad tape damaged 2 of my VCRs.
I start cleaning the head and the sensor on the left but the squeal is still there (a bit less) and the tension arm oscillates.

What else can I do to fix my VCRs?

Thanks a lot for your help!