I have a Packard Bell model 88 that sounds great except it pops and crackles terribly when tuning. I removed the tuner and verified it is in good shape. I lubed the tuner bearings, reinstalled the tuner and tested with the dial mechanism still removed. It is still noisy. Is there a cap that might be needed to filter out this noise? There was a lot of work done to this before I got it and I have cleaned up a few things, but this one issue is driving me nuts.

:I have a Packard Bell model 88 that sounds great except it pops and crackles terribly when tuning. I removed the tuner and verified it is in good shape. I lubed the tuner bearings, reinstalled the tuner and tested with the dial mechanism still removed. It is still noisy. Is there a cap that might be needed to filter out this noise? There was a lot of work done to this before I got it and I have cleaned up a few things, but this one issue is driving me nuts.
:
Hi Walt, I had one do that awhile back and I found that the brass forks that ground out to the center shaft were dirty. I cleaned them up with the wifes finger nail file and it took care of the problem. Also make sure none of the fins are touching and are clean. Good Luck, George T

::I have a Packard Bell model 88 that sounds great except it pops and crackles terribly when tuning. I removed the tuner and verified it is in good shape. I lubed the tuner bearings, reinstalled the tuner and tested with the dial mechanism still removed. It is still noisy. Is there a cap that might be needed to filter out this noise? There was a lot of work done to this before I got it and I have cleaned up a few things, but this one issue is driving me nuts.
::
:Hi Walt, I had one do that awhile back and I found that the brass forks that ground out to the center shaft were dirty. I cleaned them up with the wifes finger nail file and it took care of the problem. Also make sure none of the fins are touching and are clean. Good Luck, George T
:
Thanks George, I have no touching fins, and I cleaned the tuner twice, but it is still noisy. However you're still correct because I got desperate and put a different tuner in it (not mechanically the same so I can't use it as a direct replacement). Well, the new tuner is quiet as a mouse, so I need to keep working on the stock tuner until it shines like a new car and hope I can make it work. I should have tried the replacement before asking for help! Thanks again.

:::I have a Packard Bell model 88 that sounds great except it pops and crackles terribly when tuning. I removed the tuner and verified it is in good shape. I lubed the tuner bearings, reinstalled the tuner and tested with the dial mechanism still removed. It is still noisy. Is there a cap that might be needed to filter out this noise? There was a lot of work done to this before I got it and I have cleaned up a few things, but this one issue is driving me nuts.
:::
::Hi Walt, I had one do that awhile back and I found that the brass forks that ground out to the center shaft were dirty. I cleaned them up with the wifes finger nail file and it took care of the problem. Also make sure none of the fins are touching and are clean. Good Luck, George T
::
:Thanks George, I have no touching fins, and I cleaned the tuner twice, but it is still noisy. However you're still correct because I got desperate and put a different tuner in it (not mechanically the same so I can't use it as a direct replacement). Well, the new tuner is quiet as a mouse, so I need to keep working on the stock tuner until it shines like a new car and hope I can make it work. I should have tried the replacement before asking for help! Thanks again.
:

Walt,

Been there, checked everything, thought I was going nuts. Tried, as you did, another tuner and it worked great.

I have a ultrasonic bath cleaner that I use to bring old radio component metal parts to a good shine, IF cans etc. I put the tuner in the bath for several hours until it looked brand new, there were dirt deposits and fine metal deposits that came out of it.

The tuner worked great after that.

I hope this will give you some thought as to maybe a better cleaning process.

Best to you,

Mitch

:I have a Packard Bell model 88 that sounds great except it pops and crackles terribly when tuning. I removed the tuner and verified it is in good shape. I lubed the tuner bearings, reinstalled the tuner and tested with the dial mechanism still removed. It is still noisy. Is there a cap that might be needed to filter out this noise? There was a lot of work done to this before I got it and I have cleaned up a few things, but this one issue is driving me nuts.
:
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Some variable cap designs depend on the metal-to-metal contact of the ball bearings with their inner and outer races to provide an electrical path between the cap's moving vanes and its frame. If the races get pitted due to corrosion or due to a broken ball, it causes intermittency and noisy operation when the cap setting is changed. This is difficult to fix short of replacing the entire capacitor. Lubing the bearings won't help much because ordinary grease is an insulator. There is a special electrical-conductive grease (impregnated with silver particles) made for this purpose, but if the races are damaged it will probably only be a temporary fix.