Town & Country Radio

[SLK]

I found that I don't get anything when I turn on my radio. The antenna goes up, but I don't think the radio itself is working. Are there easy things I should check first without pulling the unit from the car?

Thanks.

Ben

[Barry Wolk]

Yes, your radio may not be tuned to the antenna. There is a tuning port on the side of the radio.

However, the problem is most likely the capacitors. I believe they are the paper type, covered in wax. They lose their capacitance over time.

I had mine reworked with new capacitors. Had I known that that's what the problem was I might have tackled the job myself.

[Mad Scientist]

Are there easy things I should check first without pulling the unit from the car?

Thanks.

Ben
Yes do you have a lot of spare time. ;) Aside from that, is its fuse good? Can you hear a slight hum from the vibrator power supply when you turn it on? Is the antenna still plugged in, you can check this by removing the glove boxes cardboard roof. Do the town & country buttons work?

[Chuck Lutz]

Yes do you have a lot of spare time. ;) Aside from that, is its fuse good? Can you hear a slight hum from the vibrator power supply when you turn it on? Is the antenna still plugged in, you can check this by removing the glove boxes cardboard roof. Do the town & country buttons work?

Mad, that "hum" in mine is anything but slight. In fact it's a buzzing noise. I've checked the antenna and all seems to be good there.

[Shelly Harris]

That loud hum is good news. You have power. The power supply is probably working and supplying the various voltages --- but maybe not all. The antenna going up and down is great news. Now assumming the wonder bars are functioning or you can turn the tuning control then it's probably worth your trying on your own the following: If you are handy with a soldering iron replace all the caps. Still not hearing music? then replace the tubes. If the wonder bar isn't working forget doing anything yourself. I'd send it to one of the places on the net to get it refurbed... assuming you want to keep it original. Alternatively for $400 you could keep the original look but have new electronics installed which is the way I intend to go once I get down to the radio on my "to do" list.

[Barry Wolk]

I had mine refurbished and it works perfectly, for a signal-seeking AM radio. Not a lot to listen to. That's what they make I-pods for. You can have your own self-programed radio station with the help of some auxiliary speakers.

Did you ever notice the amount of religious content on AM radio? Does NPR broadcast on AM?

[Mad Scientist]

Yes it is a good sign that it hums. If it didn’t getting a replacement part would like trying to find someone who has a set of MKII hub caps. :D

But it sounds like you’re going to have to pull the radio out. Which means you will need to remove the glove box to gain access to the right side where there is a bracket with a ¼” nut that holding up that side of the radio. Similarly on the left side is another bracket and ¼” nut, you will need to remove a dash panel to get at it. the knobs just pull off and revealing the two nuts on the control shaft.

However before removing the radio should unplug the speaker wires from the back of the radio. Be very careful here, on mine the insulation was dried out and cracked off easily. I wound up having to replace the wire.

Then I started of by dusting off on old tube tester and checked all the tubes. They were OK. I then did a blanket replacement of all the capacitors. But that didn’t fix my problem. But I found that if I connected a speaker directly to the terminals of the output transformer rather then the speaker plugs I got sound. This told me that the problem had something to do with front to back fader control.

So to get access I removed the front bezel from the radio where upon it promptly fell into a gazillion pieces. :eek: Thus this is a job that you may not what to tackle.

Anyway my problem turned out to be nothing more then a bad switch contact on one of the self tuning bars. But getting to it is not for the faint hearted. :)

[Don Henschel]

Tubes & goodies arent too hard to find if you look around. Another form of self punishment is I enjoy vintage and antique radios and found there are still alot of parts dealers for these orphans. A spare vibrator is good to have on hand, and usually they last along time unless one of those capacitors fails. Dust off a tube tester first, and you might be lucky with a minor problem. Good luck.
PS One of the first things I bought years ago was the Continental Mark II Radio Guide by Dan Ramsey. Even shows the gazillion:eek: pieces on page 14 when you remove the radio.
Check your antenna as well. If water got into the coax cable connections you wont get anything as well.