Airline 7" tv & am/fm radio phono : Help with radio if transformers

[John Folsom]

I am restoring my Airline 94GSE-3018A 7" TV & AM/FM radio-phono. The TV restoration has gone well, but after recapping the radio chassis, I powered it up and ....NOTHING! Just a slight hum and a bit of crackle, on AM and FM positions. Injecting a 10.7mhz FM IF signal and/or a 455khz AM IF signal resulted in no output, except when driving the secondary of the detector transformer. This lead me to believe the 1st & 2nd IF transformers were possibly bad.

After removing the shields from the IF transformers, it became obvious they were the types with the build in mica capacitors in the base. I have read threads bout the "silver mica disease" and metal migration, and I find these transformers suffer from this disease.

As you can see in the photo, disassembling these transformers and removing the flulty capacitors in the base and replacing them with discrete silver mica caps is a very delicate process, and I predict my chances of accomplishing this feat are slim.

Being a TV guy, I don't have much radio related data. Did Merit, Miller or Thordarson make replacements for these dual FM/AM IF transformers?

The Airline part numbers for the transformers are 20E451 and 20E451-2, and the radio chassis is 20E493A.

Any help on replacement part numbers or advice on how to precede with repairs on the transformers I have would be GREATLY appreciated.


Thanks!