I am restoring a Crosley 58-TL. I was almost done with the deed, when I decided to do some last-minute cleaning. I took some contact cleaner (Jif Action) to the volume control and the tuning cap (gang). This was a mistake. The radio quit working altogether. I suspected that the tuning cap was saturated and shorting. I carefully dried it with a hair dryer. It then picked up a local station (610) at about 1200. I dried it some more and it now picks up 610 at about 800 on the dial. The dial cord and assemby is O.K. It is really the tuning cap that is not closed as it should be to pick up the low-end station at 610. All stations that I pick up are off displayed frequency by about the same amount. I also messed around with the trimmers on the side of the tuner. Will this eventually recover, or is there something else that I can do to expedite the process? If it does come back, what is the best way to fine adjust the trimmers without a signal generator?

Hi,
It may clear up on it's own, but if it does not clear up after a week or two, you should reallign it. I am assuming that the IF's are peaked, if not you can do this at the same time. First thing is to identify you oscillator trimmer, if you have a smaller set of blades on the tuning cap, look for the trimmer cap in parallel to this. If the plates are the same size, identify the oscillator triode, or locate on a pentagrid convertor- "G2" and follow it back.

With the oscillator located, set the indicator to where the 610 station should be on the dial, and adjust the tuning oscillator so that it starts to recieve it at the correct point on the dial. If you then tune to the top of the dial for a fairly weak station, peak the IF's for loudest signal, then trim the tuning condensor's other trimer cap for loudest reception. Tune back down to 610 to see if it is still where it should be. If it has moved, re adjust the oscillator, and see if everything tracks acceptably across the dial. If it does not, or discrimination is lacking on close stations, you can adjust that out by adjusting for best compromise between the oscillator trimmer, and the tuning cap section trimmer.

: I am restoring a Crosley 58-TL. I was almost done with the deed, when I decided to do some last-minute cleaning. I took some contact cleaner (Jif Action) to the volume control and the tuning cap (gang). This was a mistake. The radio quit working altogether. I suspected that the tuning cap was saturated and shorting. I carefully dried it with a hair dryer. It then picked up a local station (610) at about 1200. I dried it some more and it now picks up 610 at about 800 on the dial. The dial cord and assemby is O.K. It is really the tuning cap that is not closed as it should be to pick up the low-end station at 610. All stations that I pick up are off displayed frequency by about the same amount. I also messed around with the trimmers on the side of the tuner. Will this eventually recover, or is there something else that I can do to expedite the process? If it does come back, what is the best way to fine adjust the trimmers without a signal generator?

It seems to be clearing up little by little. Wow! I realize now that this was a dumb thing to do around mica trimmers!