CRC has an aerosol product called QD that seems every bit as good as or better than the tuner cleaner that I bought at Radio Shack and used for all kinds of tune up work on everything that used electrical contacts of any kind including the power connections.
I ran out of the Radio Shack product long ago and gave up on ever seeing it again then I saw this product and gave it a try. My first try was a digital VOM that needed several on-off efforts to get it on and once on the selector had dead spots and the display had faded spots. I shot everything in the housing generously and then blew it ought with light air pressure and found that it was back like new. Next I pulled the cover off of a radio remote and cleaned it with success.
Long ago when EFI was just becoming popular a mechanically operated potentiometer was used to measure mass air flow and they had a tendency to develop a dead spot at normal cruise speed. The part was expensive and rarely in stock anywhere but the dealership where they were astronomically expensive so I experimented and found that cleaning the sweeping contact system and then lubricating it with electronic grease improved the situation considerably and kept the customer somewhat happy while I chased down a replacement part at a reasonable price. Several European cars used a contact in that MAF to turn on the fuel pump and cleaning always corrected that problem which saved customers $2,000.
Anyway, I now wish I had not thrown out several radios and a CD player and quite a few other odd devices that would likely still operate if cleaned.
And BTW, I have no interest at all in that product.
In my area both Home Depot and Walmart stock it as their standard contact cleaner. As I recall It’s about half the price at Walmart. A note of trivia: “QD” means quick dry apparently.
Well it seems I’ve been looking over the product for years @George_San_Jose1. And I’ve thrown away quite a few things over the years that would likely have survived with a few squirts of that stuff. I happened up on it at O’Reilly’s while waiting to be checked out. Forty years ago I found the Radio Shack tuner cleaner accidentally also. It made a big improvement in a television so I sprayed it on every problem that had electrical contacts involved. I brought a keyboard back to life with the tuner cleaner long ago when Rant and Rave was going like gang busters. Keyboards were somewhat more expensive back then as I recall.
@Rod_Knox. I am going to have to try this product. I have a pair of Acoustic Research
AR 2ax speakers and the high frequency speakers no longer function because of corrosion on the rheostats that control them. QD might just solve the problem.
I’ve still got a can of the Radio Shack stuff. I must have bought it before the store closed here because it’s not that old. You can still order from Radio Shack. I ordered a new antenna amplifier from them last year and get emails on a regular basis. I think its out of Texas. Don’t know if they have a full complement of items or not but at least they had my amplifier. Seems to me I had to search using the product number though before I got a hit.
I had the same experience. I always kept the Radio Shack tuner cleaner at my house for electronics of yesteryear. The mechanical tuners on my RCA TV, my Panasonic Technics stereo, Litton microwave oven, car radios, all needed it at one time or another. It was like a miracle in a can. Then my “local” (nothing’s really local where I live in the boonies) Radio Shack shut. I was distraught. Oh, the humanity!
I kept eyeing the CRC QD when in Wal-Mart automotive departments, but wondered how good it could be, in its relatively giant sized can, compared with the costly little amazing Radio Shack cleaner and didn’t buy it. Besides, the Radio Shack stuff said it cleaned and lubricated and the CRC made no lubrication claim, if I recall.
When I finally spritzed my last spritz of The Shack liquid gold I bought the CRC. I don’t use it much because I have fewer mechanical tuners, but it comes in handy at times. I’ve taken apart remotes, like key fobs, and cleaned the boards and “rubberized chicklet” buttons with it when they get funky.
I have used it in automotive connectors, just like the photo on the can. Until mechanical tuners and Radio Shacks come back I’ll probably keep using it. CSA
