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Old Becker radio needs cleaning, lubrication--any advice?


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dsayars
Anonymous Poster
dsayars@comcast.net

Jul 1, 2008, 5:03 PM

Post #1 of 4 (4489 views)
Old Becker radio needs cleaning, lubrication--any advice? Sign In

I have an old Becker monaural radio from the early sixties made for a number of Mercedes cars of the time. It has good reception and sound quality. The problem with it is that its automatic tuning mechanisms seem jammed up. It has the familiar row of radio buttons that you set by pulling them out and also a motor-driven seek bar with three sensitivity levels. Both of these features are trying to work and sometimes do, making me think that it may only need mechanical cleaning and lubrication.

My question is, what kind of lubricant is safe and effective for an old radio like this? Are there dangers of over-lubrication? (Some things slipping that are supposed to grip?) I'd be very grateful to hear from somebody who knows something about this.


DrElectrics
Enthusiast
DrElectrics profile image

Jul 1, 2008, 8:38 PM

Post #2 of 4 (4482 views)
post icon Re: Old Becker radio needs cleaning, lubrication--any advice? Sign In

To be perfectly honest I dont know? I would take it to a car radio expert in your area, let them see it with their own eyes to figure this one out. SorryFrown


Guest
Anonymous Poster

Jul 1, 2008, 9:24 PM

Post #3 of 4 (4478 views)
Re: Old Becker radio needs cleaning, lubrication--any advice? Sign In

Thanks. I think I may have gotten my answer from this web page:

http://www.imperialclub.com/Repair/Accessories/dash.htm

He says no lubricant except a tiny drop on the toothed gear, just non-residue solvent and lots of cleaning. I'm not sure the carb cleaner he suggests is all that non-residue. Electric parts cleaner would be safer, but evaporates so fast it might not dissolve much. I'll just have to experiment.


dsayars
Anonymous Poster
dsayars@comast.net

Jul 2, 2008, 10:02 AM

Post #4 of 4 (4474 views)
Re: Old Becker radio needs cleaning, lubrication--any advice? Sign In

I suppose I should repeat this indentifying myself as the original poster and add an update.

I got some good information from this web page:

http://www.imperialclub.com/Repair/Accessories/dash.htm

The problem with the solution proposed here is that he recommends a non-residue solvent and nothing else and suggests carb cleaner. Carb cleaners today are carb/throttle-body cleaners and can dissolve ordinary plastic, hence should be avoided, or at least tested on the plastic first.

Also, we're told not to use WD-40. Yet when there's rust, only something like WD-40 is going to loosen it. I suspect it should be more like, use WD-40 if you must, then clean it off with a solvent. I do this all the time when loosening screws. WD-40 does the loosening, then solvent gets the WD-40 off the head of the screw, so the screwdriver won't slip.






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