[jordan]

Clock/ live wire

2 questions here, is the clock suposed to click every minute (because mine does) and is there a way to oil it also should I oil it? Is there a wire that is live all the time for my modern cd player that in the fuse block, or do I have to hook up one to the battery (it also can put out 200 watts so should i have a bigger wire)?

 

[kwilford]

Fix the Clock

The answer regarding the "live wire" for your CD player is that there are lots of options. But you REALLY need to get a Factory Service Manual or an aftermarket manual with a good wiring diagram. Wiring diagrams are available on this site at:

http://www.opelgt.com/photos/showgallery.php?cat=525&password=

Or you can go to the Opel Association of North America site and download a wiring diagram. The address is http://www.opel-na.com/ and there are diagrams for virtually every year of Opel (note: the site appears to be "down" tonight. Anybody know if there is a problem?)

There are a few threads on this site about fixing Opel GT clocks, which a simple search showed up. But the best information regarding Opel clocks is on the classicopels list in the "Files" section under "Technical Information", which has been pretty flaky lately, with addresses that keep on changing. So, I will just copy the information directly here (with a bit of editing), so it is available to this membership:

From: Roger Koumans

Subject: TIP: not working clock

Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1996 10:56:05 -0700 (PDT)

Hi everybody,

Here is a tip to fix the clock of your Opel (GT) if it has stopped working. Remove the clock from the dash. It is not necessary to lower the steering column and complete dash on a GT. Just screw out all the dash screws and the screws on the left and right side of the bottom of the console. This should give you enough space to get the clock out. Once the clock is out, remove the blue warranty cover which is on one of the housing screws of the clock. You will have to force/break it of with a screwdriver or something alike.

Next remove the three housing screws and remove the white housing from the clock. Taking a look at where the battery wire goes inside the clock, you will see two little eyes, which should be connected with a little wire. The only thing you will find, is the two little eyes with some solder on them, but the wire (a kind of fuse) is gone. That's why the clock is not working. The wire (fuse) burned out. Use a low power soldering iron to solder in a new thin wire in between the two eyes (I use one wire of the core of a regular multi-wire electrical cable). Be careful not to heat up the eyes too much.

After that, hook up a 12 Volt DC source to the clock. Make sure the polarity is correct. Connect the minus cable to the housing and the plus cable to the centre clock connection. At the moment the electrical circuit is closed, you should hear a click. The click winds up the spring in the clock and disconnects the electrical circuit internally. The clock should start working now. If it does not work or just for a couple of seconds, spray some lubricant on all the wheels of the clock and check that the time adjustment knob on the front of the clock is not pushed in (so that it is blocking the clock). Notice that the spring in the clock will not be rewound until it's completely unwound and closes the electrical contact inside the clock again. At that time, current will flow again from the DC source to rewind the spring. This should keep your clock working now.

Have the DC source connected to the clock for about half an hour to see that the clock really keeps working. If convinced, put the housing back on and screw back the three screws, put the clock back in the car, connect the wires and put the instrument panel back in place.

That should be it! I have fixed three clocks now in this way and they are all still working.

Good luck with it!

Roger Koumans

 

[kwilford]

Fix the Clock Part Deux

And here's another classicopels posting:

Dirty contact points:

Occasionally, I've removed a malfunctioning clock, and found a few different problems, other than the fine connector wire burning out between the "eyes". The contact points get burned from all the arcing each time the circuit "fires". To correct this, use a point file or fine emory cloth, and lightly burnish the point contacts until they are clean and bright. Be careful not to stress
or deform the contact arm, and only remove enough material to make the contact point surface clean and true again.

On oiling a dirty/sticky clock mechanism:

Many household oils, such as 3-in-1 oil, have additives that initially lubricate, but over time, they thicken and actually gum up the mechanism worse. Your best bet is to use either a light silicone-based lubricant, or (very lighty) use an oil specifically for sewing machines, because they are not supposed to have the viscosity-enhancing additives. If the clock mechanism is already sticky or dirty, get a can of clean-evaporating electrical contact point cleaner (leaves no residue), and use it to clean the mechanism. It's not supposed to soften plastics, but I would recommend keeping as much of it as possible from getting on any plastic components. Hold the clock mechanism so that the liquid drips away from the clock, not into it.

