Foggy guage glass

[Guest]

Hey Folks,

This should be an easy one for you all.

Per your responses to a previous post of mine, when I get my car back from the shop in a week or two, my ToDo list includes taking a look at my dashboard lights.

Which leads me to this question: IS IT POSSIBLE TO REMOVE THE GLASS FROM THE GUAGES, AND CLEAN THEIR INSIDE SURFACES, OR AM I OPENING A PANDORA'S BOX?

I am particularly interested in the two large guages. In the daylight, they seem fine, but when looking at them in the dark of night, with only their dash lights, they are quite foggy. Can this be fixed?

Again, I look forward to hearing from you.

 

[TR3driver]

It is possible, and the two large gauges are the easiest. You'll need to remove them from the dash, of course, and then in theory the chrome bezel just twists until the tabs line up with the slots and it pops off. In practice, it usually requires some gentle prying between the tabs and the case, to loosen it enough to twist. Once it's apart, you'll probably want to chip out whatever is left of the rubbery substance between the bezel and glass, and replace it.

The small gauges are similar, except for the ammeter. It has four tabs in the back that have to be carefully straightened, then the whole outer housing slides off.

After you've cleaned the glass thoroughly, a product like Endust seems to help keep the dirt off.

 

[dklawson]

As Randall said, it's very do-able.

A few minor points that may help you are:
Soak a Q-Tip in WD-40 and wipe it around the back of the gauge where the chrome bezel touches the can. Put enough WD-40 on the joint that you can see it soak in and it's left "wet" for a while. Allow this to soak, perhaps overnight.
Try rubber-type jar openers as "grips" to hold the bezel and can as you turn the bezel. Your goal is to rotate the lock-tabs on the back of the bezel until they line up with the "notches" on the front flange of the gauge can.
If the bezel won't rotate, apply a bit more WD-40 and allow more time. If after a second day the bezel still won't rotate, GENTLY pry the lock tabs on the back of the bezel to just barely lift them off the flange of the can.
Once you have the bezel and glass off you can clean them with any number of commercial products. While you clean the glass you may want to soak the chrome in carb cleaner to remove what's left of the rubber seal that went between the glass and bezel... it will likely be a black goo.
Once the goo is removed, I replace it with pieces of window screen spline from the home center cut to length to form a ring.
Do not clean the gauge face with anything more than water and a gentle dabbing with Q-tips or tissue. The white paint on the gauge face is often ready to fall off.
For more information, google for Anthony Rhodes' article on repairing Jaeger and Smiths speedometers. It's a 27 page document that covers speedo repair in detail and includes an opening section on how to remove the glass.

 

[DrEntropy]

with all Randall says. The "rubbery" stuff twixt bezel and glass more often than not has turned to something akin to concrete. Usually it can be removed with nothing more than a bevel'd popcicle stick.

A "cheat" I discovered long ago for replacing the flat o-ring between the bezel and the dash is to use the oil filter seal in its stead. Size it by cutting with an X-acto blade, super glue to rejoin the cut. The glass-to-bezel rubber can be replaced with o-ring material, McMaster-Carr or Grangier has had it in various diameters by the foot in the past.

<span style="font-style: italic">EDIT: Doug got here ahead of me...</span> AGAIN! :wink:

 

[Brosky]

George,

This will give you an idea of what to expect and the rubber seals that they mentioned.

Gauge Refurbishing

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the poop, guys.

I think that I will tackle ONLY the two big guages, and that is only if I can get replacement seals from Nisonger first. When it comes to my "fabricating" ability, 9 things can happen and 8 of them are bad.

Again, your responses were above and beyond the call of duty.

 

[dklawson]

Nisonger should have what you want. However, if you want to do this immediately and/or don't want to pay what Nisonger will charge for the seals, the window screen spline works well. (However, there are several sizes to pick between before you get the right diameter). It's softer than o-ring stock and fitting it is a simple process of placing a strip of it inside the back of the bezel and cutting to length. You don't even have to glue the ends together.

Take pictures of before and after like Paul did. You'll be impressed with how nice the gauges can turn out. BTW, everyone has their preferred cleaning method on the bezels but after soaking in carb cleaner I polish mine with SimiChrome.