I bought a couple of CR-718 radios off eBay to replace the stock units (TD-6141s) in two "new" 244s we bought a couple of months ago. Stopped by the local dealer with one of the radios, my car, and VIN number from the donor. After a lot of soul searching and a lecture on how the seller should have provided it to me, the parts guy finally gave me the code. I got home, disassembled the radio, cleaned and lubed the tape player, and made a few minor repairs. When I installed it in the new '91 244, it worked fine, but had the dreaded intermittant noise problem with the combination power/volume/balance control. I've had this problem with many other 240 radios, and it is the reason I remove stock CR-712 and TD-6141s.

Well, I noticed that the volume control on this CR-718 had a small (2mm x 3mm or so) hole. With nothing to lose, I sprayed electriccal contact cleaner into the opening and cycled the control until the cleaner evaporated. I repeated the proccess several times. When I reconnected the radio, it worked like new.

I don't remember the older radios having this tiny access slot. For CR-718s, at least, give this solution a try before giving up on the ratio.

PS - Art B. had a wonderful illustrated post on this problem a couple of years ago. He took this control apart and despite its extreme complexity, managed to repair it!