I was recently given a Mitsubishi ws-55805 rear screen projection TV for free. The TV was definitely showing a vertical reflection problem. If the TV is off for several hours, the screen is perfect. But as time goes by the top of the screen starts to shrink down; just a few inches in 30 minutes. Add more time and eventually the screen will shrink to a line in the middle of the screen while the bottom half is perfect. When I was given the TV the previous owner decided not to repair on the advice of the repair shop, stating the repair was going to be too much and with just a little more, they could get a new TV. Since they bought a new tv, I was able to acquire it for free as long as I moved myself. That was fun :)
I had a local electronics shop come and give me an estimate to repair. They could not give an estimate on site, so they pulled the guts out and took them to their shop. The next day they gave me an estimate of $465.00US to repair the TV. They said that there were issues with the vertical deflection and power systems.
I don't know what parts are needing to be replaced, Is this TV worth putting this much money in to a repair? I cannot buy this TV for this much, but on the other hand if components are already failing, could there be more failures to come? I thought about buying the schematics and trying to fix it myself, but with the cost of the tools I would most likely need, I would be close to the repair cost. And, I do have doubts I would be able to troubleshoot it properly ending up with a solid repair. I have done basic repairs such as cracked solder joints, replacing leaky caps, and bad chips. But there are no apparent problema with the TV by sight.
Does anyone have any advice for someone in my situation? Should I ask more questions about the repair? If you need anymore information, I will try to provide it. But the shop is being vague, I guess they don't want to do the diagnoses and then have someone else do the repair.
Isaac