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Thu May 14, 2009 6:32 am

I am attempting to revive my deluxe clock (1960) and I have been reading all of the clock related threads for information. When I took the clock apart, the solder joint between the electro-magnet that winds the clock and the power supply was broken, and the wire that feeds that part of the clock (there is a separate light wire too) was fried all the way back to the steering column where it disappears into the wiring harness. Looking at the clock repair tutorial in the FAQ an obvious improvement was made in later clocks. The solder connection in the newer design breaks the connection when it fries saving your wiring. In my clock, even if the solder melts, there is still a physical connection. To protect my new wire, I intend to add an inline fuse. Does anyone have any recommendations as to what size and type of fuse I should use? I am considering a fast-acting 5A inline fuse.

Thanks

Thu May 14, 2009 6:50 pm

I'm sure that clock doesn't draw that much...anywhere from two to five amps should be fine to protect your wiring.

Mon Jan 25, 2010 9:03 pm

Ok so after much procrastination i have gotten around to fixing my bus's clock after taking it apart and adding machine quality clock oil every thing runs smoothly but when hooked to electricity it doesnt run. T clarify when i pull back the winding spring and reliece it all the cogs and springs work and even turns the hands of the clock but fails to rewind the spring on its own i have thouroly cleaned it but still no success. I do not know what the problem is and i do not know how the electic motor rewinds the clock. any suggestions on how to procede?

This arm is what i suspect winds the clock but i dont know

the fuse is whole and connected

the whole clock

Mon Jan 25, 2010 9:09 pm

clean the contact points. a fine file or fine sand paper. then hook it up to power. it should contact and windup. ive done many clocks. its always the points, usually.

Mon Jan 25, 2010 9:16 pm

Thanks Ill give it a try

Mon Jan 25, 2010 9:46 pm

Ok i cleaned out my contacts and hooked it up and still nothing im thinking it could be a wireing problem but im no electrician. I ran my voltage meeter to the ground and hot wire while un hooked up and got .38 volts which seems odd to me then i checked the wires while hooked to the clock and got 0 volts which suggests to me a short but i am no expert. Do any of these # make sense to any one?

Tue Jan 26, 2010 8:20 am

Do you know how to check the resistance of the electro-magnet or Ohm it?

Tue Jan 26, 2010 8:34 am

Your fusible link is likely burned out. This is a Ghia clock, but the idea is the same.

Tue Jan 26, 2010 4:19 pm

Off to the far left of the image is the battery post bracket with the post out

Ok the fuse is fine but the negative post does come out and do to a lack of knowledge in the workings of clocks i do not know if this is bad and also there is nothing beneath the post so i assumed the entire clock was the ground but when hooked to a 12 volt battery i get a 0 volt reading between the clock battery and positive post.

Sat Nov 03, 2012 11:22 am

My clock didn't work in my 66' deluxe so I installed this working VDO clock from a '59? Mercedes. It really doesn't look too bad, fit perfect width-wise, has a small gap at the top. I've converted my bus to 12V and this is a 12V clock. Would a '59 Mercedes have been 12V?

My original clock appears to be in really nice condition. I doubt it's worn excessively because the bus was parked/abadoned/left for dead in '78.

So what's the trick to removing the clock back cover? I'd like to check the fuse and oil it to try to get it working again.

Sun Nov 04, 2012 5:58 pm

Use a pair of vise grips to crush the blue anti tamper cover that's over one of the three nuts on the back of the plastic housing, tear it off, then unscrew the three nuts and the cover just lifts off directly. The mechanism looks identical to that of a 1967 to 1971 (12 Volt) Karmann Ghia clock, and having taken apart about a dozen of those I would bet that you can remove the 12 Volt solenoid and breaker points from a Ghia clock and swap them onto the Splitbus clock mechanism. That's assuming you can find a working Ghia clock (they are almost always broken). I have never gotten my hands on a deluxe splitbus clock due to the price being so prohibitive, so I'm unable to try this out myself.

Mon Nov 05, 2012 7:58 am

tstracy39 wrote: Use a pair of vise grips to crush the blue anti tamper cover that's over one of the three nuts on the back of the plastic housing, tear it off, then unscrew the three nuts and the cover just lifts off directly. The mechanism looks identical to that of a 1967 to 1971 (12 Volt) Karmann Ghia clock, and having taken apart about a dozen of those I would bet that you can remove the 12 Volt solenoid and breaker points from a Ghia clock and swap them onto the Splitbus clock mechanism. That's assuming you can find a working Ghia clock (they are almost always broken). I have never gotten my hands on a deluxe splitbus clock due to the price being so prohibitive, so I'm unable to try this out myself.

Thanks, I didn't want to mess with that blue retainer, was afraid I'd break something that I couldn't replace. Once I removed it and found that last nut the back slid right off. I gave the gears a little shot of WD-40, rolled the winder wheel manually with my thumb and it started working! Hooked up power and it winds by itself and works great. Thanks again.

I'm gonna send you a PM.

Mon Nov 05, 2012 1:12 pm

Don't use WD-40, it's hygroscopic (attracts water) and in the long run will cause the steel components to rust. Use 3-in-1 oil. They will have it in the tools section at Lowes.

Mon Nov 05, 2012 1:32 pm

If wd40 attracts water then how come it displaces moisture. Spraying it on a carbon trace on a coil stopped the arching.

Mon Nov 05, 2012 11:27 pm

quartermilecamel wrote: If wd40 attracts water then how come it displaces moisture. Spraying it on a carbon trace on a coil stopped the arching.
Here we go again. So I did a bit of research and it turns out WD-40 isn't in fact hygroscopic however it doesn't directly displace water it just breaks the surface tension/adhesion quality of water so it can move off of the object easily. The problem with using WD-40 on a clock mechanism is that it evaporates relatively rapidly, neccessitating frequent re-lubing. If it's used on something like a firearm that's regularly cleaned about twice a week it works well at preventing rust, but on something that's going to be sealed up for years at a time it doesn't provide any long-term lubrication or rust preventative properties and it will dissolve any oil that does have such properties that would have been previously applied to a clock mechanism. About two years ago I fixed up a half dozen seized up Karmann Ghia clocks before a swap meet. I used 3 in 1 oil. None of the clocks sold, and shortly thereafter I boxed them up and I didn't unpack them until two years later, which was about a month ago. All the clocks still work. If anyone has achieved similar results using a different product please feel free to elaborate on it here.

Fri Jul 25, 2014 11:01 am

Who is the repairing these clocks these days?

I need my repaired

Jack

Fri Jul 25, 2014 12:14 pm

I had mine done by Orange Empire Speedometer. It looks fantastic. The guy is a bit lax in the communication dept. and this caused a great deal of consternation but the work is excellent.

Fri Jul 25, 2014 12:34 pm

Thanks James!!!

Fri Jul 25, 2014 5:53 pm

I have seen people mention Susan as well.
I have seen her selling redone clocks in the past:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/search.php?username=Patrick

Check their feedback for clock feedback

Fri Jul 25, 2014 7:39 pm

Susan no longer restores the clocks