I have a vintage Pioneer receiver that was stored in a closet after my turntable (that I got from a Sigforum member many years ago) died and that carpeted closet flooded. The water was not found for a month or so.
The receiver was never directly in the water but about 2 inches off the carpet that stayed soaked for about a month or so.
There is some light oxidation on the bottom (aluminum I presume) should I try to clean it up or do we think this receiver is a lost cause.

I recently got a nice vintage Pioneer turntable and some Bose speakers and am wanting to stay with a vintage receiver just to keep everything similar.

I don't think it's a "lost cause", but I do think further investigation is warranted.

If you can, remove the "hood" and have a good look at the interior. I'm guessing it's not old enough to have vacuum tubes, nor new enough to have integrated circuits (chips) and is probably discreet components: transistors, resistors, capacitors, etc. Look at all the connections and solder joints looking for corrosion and/or moisture.

If it passes muster on that inspection then plug it in and turn it on with the cover off. DO NOT POKE AROUND INSIDE WITH THE POWER ON. Look for signs of arcing, smoke, overheating components or other electrical no-nos. A slight smell of hot dust or insulation would be normal.

If the interior is dry and has no serious signs of corrosion, I'd buff the bottom with something like a scotchbrite and treat it with a coat of automotive wax to seal it against further issues.

If you're not comfortable powering it up with exposed components, perhaps a more experienced friend could help.

Agree with PHPaul. I would worry more about the condition of the circuitry than about the enclosure.

Assuming all the components and circuit board material looks good, what I'd do is blow the dust off with canned air and power it up.

If you aren't confident making the call, maybe post up some pics of the insides beforehand?

Any surface mold maybe conductive. I would hose down the circuit board (both sides) with spray electrical cleaner and a non metal brush. Let dry, then power on.

Here are some internal shots with the cover removed. I will have to make a new cover. Since it is some sort of laminate it absorbed water and swelled.
The corrosion/oxidation seems only to be external near where the most swelling of the case occurred.
The cases are like $200-$300 on eBay so guess I will build one out of actual wood.
Internals don’t look bad to me but I don’t exactly know what I am looking at just seems dusty.

I would recommend a thorough internal cleaning. LOT of dust in there and dust plus moisture can create an electrical path. I would suspect at the very least it will result in noise (static).

Also, in that last picture, the finned device with the pulley and drive string is an air dielectric capacitor used to tune the radio portion of the receiver. Dust/moisture on the fins can affect tuning.

Blowing it out with low pressure air would be a good starting point. Not sure "canned air" would provide enough volume but you don't want to hit it with 100psi either.

Nice integrated amp. Nice receiver.

If you don't have the manual handy, I did find a place with a downloadable PDF of it. 45 watts/channel into 8 ohms.

From what I can find, that model dates from around 1980, and other than dust, the circuitry looks pretty good for that vintage.

One of the black capacitors in the fourth picture does look a little bent out of vertical - that'd be something to look at to make sure that whatever bent the capacitor didn't break the leads away from the solder connection. As long as the leads are connected I wouldn't worry about its orientation not being vertical - no need to bend it straight.

Anyway, assuming that cap checks out, I'd do as suggested above, clean out the dust, power it up and see if it likes your speakers and turntable!

Edited to note: it's a nice receiver, not a nice integrated amp!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: joel9507,

The leads to that cap look just fine.

I pulled the bottom panel off and snapped this picture.
I applied a little oil to each screw that holds the bottom plate on and they came out no issue. Broke up that oxidation nicely.

Is there a solution I can use to clean up the oxidation on the aluminum bottom with a light scotch bright pad?

Also, what can I safely wipe the faceplate down with just to get a layer of light dirt/grime off without hurting the lettering?

I saw one video where a guy pops the knobs off and soaked them in a diluted 409 solution to clean them up.
Afraid to use anything too harsh on the faceplate to remove the lettering.

I wish this dude listed what he is using. He just goes to town with an electric toothbrush and some cream.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
I wish this dude listed what he is using. He just goes to town with an electric toothbrush and some cream.

It’s just household cleaner or shampoo. Just don’t use anything harsh like Fast Orange with pumice in it.

The parts that may need replaced are the electrolytic capacitors. A can of Deoxit will clean out any switches or potentiometers including this two on the PCB that look a little oxidized.

If you plugged it in to test it the capacitors can hold charge for a while. The main worry is with tube based circuits and the high voltages they use but still, be careful.

Toothpastes vary in their abrasiveness - Relative Dentin Abrasivity (RDA) - and if you go that route, you'd probably want to try ones that are more abrasive.

As an example here's a chart from a dentist office in Texas with some toothpaste abrasiveness ratings for various products:

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
I wish this dude listed what he is using. He just goes to town with an electric toothbrush and some cream.

He explains in response to a question in the comment section under that Youtube video. I took a screenshot