Hi Yury,
Not to replace it is to delay the inevitable. If you must turn it slowly to have it work it is failing to funtion properly and should be replaced. OR you can wait till that special trip you take and it fails completely. You will not save any money by waiting.

www.lajollaaudiorepair.com

Cleeve Morrison
La Jolla Audio Repair

To update my progress, I cleaned the pot as previously posted and put everything back together. It appears that the problem is solved! Volume function responds normally.

In light of Cleeve's information, I have to mention that my radio volume did not respond to slow turning. Hopefully it was only the dirt. If not, I have the LaJolla website bookmarked for radio service.

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95 E320 Cabriolet, 159K

Kestas,

I have the same problem as Yury. I have a Becker unit in my 1997 e420 and the volume level acts eratically, many times the volume will get louder when I turn the volume down and vice versa, and also many times it will do so extremely, like get extremely loud when I only turn the volume knob only slightly.

I opened the face of the stereo and found the pot, but like Cleeve said, the pot was sealed. I cleaned it (used Q-tips, canned air) but the unit still misbehaves. Did you actually remove the pot and then cleaned it? I'm curious, what did you do to make it work right.

Joe

It's not actually a potentiometer, but a switch.

You can spray cleaner into the thing once you dismantle the front panel. Use something that dries completely. I used a can of butane which worked, but really wanted to collect water as it cooled the parts. Electronic parts cleaner might be better, but be careful with chlorinated solvents as they can destroy plastic parts.

Joe, the cleaning did not fix the problem for long. I don't know if it was effective at all. I sent my radio to LaJolla Audio for repair. $100 later the problem is gone. I also noticed the new knob is tighter, suggesting the problem could be wear and slop.