A word about bad Electrolytic Capacitors:
Electrolytic caps are of a series of components that are frequently used in electronic devices where AC and DC voltages are present. They are often used to filter the DC supply voltages for a clean DC supply that the device can use. After time, these devices dry out or leak. As a result, they lose their ability to filter and often become resistive. This leads to heat being created by the device which, in turn, adds to the drying out of the device which again leads to more heat. Eventually the device will fail completely.
Sometimes the device will "open" when it fails, in which case no filtering is being done and the usual result is a circuit that is supposed to run on DC now running on AC (not good). The other result is when the device "shorts" and this can lead to fire or damaged circuit boards and wiring (also not good).
Although you might never see any "bloated" capacitors or any discoloration or a leak of the electrolytic fluid around the base of the cap, consider the age of these parts. Fairly common is the heat damage or shrunken sleeve like the picture on the main page (click below), but 30 years is WAY beyond the expected lifetimes of these parts. And new parts today have the advantage of 30 years of improvements in manufacturing and chemicals science too boot. I recommend changing them all out for new ones!
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