My clock died - now what?
 

Early this morning, at 5:55 am, the clock in my '85 300D died. Are replacement movements available? I can't seem to find any - ebay has some clock/tach gauge units but they're kind of expensive.

thanks,

Charlie

Charlie somewhere here is a thread on clock repair, probably in the era of 2003. Here is one thread that may help you out

http://diymbrepair.com/easley/clock.htm

works like a charm and costs $2

Yup, a Richard and Stu article that's what I was thinking of.

2$ if you have a soldering iron already...

I need one..

plus If I pull my clock out might as well repaint the needles on all the gauges..

Thanks! I don't wear a watch, so I really do need a clock. This will give me the extra incentive I need to remove the IP to fix the odometer too - I think diesel giant has a nice tutorial on that one. His IP removal step is a little different though.

Paint your needles and replace bulbs while you are in there.

While your cluster is out, take the time to clean the light tunnels with a q-tip and put silver tape over them to seal any light leaks. It is surprising how much brighter my dash lights are since I did that myself along with new but same wattage bulbs. Maybe lube your speedo cable too.

Did you verify the fuse is not simply corroded? My 1981 300CD clock kept perfect time up until I sold it. Check all the fuses before doing anything else!!

Capacitors
 

The clock in my '87 was DOA. I pulled it and replaced two electrolytic capacitors. They are $1 each at Radio Shack, I paid less at a surplus store. The clock works great -- fixed in April, still running accurately today.

Yup, my clock had the same issue, once I was informed on what it was, I checked, and sure enough, one of the legs had corroded off of one of the electrolytic caps from age, only had one laying around the house in my cache, but it was all it needed, and keeps excellent time.

My clock stops working in the winter, say below 32f, but works fine all spring, summer and fall.

go figure?

I have a digital clock on my aftermarket stereo.

The clock in my '77 240D still works well after 30 years. NEVER touched it...keeps good time.

Follow up:

Pulled cluster, removed old capacitors. One was bulging at the bottom. Like an idiot, I took the new capacitors and trimmed the excess wire before soldering in....so there was no way to tell which was ground and which was power. The body of the capacitor wasn't labeled of course.

I figured I'd just wire them in and test it...sure enough it is working right now. Is there any danger to anything if I wired them backwards, or would it just not work?

Also - while pulling gauge cluster, came across a switch in the upper left hand corner of the big gaping hole, behind where the fuel gauge would be. It looks like a simple spring loaded pressure switch, like for a door jamb/overhead light setup. Does anyone have a clue what this is for?

I attach a slightly blurry picture -

Electrolytics are finicky things, chances are if it's working you got them in right. They typically barf or just don't work if theyre sdrawkcab.

Interesting little switch...I have no clue...

alarm switch?

Cant you just use the radio?

this is not the best fix but it works for me
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...9/100_0334.jpg

It looks like that switch detects whether the gauge cluster is in place or not...have you tried starting it with the cluster out? Well, you shouldn't because the oil pressure line will squirt you in the face, but I wonder if you even could...

On the clock, I replaced the two electrical doodads on mine back in April, the clock worked great until a few weeks ago now its dead again. :( Guess I need to start troubleshooting.

Very cool - thanks I have this problem too.

I am going to give it a try - haven't pulled the instrument cluster yet - I am kind of scared to!

Not sure about the whole coat hangar trick.

Is there a thread here on members' favorite ways to get the cluster out?

Take the under dash panel out and reach up behind the cluster to push it out from behind. The coat hanger tools can cause damage if you don't use them correctly.

Follow up Part 2: I had hooked everything up to be driveable, but I did not put the cluster in the whole way yesterday...still have to pick up some new light bulbs to put in, and I wanted to be sure everything worked ok before buttoning it all up...

Well the ignition switch was locked up when I tried to start it this morning. I pushed in the upper left part of the cluster and the key switch un-locked. Or so it seems. I have not done a confirmation test. It started OK then all day.

The hardest part about the whole job was pushing the cluster out...that thing does not really want to come out, so constant wiggling and pushing were required. I snapped off the clear plastic cover while doing this, and had to super glue it back on.

I also had to disassemble the tachometer to some degree so I could get the clock innards up off its mounting. Not that hard, but an extra step not mentioned in the tutorial.

What now? Now it is correct two times a day. Oops, too late, you fixed it.

I thought my clock had died and I just pulled the set knob out pretty hard and it works fine. Just a thought. GLuck

Get a watch
 

A good Timex on your wrist will fix that problem.