'67 Radio Trouble

[Michael J.]

The radio in my '67 (is an original as near as I can tell, Delco on it etc.) has problems. When you first start the car and turn it on, it plays OK, but after 10-15 minutes the music just goes away and there is nothing but static, this on AM or FM. It is OK if you let it sit for a few hours and you turn it on again, but again craps out after the same 10-15 minute time period. What is the best source for fixing this or I guess having the radio rebuilt? Any ideas and suggestions welcome, thanks.

[Chuck M.]

Re: '67 Radio Trouble

Michael,

Give Jerry Rudbeck a call and I am sure he will have the answer for you. He repaired our '67 radio and did a fantastic job.

Here is the website: http://www.electrodesign.us/

Good Luck!

Chuck

[Keith G.]

Re: '67 Radio Trouble

Jerry did 2 of mine, very happy.

[Wayne W.]

Re: '67 Radio Trouble

From my old days of playing with radios and transistors, It sounds like a bad transistor. They would be sensitive to heat. We would use a freeze spray and freeze each transistor individually. When you got to the bad one, it would work as long as it was cold. With the advent of IC circuits and chips, my radio fixn days were over.

[Rick S.]

Re: '67 Radio Trouble

Mike,
I had Jerry Rudbeck tune-up my 67 radio and the work, communication and price were outstanding. I also had him install an IPod jack (undetectable) on the back of the radio, which he supplies a 6ft cable, so now I get to listen to music of my liking versus the crap on the radio. He will give you great tips on shipping the radio, recommendations if you are looking to do radio or speaker upgrades and advise you what needs to be done to your radio prior to starting repairs.
Rick

[Jack H.]

Re: '67 Radio Trouble

You can throw money at the problem by sending the radio out OR you can do a little quick/dirty troubleshooting yourself... By that I mean separate the radio from the antenna.

If the lead-in wire from the antenna (single conductor, human hair thin, copper wire inside the antenna to radio cable) is fatigue fractured you might wind up with a situation of intermittent continuity. Such is not uncommon on cars that've been restored where the interior was 'gutted' for new carpet/seats and the radio's antenna cable was roughly handled in the process...

So, start by trotting down to, say WalMart, and buying an el cheapo, generic, radio antenna with captive cable. Expect to fork out something like $6-9! Now, reach up/behind your radio and unplug your existing radio antenna.

Plug in the replacement and try to get it back, away from the engine compartment as far as possible. Now, re-run your radio test and see if the reception problem stays or evaporates. If the problem evaporates, you're probably fighting a damaged antenna lead-in cable vs. something internal to the radio...

[Chuck M.]

Re: '67 Radio Trouble

You can throw money at the problem by sending the radio out OR you can do a little quick/dirty troubleshooting yourself... By that I mean separate the radio from the antenna.

If the lead-in wire from the antenna (single conductor, human hair thin, copper wire inside the antenna to radio cable) is fatigue fractured you might wind up with a situation of intermittent continuity. Such is not uncommon on cars that've been restored where the interior was 'gutted' for new carpet/seats and the radio's antenna cable was roughly handled in the process...

So, start by trotting down to, say WalMart, and buying an el cheapo, generic, radio antenna with captive cable. Expect to fork out something like $6-9! Now, reach up/behind your radio and unplug your existing radio antenna.

Plug in the replacement and try to get it back, away from the engine compartment as far as possible. Now, re-run your radio test and see if the reception problem stays or evaporates. If the problem evaporates, you're probably fighting a damaged antenna lead-in cable vs. something internal to the radio...

Jack is absolutely right. That is the easiest test you can do before sending it away. I think we bought our antenna at the local NAPA store. Just make sure you get one with a long leader so you can get it outside of the car.

If you still have no luck give Jerry a call and Im sure he will give you a couple of things to try before sending it out.

Chuck

[Michael J.]

Re: '67 Radio Trouble

Right, it is best to try the cheapest and simplest things first. I'll give it a shot. But I didn't realize that antenna wire was that thin and fragile. Judging by the size of the cable and the connectors it looks much bigger and sturdier.

[Ralph E.]

Re: '67 Radio Trouble

Right, it is best to try the cheapest and simplest things first. I'll give it a shot. But I didn't realize that antenna wire was that thin and fragile. Judging by the size of the cable and the connectors it looks much bigger and sturdier.

Michael,
Sometimes the speaker could cause this problem if the polarity has been switched.

[Michael J.]

Re: '67 Radio Trouble

I finally got around to working on the radio with the new El Cheapo WalMart antenna I bought. I plugged the lead of the WalMart one into the back of the radio after pulling the existing one out. I made sure it reached outside the car. It worked much better (stronger AM) than the existing antenna, and as I was plugging the existing one back in to double check, when I got the lead in about 1/2 way, the radio got stronger and then weaker as I plugged it all the way in. Then when the radio got hot, it just quit working altogether (like before), until I unplugged it slowly, and again about 1/2 way out it worked good. I cleaned the contacts good, but no differece. It seems what was happening is that as the radio heated up, the female contacts expanded and the male contacts didn't, so it lost connection. Long story short, I used the WalMart antenna plug and grafted it onto the existing wire and it works like a champ. Thanks for all the tips, you saved me mucho dinero on rebuilding a radio that didn't need it.