Electrical cleaner

[bwringer]

...I could never understand why Mercedes made convertibles that had switches with no drain holes, 1/16th in gaps around the rocker, and absolutely no waterproofing.

I'm not a Mercedologist and can't remember the exact model , but you'll probably know what I'm talking about... quite a few Mercedes convertibles, and other models I believe, had transmission troubles stemming from an exposed circuit board for the transmission sitting directly below the cup holder. The area below the cup holder had a seam which did a fine job of collecting and funneling liquids directly to the circuit board. There were also reports of coins making their way to the boards and causing havoc.

Even if there were no spills, over time drops of condensation from cold drinks would inevitably find their way to the entirely exposed and unprotected circuit board, (not so much as a box, or sheet of plastic or any sort of conformal coating... nothing) and the car wouldn't go no mo. The failure rate approached 100%.

At the time I ran into this on a friend's car, replacements from Mercedes were thousands of dollars if you could even get one, and used boards all had the same problem. One of the more doomed and idiotic things I've ever seen. Germans in general have never been able to comprehend why on earth Americans want cup holders.


On the same level of electrical idiocy is Ford's famed Fuel Pump Control Module; a wee aluminum box of magic circuits lurking under lots of their trucks that was bolted directly to the steel frame. Apparently no one at Ford had ever heard of such a fool thing as galvanic corrosion. Or road salt. Or rain. The replacements come with little rubber standoffs.

[Suzukian]

I have had a 1964 230SL, 2 450Sls, 1 450SLC (my favorite), a 280SE, a 250C, a 280C and a couple more I can't remember. I do know that it was cheaper to buy a used tranny from the junk yard, and do the preventative repairs, than try and fix a broken one. That being said, they were robust cars, and all rusted in the exact same places, which made patch panels readily available.

I knew where to source parts, one good thing is that German law requires that people be able to source from the manufacturer, and no be penalized. I really liked my 1998 Ford Taurus 24V Duratec, but really weird stuff would go on that car, which weren't difficult to fix, just hard to find. I only have one Benz left, 1 '73 450SL, I am the 2nd owner of the car, but do not know if I will have enough years in my life to restore it. My son wants it, so I gave it to him. He's getting all of my bikes, and machine shop stuff, and electronics stuff anyway. If he applies himself, he'll be able to make just about whatever he wants to, combined with the CAD software I own.

[salty_monk]

I'm not a Mercedologist and can't remember the exact model , but you'll probably know what I'm talking about... quite a few Mercedes convertibles, and other models I believe, had transmission troubles stemming from an exposed circuit board for the transmission sitting directly below the cup holder. The area below the cup holder had a seam which did a fine job of collecting and funneling liquids directly to the circuit board. There were also reports of coins making their way to the boards and causing havoc.

Even if there were no spills, over time drops of condensation from cold drinks would inevitably find their way to the entirely exposed and unprotected circuit board, (not so much as a box, or sheet of plastic or any sort of conformal coating... nothing) and the car wouldn't go no mo. The failure rate approached 100%.

At the time I ran into this on a friend's car, replacements from Mercedes were thousands of dollars if you could even get one, and used boards all had the same problem. One of the more doomed and idiotic things I've ever seen. Germans in general have never been able to comprehend why on earth Americans want cup holders.


On the same level of electrical idiocy is Ford's famed Fuel Pump Control Module; a wee aluminum box of magic circuits lurking under lots of their trucks that was bolted directly to the steel frame. Apparently no one at Ford had ever heard of such a fool thing as galvanic corrosion. Or road salt. Or rain. The replacements come with little rubber standoffs.

My neighbor across the alley at my old place... Her granddaughter did that with a penny. Dropped it straight in there. The harness smoked up behind the dash before they managed to pull the fuses. Car was a total loss as it was a few years old! Was one of the convertible two seaters from memory.

I use some contact cleaner sometimes, mostly at the end. Sometimes I have a bit of a scrape with a small screwdriver... sometimes I get a bit of wet n dry paper down there. I usually put dielectric in most of the connectors. Generally don't have a problem... Generally I have a life so I don't think about it too much

[Rob S.]

