moisture in hour meter

[charlz]

My Kubota b7100 hour meter has a fair amount of moisture inside it, enough that it makes it hard to read, works fine otherwise. I am afraid it is going to be the death of it and would like to get it dried out so I can seal around the glass as that is the only place I can see it might be getting water in it. I have had the unit out of the tractor but there doesn't seem to be an obvious way to open it. Thoughts?

 

[Soundguy]

is it the type you can pry the bezel up and then pop the glass off the rubber?

 

[charlz]

is it the type you can pry the bezel up and then pop the glass off the rubber?

I will take a look, thanks.

 

[Soundguy]

good luck.

i've repaired many a gauge on old fords that way..

 

[charlz]

Well, the bezel is roll-crimped on or something like that. Figured I would just make a mess if I tried to pry it off. I did figure out I could pull out the grommet with the wiring and I got most the moisture out by running compressed air through it for a while. I set it in the window as it is supposed to be hot. If that doesn't work maybe I will set it in a slightly hot oven for a while and see if that dries it out. Then re-seal, re-install and see if it works

 

[Soundguy]

if the grommet comes out it's likely how the water got in.

get some alcohol in there and swirl around.. it will disolve the water.. then heat it to boil off the alcohol and solvated water.. then seal up.

ps.. roll crimped bezels , likely can be pried up..

 

[NHmitch]

You can put the whole gauge in a container of rice. That will usually draw the moisture out if you cannot take it apart. I have saved a few phones this way.

Mitch

 

[charlz]

You can put the whole gauge in a container of rice. That will usually draw the moisture out if you cannot take it apart. I have saved a few phones this way.

Mitch

I have done that as well... but didn't think about that, thanks! :thumbsup:

 

[charlz]

if the grommet comes out it's likely how the water got in.

get some alcohol in there and swirl around.. it will disolve the water.. then heat it to boil off the alcohol and solvated water.. then seal up.

ps.. roll crimped bezels , likely can be pried up..

It sits on an angle in the dash so a little water can sit on the glass whereas the grommet is on the back, facing a little down and covered by the dash. The rubber seal on the glass looks shot so I am sure it is coming in around the glass. I am going to put a bead of clear silicone around the glass and hopefully that stops it. Thanks for the tip on the alcohol.

 

[CAgnoli]

The grommet can be letting moist AIR in, which would create condensate. I'm not sure how you'd keep warm air from getting in there and then cooling when the sun goes down....

My X540 did that all the time. Wasn't a problem after it warmed up, the mist would burn off.

 

[MasseyWV]

I have the same issue with the gauges on my Massey 135 but I haven't removed them to see if the bezel can be removed. The bezels appear to be crimped on, so I may have to try other methods to remove the moisture.

Using alcohol to remove the moisture droplets never occurred to me. How effective is it?

After I get most of the moisture out, regardless of the method used, I was planning to place the gauge into a sealed container with some silica gel and let it sit in the hot sun for a day to remove any remaining moisture. As mentioned previously, rice also works very well.

Silica gel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Soundguy]

alcohol is a polar solvent.. water is polar. use 90% rubbing alcohol... then heat it to evap it with the water still in soloution...

the crimp on bezels on that 135 are likely very similar to the ones on the 50-60's era fords. just takes a keen hand and some fine toold and patience to peel em up usually.

 

[MasseyWV]

alcohol is a polar solvent.. water is polar. use 90% rubbing alcohol... then heat it to evap it with the water still in soloution...

the crimp on bezels on that 135 are likely very similar to the ones on the 50-60's era fords. just takes a keen hand and some fine toold and patience to peel em up usually.

My tractor's ammeter is toast so when I get time, I'll try removing the bezel to see how easy (or difficult) it is. I like the idea of using alcohol and will also give that a try.

 

[Soundguy]

BTDT.. generally a fun job.. sometimes makes you say bad words..