factory radio repair possible???

[motuman]

Any electronic gurus around?

The factory radio on my 1990 535i has the "crackly, staticy, volume knob problem". I was able to dissabmble all of the internals (which is tricky little jigsaw puzzle) except for the volume pot assembly. This is soldered together with some fine connections which I don't know if I could repair/re-solder even if I found a new pot. I can't see any numbers but the back of the pot says "ALPS" (I think) and "JAPAN"

The question is - What are the odds of finding the exact replacement for the volume pot on a 15 year old radio? (Would have to be the exact one, with same pins, push feature, etc.)

If there is no chance of finding the exact replacement component then I will use the radio as is for the rest of it's life, however long that may be. If I can find a new pot, however, I would like to take a shot at replacing it.

Thanks to all.

[bahnstormer]

yes it is fixable!
a company in FL did mine for 75 bucks,
made it 10x louder, fixed lights and new butons
it is WORTH it

[Anthony (M5 in Calgary)]

Before you change the pot, try contact cleaner such as Nu-Trol. This is available at electronics hobby stores. Spray a small amount into the pot - there's usually a slit in one side and you can see the pot's wiper as you rotate the shaft. Turn back and forth a few times to work the cleaner in and re-assemble.

HTH,
Anthony

[motuman]

Thanks for the tip.

That's what I was hoping to do, but it is so inaccessible I don't know if I can get any in there. Kind of frustrating becuase virtually everything else came apart with screws & tabs, but the pot and the housing around it are soldered in.

[Anthony (M5 in Calgary)]

Thanks for the tip.

That's what I was hoping to do, but it is so inaccessible I don't know if I can get any in there. Kind of frustrating becuase virtually everything else came apart with screws & tabs, but the pot and the housing around it are soldered in.

I guess if you're prepared to take the pot out to install a new part (yes ALPS is the manufacturer) you could try taking it out to apply the cleaner. I'd be surprised if you could find a replacement as the pot is likely a custom design - most OEMs don't use off-the-shelf components in their designs as they are often interested in tweaking, cost reducing or adding special functions to the parts for use in high volumes.

Cheers,
Anthony

[ElNormo]

That's what I was hoping to do, but it is so inaccessible

Maybe you've already tried this, but I simply pulled the volume knob off and shot some contact cleaner down into the radio. It did the trick nicely. I gave up trying to take the radio apart once I found the volume assembly was buried pretty deep.

Good luck,

Norman

[motuman]

I was able to get the radio apart enough to get a couple of shots of Nu-Trol contact cleaner into the volume pot. Works fine now!

I was so inspired, I also pulled the factory radio out of my e28 M5 and gave that a shot of contact cleaner as well. (Different disassemby procedure, same result) Also works fine now! I really didn't thing the M5 radio would come back because that one sounded really shot, but the Nu-Trol did the trick!

Thanks!

[uscharalph]

Cool, the local electronics store is out till tommorrow. Can't wait to try it out then

[uscharalph]

Thanks for the Nu-Trol tip. Worked like a charm. Only problem was that I had to but the 12oz can. They didn't get the smaller size in, but it was still worth it.

[uscharalph]

Just a note: The 1st application produced great results (Very little crackling). The followup application removed crackling totally as well as solving the problem of certain speakers going in and out.