Inclinometer fix

[murcod]

Below are some instructions on how to fix the inclinometer- courtesy of George (Caribbean Guy):

A few months ago I got on my Feroza and when I looked at my clinometer, instead of the usual numbers I found myself staring at a white face. A few days later I took apart the clino to see if I could spot the problem, at first I thought that it could be an electrical problem, but these meters are not electrical, then after studying it for a bit, I came to the conclusion that the problem was that some weight, inside the sphere, must have become dislocated and caused the meter to loose it's balance. I decided to leave it at that, since I was not going to try to take apart the sphere in order to repair it, I decided it was too much trouble and what if I couldn’t glue the two halves of the sphere again? I was going to end up with a hole in the middle of my dash...no way, too much of a risk.

This past Sunday, after a big branch fell through my front windshield and came to rest on my dashboard, exactly on top of my inclinometer, thus causing the bezel to break and spill the oil inside the bezel, I decided to take a risk and try to repair it once and for all.

Before I explain how I repaired my clino, please download and read the Section BE-Body electrical system manual, page 106. Here u will find a diagram of how the inclinometer works and it will help you understand better.

First of all, it was a fairly easy task, but u need PATIENCE.

If your inclinometer is turning all over the place and instead of the normal number display u find yourself facing a white dial, then this is for you.

There are tow basic parts for the meter, the first part is what I will call the bezel; this bezel is filled with silicon oil and contains the sphere that gives the inclination. The second part , as I mentioned before, is the sphere. This sphere is the one that gives the inclination of the vehicle.

Now the sphere is free to move up and down and vertically sideways, but IT SHOULD NOT MOVE HORIZONTALLY SIDE WAYS, if it does move horizontally sideways, then you will end up having the white face (the white face you see is the back of the sphere).

In the back of the sphere there is a Vertical channel; now the in the back , exactly in the center, of the Bezel there is a plastic pin that slides inside the Horizontal Channel in the sphere, this pin is what let's the sphere move in the directions I mentioned before but at the same time, it does not let the sphere turn all the way around thus ending up with he white face. If u open up you meter and look carefully inside the Bezel you will probably see the plastic pin floating inside or stuck somewhere against the sphere and the outer bezel.

In case you bezel is still intact and your only problem is that the pin broke off; then it is fairly simple to repair. First of all, forget about the pin, since the only way to take it out is to make a hole in the bezel large enough for you to take out the pin and this is not worth it, we are still going to make a hole in the bezel but it will be a very small hole.

Turn the sphere around so u are looking at the back of it, there u will see the markings where the pin was attached to the sphere, now take a hold of a pin, the ones that the seamstress use (the type that have a flat head), and heat it up, push the pin into the bezel (turn the bezel so u push the pin onto it from the top as not to spill the oil inside) , it is important that u DONT PUSH THE PIN SO FAR IN THAT U PUNCTURE THE SPHERE. Once u have the hole made, u need to cut then pin to length since this pin is going to replace the original plastic pin. The new pin it has to be long enough so that is goes into the vertical channel and short enough that u don’t puncture the sphere (if u do puncture the sphere, the oil inside the bezel is going to leak inside of it). Once your think u have the right measurement, use your finger to keep the new pin in place and move the meter around, see if the vertical channel can come loose from the pin, if it does then you need to make the pin a bit longer....I said u needed patience didn't I..lol....once you have the right size and the pin stays in place inside the vertical channel after moving the meter around a few times, then u can use some type of instant glue , in my case I used a product called crazy glue, since the hole u made is small enough (hopefully) that the pin is snug, once u push it all the way in, the flathead from the pin will make a nice plug and with the instant glue on it, you can be sure no oil is going to leak. For extra measure , once the instant glue is dry , u can use epoxy on top of the pin head, in my case I only used instant glue. Try to use an instant glue that has Cyanocrilate (think that's how u spell it), the more it has and the more pure it is, the better it is; model RCA airplane builders should now what I’m talking about. Once that is done, you are ready to install the Clinometer.

For those of you that, for some odd reason, your bezel has leaked out the silicon oil, use the instant glue to fix the cracks (be careful, these types of glues tend to leave a white stain on clear plastic). In case you have a hole to plug, u can use instant glue mixed with bicarbonate. Cover the hole with bicarbonate and drop the instant glue into it, in a few seconds the bicarbonate will be as hard as a rock, the nice part is that u can sand it into shape. I recommend that u practice with the mixture so u can get an idea of how it works before u actually do it on the Bezel.

In case u need to refill the bezel with oil, in my case I used Hoppe's gun oil and it works just fine. U can use an insulin syringe since they have a small needle and can fit into the hole u made with the pin....but let me warn u, since the oil is thick and the needle is narrow, you will need to make quite an effort to get the oil out of the syringe and one more thing, CAREFUL WITH THE SYRENGE NEEDLE SO U DONT PUNCTURE THE SPEHERE. Once u fill the Bezel with the oil, just fallow the steps I mentioned before.

Well I do hope this can be of some help to someone out there....btw, I did my repair about a week or two ago and my inclinometer is working fine and the best part...NO OIL LEAKS...one last thing, I must thank my wife since she was the one who had the idea in the first place....I already had my dremmel out and was about to cut the bezel into two halves when she stepped in...THANK GOD SHE DID.