Very basic reel to reel question

[Ashfan]

I've never had any dealings with reel to reel, but decided that if I ever saw one that looked decent during a thrift run, I'd pick it up and start learning. Found an Akai 202D-SS on Sat. for $9.99. Now the question. When I first power it up, the analog meters jump around for a while, then one stays almost pegged, and the other drops to almost, but not quite, the bottom. Is this a cleaning/deoxit issue, or something else? Or multiple possible something else's? Thanks.

[goldear]

This could well be related to needing to clean some internal switches (not just the ones on the front panel) on the unit. Try that first, and then see what happens.