I have previously written about my “failing” Beomaster 2400 and its pungent burning oil smell. I also had concerns which may or may not have been well founded in regard to volume levels.

Six months or more have gone by and this Beomaster continues to perform well….. to both my relief and surprise.

Having nothing to do with my Beomaster 2400 I recently purchased a horribly filthy Beogram 4500 CD player as an addition to my Beomaster 4500. (Good God this thing was DIRTY!) I resorted to various cleaning products, artist’s paint brushes, and Q-Tips to excellent effect.

As such I decided to use the Q-Tips on the black plastic air vents on my Beomaster 2400 and to my astonishment I found several the grooves filled with thick sticky yellow oil.

No doubt the source of the oil is the hinge that allows that slow and impressive closure of the aluminum door.

Now I am not sure I have found the source of my burning oil smell, but I am wondering if I have, what do I do about it? I can not imagine that dripping oil can be good for the electronics of this Beomaster.

Jeff

Interesting

Are you sure it is from the dampening grease used in the hinge mechanism? This is REALLY sticky stuff & I'm not convinced it could have found its way out of the hinges & into the vents. I've seen plenty of vents (on various B&O components which use this grease) clogged with nicotine which isn't a joy to remove but the burnt oil smell I have never come across.

As for removing the offending gunk from the 2400, I would try using switch cleaning spray for starters.

BTW, next time you have some stubborn filth to remove, try simple saliva on a Q-tip, the enzymes present will get shut of most cr4p. It's what restorers of old masterpieces use & if it's good enough for them....

Chris.

Chris,

I am NOT sure of anything, quite frankly.

All I know is that my Beomaster 2400 has, on occasion, a very pronounced smell of burning oil. I love British cars so I am very familiar with the aroma of burning oil.

I was most surprised to find this thick yellow oil in the air vents located near the center hinge. I “assumed” that it was from leakage from the hinge.

I managed to remove the oil easily enough, but it occurred to me that if the hinge was leaking oil that it might be dropping on the electronics below and causing my burning odor.

Jeff

Piaf:

 I love British cars so I am very familiar with the aroma of burning oil.

 

Actually I have seen this leak out and I agree that this is the likely source, though nicotine is probably there too! No idea how to get it all off though - as Chris says, it is very sticky! 

I too have witnessed excessive lube on these... though never the burning smell... that must be it!

Likely an over-generous application from a previous owner?

Oh... and hopefully no offense to anyone... but my favorite saying about older British vehicles...

"If there is no oil under it... there is no oil in it"!

Thank you guys for solving my burning oil question. I thought I was correct, but needed to hear it from the experts.

As for British cars, OMG! I once attended a RREC Auto Jumble at Charter House and it was a delightful outing with most welcoming participants all most positively determined to share their picnic lunch and “refreshments” with one and all.

BUT dare suggest that Britain alone makes cars that drip oil, transmission fluid, break fluid, radiator fluid, etc. and the mood turned decidedly sour.

I had NO idea it was such a touchy subject when I offhandedly mentioned that Japanese and modern American auto do not leak fluids. From the reaction I received you would have thought I had made an off-color joke about HM Queen Elizabeth II.

Wanting to be a good guest I suppressed any further comments on this subject, however thoughts of how the geniuses at Rolls-Royce took a perfectly marvelous GM Hydromantic gearbox, reconfigured it without the “PARK” function requiring the use of a parking brake AND removed the rear seal, so that if one foolishly parked their 1955 through 1965 Silver Cloud on an hill aimed down that ALL the AT fluid would leak out of the transmission leaving a HUGE puddle of slippery pink fluid in the street and a PMC that no longer could proceed.

So sorry about this folks, but this was NO metaphor, it is a fact.

Back to Bang & Olufsen, thanks guys for confirming my oil leak suspicions.

Jeff