Expert: Garry S. McLemore - 7/13/2010

Question
I bought a Sanyo mcd xj790 boombox about six months ago and about two months ago the volume control stopped working. It stayed at one volume and when I turned the pot it didn't change but made a scratching noise. Same on CD, tape, and radio settings. I opened it up and cleaned the pot with deoxit and now it doesn't scratch but the volume is barely audible, same on headphones.

Answer
sometimes cleaning doesn't work, showing that the pot is bad and needs replacement. it sounds like the pot took a hit pushing the knob and shaft to bottom out, severely loosening the internal spring so the contact on the resistive portion is not making contact anymore. it's possible to take the cover off the pot and re-tension spring, but that's a lot of work to remove the pot, take it apart and fix it, but if you're up to it go ahead.