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Need Repair Shop for AM/FM 8Track

Started by RobW, January 31, 2009, 10:44:55 AM

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RobW

Can someone reccomend a repair shop for a 73 caddy am/fm 8track radio? My radio works but the stations drift badly. I can get decent reception when parked but as soon as the car begins to move the stations drift. I tried adjusting that little screw for the antenna, and added an antenna booster from radio shack. Neither helped much.  The tape player works well but how many times can I listen to the same couple of tapes. ;D
I put the original wonderbar radio back in and it works great, so I know its not the antenna or wiring, etc.
Rob Wirsing

"Cadillac Kid" Greg Surfas 15364

Rob,
What part of the Universe are you in?
Greg
Cadillac Kid-Greg Surfas
Director Modified Chapter CLC
CLC #15364
66 Coupe deVille (now gone to the UK)
72 Eldo Cpe  (now cruising the sands in Quatar)
73 Coupe deVille
75 Coupe deElegance
76 Coupe deVille
79 Coupe de ville with "Paris" (pick up) option and 472 motor
514 inch motor now in '73-

Chris Conklin

Quote from: "Cadillac Kid"  Greg Surfas 15364 on January 31, 2009, 03:12:04 PM
What part of the Universe are you in?

I'd like to recommend that users make sure and put good info in their profiles. Whenever I come across items without a location I look at the profile to see where they're from. I would say that about 80% never have that information in there.
Chris Conklin

RobW

I'm in NY. I expect to have to ship it somewhere. Would like to hear from others who have had good results with repairers. Don't want to take a shot in the dark on the internet for a few hundred dollars and find I have the same or more problems with the unit in the future.
Rob Wirsing

Bill Ingler #7799

Hi Rob: I am at present restoring a 71 442 Olds convert and needed both am/fm radio and tape player checked before I put back in the car. I have a person here in Scottsdale that did a good job in rebuilding both units.I heard both play after they were rebuilt. If you email me direct I will give you his name.

Doug Houston

The Delco service shop in the Detroit area is SPECMO. They hhave a place in Flint, and the service shop is in Madison Heights, just North of Detroit. They have a web site.

The instrument cluster from my '96 Buick will be going there next week for rebuild.

Hope this helps.
38-6019S
38-9039
39-9057B
41-6227D
41-6019SF
41-6229D
41-6267D
56-6267
70-DeV Conv
41-Chev 41-1167
41 Olds 41-3929

Walter Youshock

United Radio Service
5705 Enterprise Parkway
East Syracuse, NY 13057

http://www.unitedradio.com/automotive/

We work on a multitude of factory equipment, including car stereos, cd players and changers, AM/FM cassettes, odometers, speedometers, and also provide sales and distribution for products like mobile video entertainment systems, remote starters, and automotive navigation and security systems.

Although we hope you find our site informative, you can  reach us by phone (toll-free) at 800-448-0944 with any questions about our services.


I know some people who have used them and they were well pleased.
CLC #11959 (Life)
1957 Coupe deVille
1991 Brougham

RobW

Back for more advice......

Just spent $300 for repair and shipping and not at all satisfied with the results.

Have the same symptoms plus a few more.

Not sure what to do at this point?

Look for another radio? Tried that on ebay before I sent this one and after about 2 months into a paypal dispute got most of money back on a radio described as like new and works perfect but received a badly dented non-working radio.

The guy who repaired my radio offered a refund of the labor cost if I send him back the radio so he can pull "his" parts out. And who knows what else.

Has anyone here used a reputable repair center for this same type of radio? Maybe the old caddy am/fm 8 tracks are more difficult to service?

Does anyone here have a nice working one in their 71-77 caddy that could describe what a working one should sound like?
The guy who repaired mine says my wonderbar might have a better tuner and therfore sound better than the one he "upgraded".

Do you guys think another repair center could sort through whatever this guy did and fix it right, or should I look for another original radio that hey could fix from scratch?

Lastly does anyone have a nice working am/fm 8 track for sale?

thanks
Rob Wirsing

35-709

Sometimes the problem is with the tape itself.  Do you have a KNOWN good tape you can try.  One of the big problems with 8 track tapes is that the glue holding the two ends of the tape together to make it continuous deteriorates and lets go making the tape useless unless you are clever enough to get in there and reattach the ends.
1935 Cadillac Sedan resto-mod "Big Red"
1973 Cadillac Caribou - Sold - but still in the family
1950 Jaguar Mark V Saloon resto-mod - Sold
1942 Cadillac 6269 - Sold
1968 Pontiac Bonneville Convertible - Sold
1950 Packard 2dr. Club Sedan
1935 Glenn Pray - Auburn Boattail Speedster, Gen. 2

RobW

The tape player works perfectly. The problem is with FM reception. It's just terrible. No rhyme or reason. I live in NYC. Strong popular stations are Z100 100.3, WCBS 101.1, 103.5 WKTU, 104.3 WQHT, 95.5 WPLJ to name a few. I can get 104.3 perfectly 98% of the time. 103.5 not so good. 102.7 pretty good. 101.1 not too good, 100.3 very good. AM reception is OK, but who cares never listen to that anyway. I also can't get anything below 90.7 WFUV a local college station. Anyone from my area that pick up Pulse 87 87.7 FM on their am/fm 8 track? The guy that did the repair blames my antenna or cable, etc. I cleaned the cable connections checked for kinked spots, etc, and found nothing wrong. He also suggested I use a different antenna. Don't want some BS aftermarket antenna sticking out of my cads fender, so that's not an option. This makes no sense to me since some stations are clear and others lousy. 103.5 is supposedly a stronger signal than some of the others and comes in the worst. The presets don't land back in the same spot either even when parked. I can set them and go back and forth and the next time reception is poor without ever moving the car.
Instead of offering to take another look at it the guy said to send it back so he could pull his parts out and send me a refund. So I'm thinking either find another radio or another repair center, one that stands behind their work.
Rob Wirsing

