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On 17 Feb 2002, at 0:11, Marc Bona wrote: > >I'm also trying to restore the dead clock in the instrument cluster. > >Does anyone on the list have a working clock element that I can swap > >into my existing housing? You won't get a clockworks out of its housing without destroying something. > Usually it's just the solder that melts in these clock elements, breaking the > circuit continuity and stopping your clock. If that is the case, it's as > simple as re-soldering the connection. Just make sure you use a solder with > the proper "melting point" as this solder is essentially a fuse, meant to melt > when the "element" gets too hot. Just reuse the original solder with a touch of flux to assure good flow. > It's getting too hot is usually caused by the oil in the gears gumming up > with age, or corrosion on the clock shafts. A customer of mine pointed out that this more often is caused when a car is stored with its battery connected. As it slowly runs down it eventually reaches the point where the battery no longer has the power to cause the solenoid to toss the rewind mechanism. This leaves the contacts closed and carrying (a smaller) current 100% of the time. The fuse quickly overheats and releases. > I've rebuilt 3 or 4 of these now and usually it's just the oil gumming up. > Use some good quality electrical contact cleaner and thoroughly soak the whole > gearworks a few times. Then re-oil it using oil specificaly designed for > clock gears. I've used sewing machine oil and 3in1 oil with good results as > well and it's far easier to find. Others here may have a better > recommendation as to what oil to use. Be careful with cleaners, some of them will attack the plastic parts. There is lots of adverse feeling out there toward 3-in-1 oil, saying that it tends to gum up. I don't know about that, but I tend to stay away from it for things that need long term reliability. Too much oil of any kind will also collect dirt and cause undue wear. > Once you're done with that, it's also a wise idea to, with some fine grit > sandpaper or emery cloth (220 grit) clean the two contact points in the > electric "element" and them rinse it off with some more of the electrical > contact cleaner. I seldom touch the contacts, but I would avoid using any kind of abrasive. Use a contact file if you really feel the need. Abrasives have a way of becoming embedded in contacts and causing more problems than they solve. To reduce contact sparking, wear, and the production of dust, I replace the damping resistor in the solenoid with a freewheeling diode. - ******************************* Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, Wisconsin, USA ******************************* ------------------------------------------------------------------- List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list or mailto:help@vwtype3.org