Vintage Bummer: Reel to Reel Saga Continues....

I bought what was supposedly a "mint" Pioneer 909 reel to reel on ebay a few years ago, from a seller with perfect feedback. These two things combined led to a very high sale price, with me the "lucky" winner.

When I received it, the case was indeed mint, and the unit looked as if it had barely been used. However, after only a few turns of the reels, the unit would stop dead, and it sounded muffled and terrible for the few seconds when it would play.

I took it to a shop in Chelsea, Manhattan, and somehow got talked into spending $900.00 ?!?!??!!?!? to repair it, including full replacement of the heads.

I realized this was a bit ridiculous, but so was the whole concept of using the reel to reel to begin with and I was already irrationally committed.

It worked perfectly for the few hours I used it, and then it sat on a shelf for about a year, only to be recently unpacked and installed in my new rack in my new house.

Guess what? Same thing mentioned in paragraph 2.

I am so bummed. Would anyone have any idea what might be the problem here, or how I might get it up and running again without getting ripped off?