[codefox1]

I took the can off and right away the ohms went up to the meg range. I tried it and had reception right away but after 30 seconds it went out with a zap noise out the speaker. No smoke just a noise like zzz. It still actually has sound but with the volume up all the way I can still hear stations. Then I unplugged and checked that can again. Seems the wiring is fluctuating a lot dropping all the way down to 25,000 ohms . I will remove all the wires and get a good look under the terminal lug in the chassis that its connected to there are other things attached there too and its a mess but thanks for the help so far

Yea, our in the right area. 7 ohms would be about the correct reading across the I.F. coils, wire to wire, but should have a very high resistance from the wires to ground. You have an intermittent short or direct short to ground either due to bad wires, or coils or trimmer caps shorting to ground. Good luck...just play with the circuitry with the power off/set unplugged and your meter to locate the source of the short. John

A short or open in the IF coil or even trimmer per se would not load down the circuit but could kill the signal, so must be a a connection wire or even a shorted tube. My money would be on a wire. Follow the volts.