Just recapped the electrolytics and a majority of the bypass caps on this chassis. The issue is that it sometimes stops playing completely, with no audio at all, and then, it will work a while later after I leave the radio alone for a bit. One time, removing one of the 41 tubes, and reinstalling it got it going again. When it plays, it is loud and clear. Any suggestions on what approach to take? It is very frustrating.

I would start by probing the chassis parts with a wood stick. See if you can find an intermittent connection.
A lot of times connections that look okay are not.

:Just recapped the electrolytics and a majority of the bypass caps on this chassis. The issue is that it sometimes stops playing completely, with no audio at all, and then, it will work a while later after I leave the radio alone for a bit. One time, removing one of the 41 tubes, and reinstalling it got it going again. When it plays, it is loud and clear. Any suggestions on what approach to take? It is very frustrating.
:
Hi Dave, does the radio play for awhile then go bad and does it recover by its self with out any help from you? It is probably a heat issue. If you have a tube tester you can test your tubes and leave them on the tester for awhile. Also if you rock the tubes while the radio is on do any of them make noise? if so clean the socket and tube base. The other thing could be a bad resistor or unchanged capacitor heating up and causing the problem. You can get a can of air turn it upside down and spray the componets one at a time. Get a little ice on them and give it a few second and see what happens. Good Luck, George T

::Just recapped the electrolytics and a majority of the bypass caps on this chassis. The issue is that it sometimes stops playing completely, with no audio at all, and then, it will work a while later after I leave the radio alone for a bit. One time, removing one of the 41 tubes, and reinstalling it got it going again. When it plays, it is loud and clear. Any suggestions on what approach to take? It is very frustrating.
::
:Hi Dave, does the radio play for awhile then go bad and does it recover by its self with out any help from you? It is probably a heat issue. If you have a tube tester you can test your tubes and leave them on the tester for awhile. Also if you rock the tubes while the radio is on do any of them make noise? if so clean the socket and tube base. The other thing could be a bad resistor or unchanged capacitor heating up and causing the problem. You can get a can of air turn it upside down and spray the components one at a time. Get a little ice on them and give it a few second and see what happens. Good Luck, George T
:
It does not come back after it goes out. I lose all my audio, like its dead. One time by replacing one of the 41 tubes, it came back. One other time, I removed and reinstalled a XXL which seemed to do the trick. I rechecked all my soldering on the caps and they appear to be solid. I will spray the tube sockets and see what happens, also try to test the tubes again.

:::Just recapped the electrolytics and a majority of the bypass caps on this chassis. The issue is that it sometimes stops playing completely, with no audio at all, and then, it will work a while later after I leave the radio alone for a bit. One time, removing one of the 41 tubes, and reinstalling it got it going again. When it plays, it is loud and clear. Any suggestions on what approach to take? It is very frustrating.
:::
::Hi Dave, does the radio play for awhile then go bad and does it recover by its self with out any help from you? It is probably a heat issue. If you have a tube tester you can test your tubes and leave them on the tester for awhile. Also if you rock the tubes while the radio is on do any of them make noise? if so clean the socket and tube base. The other thing could be a bad resistor or unchanged capacitor heating up and causing the problem. You can get a can of air turn it upside down and spray the components one at a time. Get a little ice on them and give it a few second and see what happens. Good Luck, George T
::
:It does not come back after it goes out. I lose all my audio, like its dead. One time by replacing one of the 41 tubes, it came back. One other time, I removed and reinstalled a XXL which seemed to do the trick. I rechecked all my soldering on the caps and they appear to be solid. I will spray the tube sockets and see what happens, also try to test the tubes again.

Do have a hair dryer in the house?
Lewis
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::::Just recapped the electrolytics and a majority of the bypass caps on this chassis. The issue is that it sometimes stops playing completely, with no audio at all, and then, it will work a while later after I leave the radio alone for a bit. One time, removing one of the 41 tubes, and reinstalling it got it going again. When it plays, it is loud and clear. Any suggestions on what approach to take? It is very frustrating.
::::
:::Hi Dave, does the radio play for awhile then go bad and does it recover by its self with out any help from you? It is probably a heat issue. If you have a tube tester you can test your tubes and leave them on the tester for awhile. Also if you rock the tubes while the radio is on do any of them make noise? if so clean the socket and tube base. The other thing could be a bad resistor or unchanged capacitor heating up and causing the problem. You can get a can of air turn it upside down and spray the components one at a time. Get a little ice on them and give it a few second and see what happens. Good Luck, George T
:::
::It does not come back after it goes out. I lose all my audio, like its dead. One time by replacing one of the 41 tubes, it came back. One other time, I removed and reinstalled a XXL which seemed to do the trick. I rechecked all my soldering on the caps and they appear to be solid. I will spray the tube sockets and see what happens, also try to test the tubes again.
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:Do have a hair dryer in the house?
:Lewis
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Lewis,

I rechecked all the tubes and it appears that the 6x5Gt rectifier tests only 20% in both testing positions. Is it possible that this is losing voltage and stopping the sound intermittently? Unfortunately that is one rectifier that I do not have a substitute for. I took it out and tested it twice, and each time it was low and showing in the red, bad area. One of the 2 times, the radio came back on after removing and replacing it. I do not see anything loose below or dirty, and I sprayed tuner cleaner on the socket.

Dave: Can you take some voltage measurements with that rectifier in place? If the voltages aren't significantly low, then it would not likely be the problem. Mark from Kalamazoo

I had a radio that was doing that. Wouldn't play until I pushed down on the speaker frame with my wrist. Pushing down on the chassis made it work? One of the interstage transformers was poorly grounded.

You could have a cold solder joint that looks fine but has a loose connection. Go over all your recent work with a hot iron. Then keep looking. :>)