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Brown/Yellow Gunk Around Chipsets?

V

v60sound

New Member
Hi All! Been reading a lot over here the past couple of weeks, very new to all of this but longtime lover of music. Apologies for the naïveté of this question but my recent stuck at home status pushed me to getting a used Marantz 2220b off Ebay for a fair(ish) price and I could not be more excited by how great it sounds (paired with a cartridge upgrade from the stock on my Audiotechnica Turntable things are sounding sweet!

Everything works great, as the seller stated they'd tested the whole thing and I don't have much of an issue with static and for the most part it has an impeccably clean sound (aside from a staticky radio signal but that may be my apartment and a problem for later. Howehever unit itself was pretty dang dirty on the inside and it does have a musty odor that I'll be attempting to tackle. It's very clear that it hasn't been cleaned more than once in it's long lifetime.

First round of Compressed Air and some q-tips made a big difference but I will be trying to lightly brush some of the rest of the crud away soon with some ISO Alcohol and more q-tips perhaps a toothbrush.

It seems that there is a yellow-ish gunk however mysteriously only around the two (integrated?) chips, on the AM/FM board and one other. Is this gunk supposed to be coating those chips? At first I thought it was nicotine accumulation, but found it odd that it was only on the two components that looked alike.

I certainly don't want to dissolve away something that was intentionally put there to seal a component. Any pointers or simple answers to this question? Thanks for all the knowledge imparted on me from contributors that led me to getting this sweet machine!

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If it’s rock hard, it’s gotta be that same glue they use to glue down big caps. If it’s easily soluble with alcohol, clean it off.
 
Welcome to AK John..Won't hurt a thing to clean up your " yellow gunk"..
 
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If it isn't hurting anything, I'd just leave it alone.
If it ain't fixed, don't broke it!

(Wait, did I say that right?)
 
Wow fast response! And thanks for the welcome :)

It's pretty hard, not rock hard but damn close. You might be able to see in the picture that I did take a crack at it with a little scraper and scratched it before realizing oops hey this might be here intentionally! I guess I focused on it intentionally because it looked like what nicotine gunk (I assumed would look like) and had pinned it as the main source of the smell.

So even if it is glue (it's soldered in right?) will I need to replace the glue somehow? Will Iso Alcohol totally dissolve that glue? Or just take the crud off the glue that is making it yellow? Appreciate all the responses so quickly, will likely leave it as is for now and clean what I can.
 
I would leave it. It looks like that glue, and it is not soluble in alcohol. You basically have to chip and scrape it off if it is under a capacitor. You sure don’t want to do that here.
 
Ok awesome! Thanks for the confirmation! I'll give it a light pass with a q-tip with and a tiny bit of alcohol to see if it changes the coloration at all, but won't go to town on it. Hoping I don't have to post here for a good long while since everything is working ship shape. Hopefully just a careful clean, (dry), plug and play for a long time. Thanks for the help y'all!
 
If this glue was on a capacitor, all would be concerned about the corrosion aspect and would be pushing for removal of the offending material. Why is it any different now,? Just asking....:dunno:
 
eiraved said:
If this glue was on a capacitor, all would be concerned about the corrosion aspect and would be pushing for removal of the offending material. Why is it any different now,? Just asking....:dunno:
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I’m guessing it is over, under, around and through the IC pins. I don’t think you could get it off without damage. I don’t think it’s going to hurt an IC, which is mostly a chunk of plastic.
 
It is flux. Been there since its first birthday. You will have it on your HA1146 and HA1141 chips.

I tried cleaning and it just gets al over the place.
 
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John Crisan said:
Wow fast response! And thanks for the welcome :)

It's pretty hard, not rock hard but damn close. You might be able to see in the picture that I did take a crack at it with a little scraper and scratched it before realizing oops hey this might be here intentionally! I guess I focused on it intentionally because it looked like what nicotine gunk (I assumed would look like) and had pinned it as the main source of the smell.

So even if it is glue (it's soldered in right?) will I need to replace the glue somehow? Will Iso Alcohol totally dissolve that glue? Or just take the crud off the glue that is making it yellow? Appreciate all the responses so quickly, will likely leave it as is for now and clean what I can.
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Leave it and it will do no harm
 
NH-MAN said:
I wouldn’t touch it, it was there for a reason
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That's my point.
Many people just want to "Fix" their stuff, thinking that they can make it better.
There are those that think the manufacturer had their head up their ass and didn't know what they were doing, and believe they can improve it because they think they know better.

I belong to a board concerning a certain motorcycle.
The bike is just fine as it was sold, but people blindly think they can improve it by adding aftermarket pipes, fuel controllers, etc etc....

Most end up coming back crying because their bike runs like ****, and they're going to have to pay someone a lot of money to repair the damage they caused, or put it back to normal.
Put a new seat on it, fine. Put nice tires on it, fine.
But don't go digging around in the engine thinking you're going to get a 650 or 800cc engine to run like a supercharged crotch rocket.
If the designers thought it was possible, they would have done that.

If the things you own are working and running as intended, don't stupidly go looking for things you think you can "Fix".
Chances are you didn't spend thousands, if not millions developing the product and bringing it to market.

I get exasperated reading threads on all kinds of boards from people looking to modify or fix **** that just doesn't need it done, especially from folks who have no business whatsoever even attempting such things.
If you're ****'s working, leave it alone.
It most likely doesn't need YOUR help.
 
moisture protection for hi z inputs, scrape it off, tune in a station, then breathe on the chip and watch the stereo light go out and come back. now seal it again with Krylon clear coat.

power amps are in the same box, they get hot and then cool, condensation can form.
 
cjenrick said:
moisture protection for hi z inputs, scrape it off, tune in a station, then breathe on the chip and watch the stereo light go out and come back. now seal it again with Krylon clear coat.

power amps are in the same box, they get hot and then cool, condensation can form.
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Yep, it's bee's wax. commonly used for moisture proofing.

Tom
 
This is all super helpful, just tryna get rid of the musty smell and making sure some dark yellow blob wasn't an outside material! I'll leave it be, thanks for all the input.

@catrafter Beeswax makes total sense! That is exactly what it feels like, I just hadn't thought of that because, well honestly didn't figure I'd be finding beeswax in my new (old) stereo receiver. I certainly don't want to lose that sweet stereo FM sound!
 
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Sometimes putting a 'Bounce' or other dryer sheet inside and installing the top cover for a few days will get rid of any left over 'smell' after cleaning.
I heard from @boatdrinks77 that strapping a stinky stereo to the roof rack on your car during your daily commute works wonders.:)

Tom
 
I’ve experimented with putting the offensive receiver in a sealed container with a box or two of arm & hammer baking soda (the ones for your fridge) for a few weeks. Seems to wick away the final level of smell. YMMV. Combine that with a dryer sheet or two afterwards and you’ll be smelling like fresh laundry.

Then again I have a friend who swears he loves the vintage smell of old electronics. Actually requested I not clean his 1060 too much. To each his own. :D
 
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