help with an admiral

[pugs5061]

Hi Jamie,
David is exactly right. You need to go through the paper and Electrolyte capacitors first. I would find out if your Grampa had a CRT tester also. That is how you find out if the picture tube is good. This test can be done at anytime with or without the chassis in one piece but most people check them before anything else because of the expense of replacing it if it is bad. If you don't have access to a CRT tester they are quite prevalent and not too much $$. Back to the capacitors, at 55 years old, experience has told us that many of them are bad just due to age. The capacitors either leak and go out of tolerance or dry up and go out of tolerance(you can't necessarilly see this). Testing them is really not that realistic because you need to take them out of the circuit to do this. If you are going to take the time to do this why even bother when 1) It would probably take more time than replacing them at that point. 2) Even if they are good they can go bad as soon as voltages hit them. 3) New ones run from 30 cents to $1.00. (not Electrolytes but there are very few of them) 4) If they go bad later it can cause other major components to go bad also costing $$ and making troubleshooting much more difficult.
Keep us up to date! We are saying this to help.

[Phil Nelson]

I agree with all that's been said. Here's a good analogy.

You just found Grandpa's 1955 Chevy in a garage. It drove great when put away and hasn't been touched in decades. Can you just top up the gas tank and drive off on a cross-country trip?

Like this TV, the car has many things that have gone bad from sitting around. The oil in the crankcase is sludge and needs to be drained. The rubber things -- fan belt, radiator hose, tires -- are brittle or cracked from oxidizing and have either fallen apart or will quickly do so when you drive. So on and so forth.

It's a good sign that your TV sort of comes on. But that's like charging the battery and getting your Grandpa's engine to turn over. It tells you that the engine is not completely destroyed. But it's not safe or sensible to drive the thing in this condition.

Perhaps there's someone in your area who can fix it or coach you in learning how to do it. Here's a list of collector clubs. Many radio collectors also collect TVs or know how to fix them:

http://www.antiqueradio.com/clublist.html

There may not be a club next door, but they might know someone closer to you.

Phil Nelson