Dave aka Computerthug

 

[greensmurf20]

Jordan: i think you owe somebody named keith a thanks!!!

 

[kwilford]

Adjusting the Clock Accuracy

The Classic Opel clock is actually an intricate clock movement, NOT an electronic or quartz device. It has springs and clock wheels and all that neat Swiss stuff inside. The electrical connection merely WINDS the movement, and then it keeps time like an old Swiss watch.

As an aside, there are two ways to adjust an Opel clock.

The first is to remove the clock, hook it up to a 12 volt source and, over a week or two, adjust the +/- screw on the back every day or two until it keeps pretty good time.

The second is simpler, but takes longer. Every time the clock is out of adjustment, use the front knob to adjust the time. Each time you turn the knob, the clock-work mechanism gets adjusted in the direction you adjusted the time. In other words, if you have to move the clock hands forward, the mechanism gets sped up. Conversely, if you adjust the clock hands back, the mechanism gets slowed down.

Now how is THAT for obsolete German engineering!

 

[jordan]

Its amazing how that stuff works! I hope the engineers of that VDO got paid alot, also thank you keith it turned out to be some dust in the clock mechanism so i cleaned it out an sprayed some wd40 (i didnt want anything too viscous out of fear dust will attract to it)

 

[opeldean]

just like you said

eyes of clock are open.

I will solder a wire and then clean with electrical contact cleaner.

this site is great..soon I hope to have an origianl clock working

 

[Washout]

You're right Bucky this site is outstanding!!
I printed out the instructions to the clock fix last night and then removed my clock. I looked exactly like yours, the wire was gone and some junk remained in the two eyes. I soldered in a replacement wire and did a little encouraging and away it went. It ran all day today and seems to be keeping pretty fair time. I'll give it some more time to prove itself but it looks good.

Gregg

 

[husker]

If the functionality of the thin wire 'connecting' the two eyes is to serve as a fuse... why not solder them permanently with thicker wire and then install an in-line 3-5 amp fuse. The fuse would be easier to check and replace than taking out the clock to see if the thin wire is still there. Just a thought.

 

[West Coast GT]

Is there a Genius in the House?

Who came up with the idea that a thin piece of missing wire would have been an in-line fuse? Its one thing to have seen a functioning clock and figure something out, but when a piece is missing???? So, one of you is a genius.

And where was this genius in 1980 when the clock in my wife's GT gave up? I figured, "How hard can it be? I'm an engineer. I can figure it out." Right. I opened the clock up in my study and barong! gears, wheels, springs, all the guts explode out all over the room. I didn't even know if I had found all the pieces. Eventually I got it back together. If I charged the solenoid it ran. But the solenoid would not energise automatically. So, I bought her a very nice watch, one of the early ones with a light in it of course. I finally had to total that car in an accident to get her another car with a functioning clock.

 

[kwilford]

Auto-Adjusting GT Clock

Yea, them German Engineers can sometimes outsmart even themselves, but not us Canadian Engineers. I also had a dead GT clock back in about 1977 (when I first bought my GT from my lawyer brother. He didn't stand a CHANCE of keeping it running, but that's a whole other thread!). I took it apart, and figured out the energizing thing, and that the "fuse" was blown. But I soldered in a thin piece of solder, so it is still kind of a fuse. But I like the outside in-line fuse idea.

Now you have all figured out that the internal solenoid just "winds" the mechanical clock (like an old wristwatch) every few minutes, and when the spring winds down, the contacts close and it winds up again.

But the NEATEST part of the GT clock is that is self correcting. I have read that a person should leave it connected outside of the dash for a while, and adjust the +/- set screw on the back until it keeps good time. But to be honest, that depends a LOT on the temperature, since when it is cold, a mechanical clock slows down (due to increased grease friction) and vice versa when it is warm. But them clever German Engineers incorporated a self-adjusting feature. Every time you change the time with the front knob, it speeds up or slows down the works according to whether you moved the time forward or backward. How's THAT for neat!

 

[opeldean]

mom I tried

no luck yet..I am out of Ideas...I broke to seal to get inside...

