inclinometer plug

[patriceboivin]

I saw a 2011 thread re. this but my inclinometer had no oil left in it, I am wondering how I could "remove the factory fill in plug" when it seems to be glued into place.

Should I soak the ball in acetone to dissolve the glue?

Even better, has anyone managed to unglue the two halves of the spherical container, I would like to get in there and clean out the gunk left after whatever fluid had been in there evaporated.

I don't want to break anything, the van is 20 years old, I am guessing that the plastic is brittle by now.

[fredt]

I drilled mine out then flushed the crap out with a mild cleaning solution, drained it and left it to dry in the sun for a few days, then refilled it, sealed the hole with a small self tapping screw and a coating of epoxy glue to seal it fully..... it still pissed out all over the inside of the dash though a lot of people juck the oe ball and drop an after market job in there off ebay.....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/371031368467? ... 1423.l2649 that sort of thing with a bit of modification should do the job

[patriceboivin]

thanks.

I put mineral oil in mine last week, but yesterday I noticed bubbles in the display...
Took it apart this morning and realized that 95% of the oil is now gone, drained into the back of the console. At least it wasn't water.
There are hairline cracks in the plastic sphere, it being 20 years old.

I contacted the seller to ask them if the sphere in theirs would fit a Delica SpaceGear.

[Big-Bird]

I have 2 of these balls for the L400. Both are empty and I would like to rebuild them.

Its really hard to get a clean bond in the plug because residual mineral oil in the fill hole prevents a good bond between the plastic ball and the epoxy resin.
And if you have a broken alignment pin, this poses another problem and another leak point.

Any holes you make needs to be cleaned with something like brake cleaner or you get leaks.

the UK Deli site has details on how they do this.

[fredt]

I just replaced mine with one from the ebay link I posted, split the ball from the housing and modified it to the fit in the dash housing, only problem is it's not fluid damped so it bounces a bit more! and I had to cut a few holes in it to allow it to illuminate

[patriceboivin]

I decided to bathe mine in acetone overnight, hoping it will dissolve any and all glues.

Hopefully it won't dissolve the ball and the paint as well, but I'll find out tomorrow morning.

[patriceboivin]

Acetone is not a good idea -- the ball cleaned up all right but the plastic turned milky white.

It also showed me there were hairline cracks all over the globe. Some of which I could see initially, but with the acetone they are obvious.

I will try to find a replacement.

My opinion at this point is, if the inclinometer can't hold its liquid, it's pretty much toast.