Condensation

[windchill]

I need some advice from the more experience amongst you!! I bought my Lemon new last November. After a few runs, the tacho began to show signs of seroius condensation, which always disappears when she is safely back in her bubble (i know its sad, but very convenient).

 

The bike is brand new, and under guarantee, so I suppose I could have gone back to the dealer. Being a tinkerer though, I whipped the clocks off and sat them in the boilerhouse for a few weeks to thoroughly dry out. Having re-fitted them extremely carefully, I find the problem is still there. Only with the tacho though, which is, of course, more "sealed" than the speedo.

 

Is this common, can it be cured, if so how?

[Admin Jaap]

It's been quite a while since we've read someone had this problem, but every '01 and '02 V11 with white Veglia clocks has or had it.

I drilled a small 5 mm (0.19685") in the bottom of the plastic clock housing (not in the clock itself! ) and the problem was gone.

 

http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1716

[Janusz]

On the other hand not ALL Veglia instruments suffer that malady. Mine are perfect for the third year now. That proves that the engineering is correct, just the assembly happens to be wrong sometimes and does not vent properly, I suspect.

 

Before drilling I would look for a rubber ring misaligned or something of that sort.

[windchill]

Thanks. I'm going to check with the dealer, but the hole sounds worth a try (!). To cinfirm, I drill through the black plastic rear housing that covers both clocks, NOT the actual clock body itself?

 

This makes sense on the basis that the speedo head is "fully vented" by means of the aperture for the cable.

 

By the way, I've tried vaseline on the seals etc, and compressing the gaskets before tightening the retaining screws; to no avail.

[al_roethlisberger]

To cinfirm, I drill through the black plastic rear housing that covers both clocks, NOT the actual clock body itself?

 

 

Correct

[belfastguzzi]

I asked exactly the same thing when I joined here at the end of last year. It seems to be very common. You'll find more discussion about it here

Lake Como Fog

 

Thoroughly drying it out made no difference. It must be a ventilation problem, but I'm still surprised that drilling the plastic and not the metal clock body fixes it. I haven't tried anything yet. If you fix it by drilling the plastic I would love to hear back from you.

[Murray]

Whilst working as an aircraft instrument fitter we used to test various indicators/ gauges for thier sealing properties. This was with hermatically sealed gauges ie completely sealed and purged with nitrogen. The basic theroy was that air had moisture in it so we would heat the gauges to about 70 degrees centirgrade (because that was the temp behind the aircraft inst pannel) and rub ice on the glass any moisture from normal atmosphere would pretty quickly gather on the glass. Normal vehicle instruments are not sealed and purged with nitrogen they are usally sealed with the atmosphere of the day.

 

I would suggest you are getting a large temp difference between the galss and the bottom of the instrument causing a similar effect to our test. Possibly heated by the instrument light? Have you noticed its more prevalent in winter/wet conditions does the lights on or off actully affect it? If you determine the light is heating the rear of the instrument you could try fitting a LED instead of the conventional bulb 12 volt ones are now readily avalible. Athopugh maybe richs mod just allows the bottom of the intrument to be cooled better preventing the temp difference.

 

If its stupid and it works it isn't stupid.

[belfastguzzi]

No, the light doesn't make any difference. This happens with the light off.

[windchill]

The dealer has suggested he replaces the clocks to start with, but, given the fact that this seems extremely common, I'm going to try drilling the case this weekend.

[Janusz]

As I mentioned before if you first check for misaligned gasket blocking the vent you'll be able to avoid drilling.

 

Costs you nothing.

[windchill]

Ok, but where is the vent?

[windchill]

Drilled the hole, slightly better now, but still get condensation in the tacho. Curiously, less so if the lights are off?!

 

Help.