 

[nobody]

the only way it can get or stay warm is if the coil is staying energized. From your first picture turn it 90 degrees cc and you should see the contacts for the coil. The left one is activated by the coil to wind your clock the right is attached to your spring and is the ground for the coil. Are they stuck together? if not you have a short to ground on that phenalic plate. You used the housing tab for ground right? Just a thought.

 

[opeldean]

contacts

I assume the contacts is the thing that looks like points..it is open and nothing seems to happens if I touch it closed..

my ground is good to the case and I have the 12v hot wire in the central pin in the back..points are not stuck together


I will look at it again tonight..any ideas

 

[Jim Branham]

could the solder for the "fuse wire" be grounding that hot wire to the frame of the clock? As I read the posts and look at your picture and at an old clock I've got in my hands, your solder seems to be touching the metal coil housing that is connected to the ground side of the contact switch. I'm not sure if this is the problem though. HTH


Strange tho, it didn't appear that my clock had been opened before (blue gunk and a cover over tiny nut) and the two metal eyeletes had no solder on them, the bottom eyelet has a little tab on it and the top eyelete was pulled down to meet the botttom one and the tab on the bottom one was flattened down to hold them together, just a little poking with a ball point pen and they seperated and looked exactly like the above picture without any solder on them. However the label on the back said in german and english that the thermal fuse required special solder and had a fusing point of 120*C or 248*F


I thought I heard a little noise of something hitting the wooden floor under my feet when those eyelets seperated but not untill i got down on my hands and knees did I find a little piece of solder. This was what was probably holding those eyeletes together and it popped off leaving no trace of solder on them. I don't know about the thin wire that connects them, maybe it's just that the thermal fuse is low temp. melting solder?

 

[husker]

THis all sounded like too much fun so I thought I would take out and inspect the clock in my GT. First of all my clock doesnt seem to look like the ones posted above - looks like a different mechanism to me. Anyway... the little wire 'fise' on my clock is slathered with something that looks like putty. I can see the wire throuth the top plate of the clock because the top plate is clear but that is the only way I could tell that there is a wire ther. The eyes/contacts for teach end of the wire do not look like the ones pictures above.

Anyway... for my question. When the two electrical contacts come together and the voltage from the battery send them apart, they only move apart @ 1/4 of an inch although you can manually turn the winding mechanism 3/4 of the way around. The clock then ticks for about 45 seconde before the contacts come together and allow the battery to wind the clock.

Is this what others are experiencing on a functioning clock?

 

[opeldean]

ogts clock update

I spoke to Gil tonight about clocks.He said OGTS doesn't handle
repair or replacement of gt clocks.anymore .He said to go directly to VDO-
the number he said to call was 818 761 5136.

so this makes the ability of a repair that much more valuable..I am going to work on mine later tonight ..to see why it wont run.

 

[Washout]

Husker,
I found the same thing that you mention about the contact only moving about 1/4 in. That doesn't seem to adversly affect the operation of the clock. Since I repaired mine two days ago it is working just fine. It did gain 5 minutes over a 24 hour period so I made an adjusted and will see how it does on the next 24 hours. Thanks to whoever figured this out, this clock probably hasn't worked in 20 years.

Bucky,
I found that when I first got mine working it would run for a couple minutes and then quit. I'd restart it and again after a minute or two it would quit. I think it was just stiff from not running in so many years. After restarting it several times it finally took off and hasn't stopped since.

 

[nobody]

Alrighty then I'm having a twilight zone moment and think I'll share. I have been looking at a clock, trying to help Bucky, that I gave up for dead a long time ago. When I redid my dash I had 3 clocks and put in the one that was fixable. This one sat on my desk for a while. One day I came home to find it had been thrown and stuck into a wall.Today I squirted it with WD 40 put power to it and it has been running now for an hour. This is one tough clock. Every time it rewinds it makes me laugh. Was borg a part of Timex?


Ok I think it's possesed, anybody want a clock with a strong will to live? It appears to be keeping good time LMAO.

 

[opeldean]

back at it

problem:clock wont run,flat plate behind solinoid gets hot in 30 sec or so when points are closed..i unplug the power at this time.

seems to want to run ...but appears not to wind?I never see any movt when I power up....points are normally open ..unless I fiddle with it.the resistance can be zero at times..between the red and black dot? does this mean my solinoid is shorted out?