Hi! Figures my favorite Zenith console that is may daily watcher decided to start acting up, and I need your advice as to what the problem is.
It's a System 3 Space Phone set. Model number SYE2549E, Maunufactured Dec 1982. This set has THE best picture of all my sets and this is the problem that came up.
The set at times has a snowy picture, like it has a bad connection from the cable. It mainly does it on a cold start, and will have a normal picture in about 10 minutes, and usually running fine for as long as it's left on.
I'm thinking tuner which is a 175-2030. Am I on the right track?
I will state that I have checked ALL cable connections, tried to run it off of straight cable (instead of digital converter box), tried to run it with a tape or DVD playing on the combo VCR. Doesn't matter what's hooked up. I STILL get the snowy picture problem. I even brought up a small set and run it off the output wire and NO problem with that one, so it's something to do with the TV.
Tips or advice?

It almost has to be the tuner. It could simply be bad soldering in the tuner. I've seen a lot of mid 80's Zeniths with this problem. There's a certain tuner that I would always re-solder when I was working on the set. Open up the tuner and solder anything that looks questionable. Pay particular attention to the connections to the metal shield.