This deck had no sound in the Right channel and very low volume in the Left channel when I got it. I replaced the belt as well as all of the electrolytic caps. Now it sounds pretty good, but the the Right channel is still dead. The only move I have left is cleaning the volume pot or re-doing the caps in the audio section. Any suggestions?
I would have a very good look for cracks in the PCB tracks. If you are unlucky it might be a fault in a different component. It is very unlikely that the new capacitors you fitted are faulty. It would be interesting if someone disagreed but it seems capacitors deteriorate causing weak sound and distortion like you described but don't give up completely. Other components either work or they don't
Thanks for the suggestion, I will look for cracks in the PCB. If there's a fault some where on the board, I doubt I could fix it. Maybe it's time to look for a PCB from a donor deck.
Check the service manual to look at the audio path for breaks. I usually consider machines that have 1 channel missing to need work after capacitor repalcement, as Longman said, they usually deteriorate at the same time. However, both channels might be off balance. I have seen cases where the caps have deteriorated until there was no music, just garbage noise.
Hi Pete- that sounds like a good suggestion to check head connections. I assumed the loss of channel was likely somewhere in the amp section since radio is also missing a channel. It wouldn't hurt to check Hi bub- My diagnostic skills are limited but I'm trying to learn. I've got a simple multimeter but the probes are probably bigger than ideal for small electronics. Can you recommend preferred tool for testing? Thanks much!