I think we used to call that "tuner cleaner." Spray it around your volume knob to eliminate static.

[bwringer]

Oh, might as well have another whack at this ol' horse...

So, this happened to my KLR650 a while back when a water crossing turned into an impromptu bike wash, thanks to a collapsed slab. The first picture is the state of the bike after an epic struggle to get it upright and pointed upstream; it spent about 20 minutes completely submerged. And right about then, of course, is when a group of riders showed up going the other direction.







Fortunately, I had inspected, cleaned, and protected all the connectors on the bike (all of which are unsealed) with dielectric grease shortly after I bought it. It's a standard thing I do when I buy a bike, and it has headed off many troubles. I also inspect and grease all bearings and linkages, etc. and so on -- a general "laying on of hands" to prevent future problems and detect any issues early.

So following this swim, I inspected each of the connectors again, and none had any water inside or corrosion developing at all. For 12VDC connections, dielectric grease does not interfere with current flow, and does a lot of good because it protects the connections from water entry, and all the things water carries with it.

[Suzukian]

Most people don't realize electricity travels along the surface of the wire, not through the center. That's once reason common Lamp Shade cord makes such good speaker wire, all that surface area on those fine wires. The bigger Cross Section of a wire, the better it conducts, as the circumference has more surface area. A Circuit Board with "Green" corrosion on it cannot conduct electricity.. Power down, go to town sand that crap off, and clean it with a good cleaner. If you clear coat it, after you determine it works, it will take much longer to corrode, if you built it up enough, it will prevent pennies from accidentally shorting the circuit board.

[trent]

Oh, might as well have another whack at this ol' horse...

So, this happened to my KLR650 a while back when a water crossing turned into an impromptu bike wash, thanks to a collapsed slab. The first picture is the state of the bike after an epic struggle to get it upright and pointed upstream; it spent about 20 minutes completely submerged. And right about then, of course, is when a group of riders showed up going the other direction.







Fortunately, I had inspected, cleaned, and protected all the connectors on the bike For 12VDC connections, dielectric grease does not interfere with current flow, and does a lot of good because it protects the connections from water entry, and all the things water carries with it.

Fascinating story, glad everything turned out well and you got to participate in a game of tig of war...LOL

[trent]

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[Suzukian]

Great video!! Very informative. The right hand rule also works if you are winding your own coils. If you wind them to the left, use your left hand, and that will tell you the current flow (towards your left thumb.

[trent]

Oh, might as well have another whack at this ol' horse...

So, this happened to my KLR650 a while back when a water crossing turned into an impromptu bike wash, thanks to a collapsed slab. The first picture is the state of the bike after an epic struggle to get it upright and pointed upstream; it spent about 20 minutes completely submerged. And right about then, of course, is when a group of riders showed up going the other direction.







Fortunately, I had inspected, cleaned, and protected all the connectors on the bike (all of which are unsealed) with dielectric grease shortly after I bought it. It's a standard thing I do when I buy a bike, and it has headed off many troubles. I also inspect and grease all bearings and linkages, etc. and so on -- a general "laying on of hands" to prevent future problems and detect any issues early.

So following this swim, I inspected each of the connectors again, and none had any water inside or corrosion developing at all. For 12VDC connections, dielectric grease does not interfere with current flow, and does a lot of good because it protects the connections from water entry, and all the things water carries with it.

Just revisiting this...lol

I'm curious what shape was bike in after this?
Motor alright, just curious.

[93Bandit]

Just revisiting this...lol

I'm curious what shape was bike in after this?
Motor alright, just curious.

I can't speak to Brains KLR but I think you'd be surprised to know what type of water abuse machines can take and still be fine. When I was in high school I worked for a commercial lawn service and long story short, I ended up putting one of our 60" zero turns upside-down in a lake, fully submerged, for probably a couple hours before we were able to get it out. We took the mower to the dealer and all they had to do was let it dry off, change all the fluids and he rebuilt the carbs "just in case." This was over 11 years ago and they're still using that machine. I don't know how many hours it has on it now, but it was well used at the time it went swimming. It was running WOT blades engaged when it went under, so I know it sucked water through the intake before stalling. It still amazes me it didn't hydro lock and bend a rod.