I have a Dell Powervault LTO-8 tape drive that is out of warranty. error code 5

I have a Dell Powervault  LTO-8 tape drive that is out of warranty. Yesterday I turned it on to make a tape backup and was presented with error code 5 . I retrieved a manual that said it is a hardware error (I assumed it was error 5). I first put it into maintenance mode and tried to run a diagnostic. It starts the diagnostic (Option 1 in maintenance mode) and it runs for about 5 seconds then gives me error code 5 again. I contacted support but they want around $3000 to speak to a tech and documentation is very hard to come by online. Since it took me awhile to find the manual, I have left a link below. My main question is what I should do and is there any other more specific codes I can get, that would provide more detail about what the actual hardware problem is? I am a hardware guy myself and am not afraid to solder or mess with anything inside the drive so any suggestions would be much appreciated! Just to let you know, budget wise, this is going to a youth film crew who need a cheap and easy way to archive projects digitally. I would love to present them with this for a Christmas present of sorts, but it needs to work first!