[sobell1980]

I still haven't forgotten to report on the fix. I will write a report once I've completed the tape player and I can cover all the faults I've found. It's now working perfectly except I've got what sounds like a very noisy volume pot.
It sounds like someone is welding, through the speaker and popping, sizzling bacon sounds. I've taken apart the volume pot and cleaned the tracks with servisol.
I have rectified the dodgy speaker wiring that was hanging on for dear life. I've sprayed into the tone pot. Didn't dismantle it because it's also the on off switch. Both pots now feel beautifully smooth and free. I've even bypassed the recording / playback switch to see if it was a poor intermittent connection . It looks identical to a wave change switch, this also has been cleaned.
I was convinced a clean of the pots would solve this but it remains. The noise can be turned up and down with the volume pot and the tone control. I haven't changed any electrolytics on this set yet as it didn't suffer any hum. I suppose I could bypass the pots with fixed resistors? This would eliminate those . Any ideas? Other than this it's working beautifully now and is the last remaining fault.
Many thanks.
Dave.
P.S.
Forgot to say it does this not playing a tape, so the heads are not being used and the machine is just idling with nothing engaged.