Brian Daum

Hi RobW,

Something is absolutely wrong with your radio. I used to live in the NYC area and owned Cadillacs like yours in the seventies. The sound off the original FM Stereo radio used to be by those days standards awesome. I remember listening to WPLJ when they played Classic Rock, and this female DJ on PLJ with a heavy base voice that sounded real good in those speakers in my Eldo. 

I`m sure you`ll find someone who can handle repairing these radios if you google it. Please don`t put in one of those aftermarket "Cadillac" logo radios, they are regular turn offs.
1956 Cadillac Fleetwood 60 Special
1959 Cadillac Coupe DeVille
1998 Cadillac DeVille d`Elegance

RobW

Thanks Brian. Yeah I agree no way I'd change out the original radio. I think you might be thinking of Carol Miller? She's on 104.3 now I think. She still still sounds the same.
Rob Wirsing

Brian Daum

Hi RobW,

Check out this guy:  http://www.wonderbarman.com/

He appears to have somewhat of a "attitude" towards customers, but appears to know what he is talking about. (don`t they all)  Never tried him, but you might be lucky and "convince" him to do work for you....(nice business approach)

Quite enjoyable to read his terms.......
1956 Cadillac Fleetwood 60 Special
1959 Cadillac Coupe DeVille
1998 Cadillac DeVille d`Elegance

Otto Skorzeny

Are you able to power up and play your radio on the work bench to test it? I would be interested to know if the symptoms persist when the radio is out of the vehicle.
fward

Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for YOURSELF

HUGE VENDOR LIST CLICK HERE

RobW

Forrest
I have no way of testing it on a bench. The guy that did the repair insists it works perfectly on his bench and blames my antenna and or cable. My antenna works perfectly up and down and I've cleaned all the connections and the cable looks good. When I put the wonderbar radio in it works fine. No drift and the presets hold 99% of the time. He says the wonderbar is a better tuner. He also said he upgraded the radio. So I'm thinking this "upgraded" radio should be at least equal to if not better than a 36 year old never serviced radio. But I have the same problem as before with fm reception only the radio itself is louder. Plus no reception below 88.3. Not sure if these radios have a narrower band than the wonderbar? The tape works better than before but it worked good before. On one or two well worn tapes I used to hear a bit of the other track playing after the selected track was finished. That no longer happens with those same tapes.
Like the link Brian posted and another one I found, Barry Fone, these guys seem a bit egotistical to say the least. As a paying customer I don't think anyone should have to beg and plead. Reminds me of the soup nazi on seinfeld. Yeah I know it's getting to be a lost art, but still not everyone wants to repair these radios. Many owners opt for a modern sound system. That's why I'm thinking if I send this same radio to someone else, once they see it has been worked on, they'll bang me over the head.
Rob Wirsing

Carfreak

Enjoy life - it has an expiration date.

RobW

Ed
thanks for the link. I don't know.....if this was the only radio I had, I might be willing to think it was something other than the radio. Things mentioned in that link such as antenna or interferance. But the other radio plays very well. Wouldn't those things affect both radios?  The guy that did the repair was convinced my bad reception/drifting was caused by a bad/dirty am/fm selector switch which he supposedly replaced with a new one. The old one selected am/fm effrotlessly. His "new" one requires rocking back and forth 2 or 3 times before am comes in. He won't even address this symptom when I mentioned it and is now convinced the antenna is the problem.
Anyway after he said he wants "his" parts back I couldn't trust him with my radio anyway even if he offered to take another look. My gut feeling is he would strip it and send it back to me.
Rob Wirsing

J. Gomez

Rob,

In some instances your radio would pick up a strong FM signal with just a small solid wire as an antenna (we all remember the coat hanger trick  ;D).

All of the symptoms you have posted relate to the FM band drifting, would the same drifting occurs when you tune to an AM band (I bet you most likely the AM is fine)?

Drifting frequency is a most common in older FM radios if the adjustments (in the RF and IF section) are not set correctly after replacement are made in these sections. Unfortunately in your case the radio would need to be serviced and properly realigned.

Good luck..!
J. Gomez
CLC #23082

RobW

Jose
AM works perfectly! No drifting, no distortion, nothing! I can drive for hours on AM without ever having to touch the tuner knob and the presets land back on a strong signal just as when I set them in the first place. On the other hand FM is a mess! I need to keep nudging the tuner knob.
Too bad there isn't much to listen to on AM.
Rob Wirsing

Craig Chally

I know you said you adjusted the antenna trim.  Have you tried fiddling with the screw on the right hand side of the radio case, toward the front of the radio?  It just sticks out and has a flathead adjustment.  I have no idea what it's called, but it seems to affect the tuner and make it hold stations better.  I found this out when the radio on my 77 CDV stopped wanting to tune at all.  I played with that screw, and all seems to work perfectly now.  Worth a shot anyway.  Good luck.