Tascam 234 got spilled water into it

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iheartmeek

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A few years ago my friend spilled water accidentally into his 234. I opened it up and it seems that the water got into the bottom two PCBs on the right hand side. There is some greenish/white crusty stuff surrounding some of the parts there. He was about to throw it away, but i took it because it bugged me to see it go into the trash even if its broken beyond repair. So far this is what i know of the unit:

1. Power comes on, all VUs and LEDs light, needles work.

2. The belt needs to be replaced but the machine does try to play rewind fast forward etc.

3. When testing the mic inputs there is no sound, but the VUs become erratic when the pan knobs are turned.

Basically my question is this, should i attempt to buy a parts 234 and replace the entire PCBs that took the water damage and try to salvage this? I know there are no guarantees but, i was wondering what you guys thought about this.

Thanks for any and all advice.
 
Too bad he didnt open it up right away an dry it out. Water in itself wont usually hurt electronics IF they are powered off when it happens.
Are you sure it was just water or was it beer or soda or something that would have left residue when it dried?? If iit was powered on when it got wet it may have something fried.

I'd suggest cleaning all he crud off, even using clean water again and a soft toothbrush if thats what it takes. Now dont submerge the thing, but try to gently spot clean the boards. Avoid any liquid on the motors, heads, or mechanicals in general. Blow it out with compressed air and let it REALLY dry, like for a few days beofre trying to power it up. While you have it open go ahead and use de-oxit on all the controls, oil the motors, etc.

Then reassemble and try again.

Might want to check fleabay..the 234 usually goes pretty cheap and would probably cost more to fix than replace. And then you would have a parts unit too!!
 
fried

Yeah, the 234 was definitely on when the liquid spilled into it, so there may be some fry-age in the section that the water got to.

So, you recomment i use water to clean off the crusty stuff? Maybe some qtips etc?
 
If it was on when this happened I wouldn't hold out a lot of hope for just being dirty. My personal rule is NO drinks are allowed near my recording equipment at any time. I keep my drink on another table about 4 feet away. I hope I'm wrong but I just have a bad feeling about it. Keep us updated.
 
Plain water is fine, even a dilute solution of window cleaner and water. put in a spray bottle then you have more control over where it goes and like techno said use an old toothbrush. You can really massage that around the parts needing cleaned and usually get cruddy stuff off. Then a rinse spray to get the yuck off and have a clean terry towel handy to mop up as much excess as you can and then put it in a dry place. I would even say if you can have it near a warm radiant type heater for several days so that it is warm (not hot) and dry...a little clip fan blowing on it with the warm heat and it should be good and dry after a few days.

Yeah, if it was on when it took on the liquid its not too hopeful. Are all the fuses good? The erratic VU's could just be dirty pots. Try squirting DeoxIT Faderlube into them and working them.

Are you sure that you had the inputs monitored when you tried your test?

Do the above cleaning bit, check the fuses, make sure the monitoring is switched right and give it a shot. Try monitoring using headphones as well as using the main outs to a setereo or whatever.
 
i will

I will do as much of this as i can and get back to you.

This particular unit recorded some of my friends classic demos when he was in highschool. Ive known him for about 13 years, and he would bring in these tapes he made on this very recorder and thats how we became friends. Im still in a band with him now. Id hate to see this machine with so much personal history be tossed.

Thanks for your advice.
 
Don't toss it.

Try and get it going, or as mentioned it can become a great donor deck for a working system which are quite affordable on eBay.

If the timing were different I'd be possibly able to assist with spares or a complete deck. I have two parts 234's. Plan is to make one good system out of them and have a parts deck, but it is way on the back burner so I don't know what is "extra" yet. Otherwise I'd propose to work something out regarding those two PCB's.

Keep us posted.
 
Maybe keep it for parts, but I wouldn't throw money into it. To bad he didn't see to it right away. If you ever spill liquid into a anything electronic, unplug it, open it up and flush it with bottled distilled water and then dry it on a heater vent or a blow dryer set on warm. You need to do that ASAP though. A few years later is too late.
 
spent

I spent all last night cleaning the stuff out, and there is still some crusty stuff left to clean. As far as i can tell, the damage (visually at least), is on the back of the main PCB and a little bit on the PCB that is connected to all the inputs on the back. Looks like the water got to mostly the top one and trickled down into the one underneath a bit.

Should i be looking to buy a parts 234 and just replace these two boards?
 
How big are the PCB tracks? Could you repair them with conductive paint? Are any actual components affected?
 
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