Magnavox Stereophonic Repair Questions

Hello everybody,

I've been hearing it can be frustrating and time consuming to repair one of these, but I'm going to give it a shot anyway. I picked this up at a thrift store for $20 today and I am hoping someone can steer me in the right direction to get started.

Problem # 1 - Loud humming noise when turned on

There is a loud hum that comes out of the speakers when I turn on the counsel. The AM channels still work, and you can hear the radio when you turn the volume up. The humming noise remains at the same level no mater what the volume is at, and when you change between AM, FM, Stereo, etc it is always there. I've tried turning all the nobs and settings and nothing changes it up top, so it must be a problem inside the thing. Any suggestions on first steps to identifying the problem? It's pretty dusty inside the thing, so would a first step be to clean and lube it, and what do you use for cleaner and lubricant? WD40 okay?


Problem # 2 - FM radio setting does not work

The AM works, and you can hear the radio, but when you turn it to FM, there is nothing. There is an internal antenna. I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions for fixing this issue, or if anyone has come across a problem like this. In my experience I feel like it is usually AM that is harder to get working, and that FM doesn't usually need much of an antenna, if any. Again, maybe some cleaning and lubing of the connections could help this?


Problem # 3 - Turn table doesn't move at all

Not as concerned about this problem right now, I mainly just want to get the radio portion working, but thought I would put this on here just in case someone has a quick fix for this. There is power to this portion of the machine because the automatic needle moves on its own, the turn table just doesn't do anything.


Thank you to anyone who is able to shed some light on this! I'm new to this kind of thing, but I'm sure I'll be able to figure it out as I go. If anyone has some tricks up their sleeves for fixing these it would be appreciated.

Thanks!