Mitsubishi WD 73-C9 Repair/Discard advice wanted.

[dafoe]

Title says it all. I am trying to talk myself into repairing, or attempting to repair this TV. It is a 72 inch DLP TV bought back in 2011. My situation is that I have been living off savings for four years, no income and I rarely watch TV on the TV. Don't have cable or satellite and don't want them. So another big screen TV is not happening at any point in the near future. The issues started soon after I bought and with VERY light use. Here are the problems:

-After about two years and maybe 100 hours of use, max, the sound started cutting out. In an out. Then it was hit or miss. Sometimes it would work for an hour or two if I left it off for months, which was not uncommon for me. So I just started using external speakers. This would need to be fixed if I'm going to keep it. Worried that it's a mainboard issue. In the beginning the problem could be "solved" by smacking the TV.

-It had been dark for a while, but a couple of days ago it suddenly became so dim that you can barely make out the picture. On of the lamps has gone. Not a big deal. These seem to be pretty cheap.

-I moved a couple of years ago. it sustained a couple of deep scratches in the screen. And there appear to be a couple of very small, dead winged bugs on the other side of the screen.

-Since the lamp went out it doesn't like to turn on. I have to make several attempts before it will turn on.

-The remote is broken and there are virtually no buttons on the front. Just "volume" and "channel"


I will never buy Mitsubishi again. But am I insane for wanting to fix this? Is it even possible? Seems like the screen would be the most difficult issue. Should I just throw it away? Paid $1300 for it and barely got any use out of it. But there is also no point in throwing good money after bad. I guess I know the answer to this question, I just want someone to convince me it's worth fixing. Any ideas?

[TreeTops]

Not worth fixing. You will pay more for parts than a new LCD TV. You don't need a 6 foot screen to enjoy TV either.

[dafoe]

It's really not that big once you get used to it. If I want to watch video on a small screen I have my PC and my laptop- which is where I watch most of my videos. Well, all of them now- by necessity. But to me, getting a standalone TV the entire point is the size. Otherwise my PC monitor is just fine.

Anyway, you are probably right about fixing it. But the lamps are dirt cheap. I would just like to have some idea of the cost to fix before throwing away. I know how to solder, I have soldering equipment and a multimeter. I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty. I've just never worked on a TV before. Just hoping to get some advice from people who do TV repairs. That's still a thing, right? Maybe not, given how cheap TVs are these days.

[redwudz]

If it's apparently dead, you won't lose much by attempting to fix it. But it likely uses florescent lamps for screen lighting.
And those could use a high voltage power supply.
Be careful and leave it unplugged for a few days to discharge any dangerous voltages.

Internally, look at the power supply(s) capacitors for bulging or leaking.
That's mostly for the audio problem and maybe the florescent PS.

A visual inspection of the circuitry would be the first step.

Being that it seemed to work after a 'smack' sounds like a bad connection. Check the audio input connections first.

If florescent backlighting, check the lamps for blackened areas.
That would support the idea that the lamps themselves are dead.
If so, you can take a gamble and replace them.

You should also go on a search for a service manual. Sometimes they are available and include troubleshooting guides.

Good luck.

[dafoe]

Thanks for the reply.

Turns out the TV does turn on just fine. I think what was happening is that the final remaining "working" lamp was failing. It finally went out so I get no picture at all. The TV has this annoying feature where if there is no video input for a few minutes it shuts itself off.

I'm going to buy two lamps from ebay. They are only $15 a piece. The entire housing slides right out from the back. So that will be an easy cheap fix. And I will go from there. The screen would be my next project.

I will definitely look around for the service manual.