Foggy speedo

How do you guys remedy a foggy speedometer? The one in the tux gets foggy on the inside after driving 15-20 min, even on a nice day. I've got it out of the Jeep now for some R & R and just wondered what the dealio is & how to prevent.

 

defrost

 

are you sure it is fog and not smoke? just before I blew my gas guage, it would smoke up about 15 minutes after I started driving it. if it is fog, you must have moisture inside somewhere, may help to but it in a warm (100-120deg) place for a day or so to bake out the moisture.

 

yes I'm sure it's water....it's like a mist forming on the inside of the glass which makes it difficult to see the odometer. Only happens after driving for 15 minites or more, & I don't notice it the next day. Does it need to be air-tight?

I have it apart now...might apply some Rain-X to the inside. :twisted:

 

Haven't blown any smoke myself for a while, so I'd say the only way to create fog would be to lower the ambient housing air to below the dew point.... Bake the critter enough to dry it out? Is it sealed enough to prevent this from happening again? I don't recall the housing being airtight, though. Is there some air blowing against this housing for any reason? Mumbling out loud, here.

Whatever. While you have it apart, why don't you paint the inside of the housing white, or silver, even; I bet that would shine up the night light. I put some tin foil inside those little cardboard tubes that the indicator lights live in. WOO-HOO! Daytime bright, for sure! Also, scam some bulbs with a higher candlepower. I used some 1815 bulbs in place of the 57's. Even fit one in the turn signal housing. Just a wee bit more oomph. There are other bulbs with similar benefits..........

 

Sounds odd -

How about drilling a couple of vent holes in the back of the speedo. Somewhere wheres it won't show when re assembled.

 

Huh, I thought for sure this was a common problem. Perhaps I'm getting some rain in there or something. I'll be sure to seal it up w/ some sealant when I put 'er together.

Good idears Steamer....I'll be going back out to the garage with some tin foil! I'm rolling the odometer around in my hands now.

 

Daytime in the shop.

 

hair dryer

 

Ya happens to me too. I've just lived with it. Like the light britening ideas.

 

Mr. Kamel, if moisture gets in already, why would moisture leave? Certainly no offense meant here, but I'd not be drillin' holes in the speedo housing. I still don't get what's causing moisture to accumulate to start with. (I live a foggy area all winter and don't have this problem) Dead air spaces DO collect stuff, like dirt, especially...... but, I know I don't want air flow in and around my speedometer, either........ Something keeps the housing from warming up as fast as the rest of the rig, is as close as I'll get........

 

I can't imagine why it would affect this but do you think there could be a small leak in the heater hoses? To clarify, it could affect this if,if, they are in close proxemity and leaky.
M

 

Yeah. I'd bake it at low temps to get the water out, then make sure that there are no leaks into the dash or extra holes in the speedometer housing.

 

Although my CJ experience is limited I've got a bit of experience with condensation inside things like fire control instruments.

If you have a good deal ("good deal" being a relative term) of moisture inside your speedometer you can easily get the fogging you see in the picture. Moisture collects in the bottom of you speedometer when it's cold/wet. When you drive the gauges and lights in your speedometer warm up the air trapped (or semi trapped) inside your speedometer.

The warm moist air rises up till it hits the cool glass at the top of the speedometer and condenses like sweat on the outside of a glass of iced tea in the summer time.

I don't think you need to drill holes, this is something that took a while to happen and you should probably ask yourself how it got in, and invite it out the same way.

If you bake it and have the hole at the lowest point it won't work as well as if you give the warm moist air a convenient way to go somewhere else.

The trick is to be smarter than the moisture. My turret mechanics never mastered that concept.

 

Mine does the same thing, but my jeep also leaks at about every possible place it could. Before doing too much to try and get the water out, I'd make sure you don't have any leaks in the winshield/cowl area. If you don't, you may get it dried out for a while, until it rains again. Just my .02.

 

I just turn on the dash lights for a while when I'm driving and the moisture goes away after a few minutes.

 

Boats have the same problem sometimes, but it usually goes away once the light warm up the inside enough to dry it up.

 

Turning the lights/heat on only cures the symptom. Depending on how much it bugs you and how often the weather conditions come together to cause this dictate that some folks are content to keep treating the symptom and some find it aggravating enough to need to chase it down. I suspect local weather and driver's preferences will dictate who needs to do what.

 

Welp, it STILL fogs up! After I R&Red it...took it all apart, cleaned & wiped everything, it fogged up immediately. Drove it around for a bit and it got slowly worse. Other than the moisture in the ambient air, I'm stumped how H2O could get in there!!

Steamer: couldn't find 1815 bulbs, but 1816s worked great! The condensation on the glass is much brighter now.