VCR won't eject tape

One of my two S-VHS recorders has this problem, an RCA VR695HF.

I press the eject button and I hear a mechanism kick in but the tape
doesn't eject. Until a couple weeks ago, it usually ejected on the
second press (the same sound happened both presses, but the second time
the tape came out). A couple weeks ago I had to press it 40-50 times
before the tape finally came out.

Some months ago I took the cover off and looked for something to adjust
or lubricate but whatever I did didn't help (cleaned, a bit of
lubrication here and there, blow compressed air, etc.). Using a
different tape has no evident effect.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Dan