Fixing my grandma's old radio led to a capacitor surprise

I dug out my grandma's old AM/FM radio from the attic last weekend. I thought it would be a simple clean and recap job. When I opened it up, I found a bunch of bulging capacitors, which was no shock. I swapped them all out with new ones, but now the tuner is all fuzzy and won't pick up stations right. I read online that old radios need alignment after cap replacement, but I don't have the gear for that. Has anyone here fixed a vintage radio without fancy equipment? I'm loving the project, but this hurdle has me scratching my head.

2 comments

2 Comments

roberts.aaron23h ago

Bulging capacitors in an attic radio. The real shock is that swapping them broke the tuner.

faith_chen7214h ago

That tuner issue sounds familiar roberts.aaron. I fixed mine by reflowing all the solder joints after recapping.