help with GE boombox

Thread Starter

Joseph Beasley 1

Joined Feb 16, 2017
14
I have an old boombox from 1984 or so. it's a General Electric 3-5284A, AM/FM stereo cassette recorder.

I'm trying to get it working because it was my grandfather's radio, however I'm having some problems with the volume control and the FM mpx.
The problem with the radio is the volume and balance pots seem to be broken and it's causing the FM de-multiplex not to work.
My grandad was a smoker for 30 years or more and the radio's seem some nicotine, but i took it apart and cleaned all 3 pots with contact cleaner.
At first it would crackle and pop when changing the volume and balance did not work at all; but after cleaning the noise is gone.
it has 3 pots; Tone, Balance, and Volume. tone seems to ' work '. balance will fade completely to Right but Left is always centered out.
moving any of these pots makes the stereo light flicker on but never stay on. The tuner itself is fine but no stereo and the mpx seems to have to do with the volume and balance circuit?

I can't find any schematics on this radio, I'm guessing the pots are just bad because I've cleaned them and still not working right.
has anybody worked on one of these or know what might be causing this?
 

coolyyz321

Joined Mar 17, 2017
58
Try changing the pots, sounds like the wiper is worn out, look up the part numbers if possible on the pots, and if that does not work, the problem is elsewhere in the pcb.
 
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