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Hello E21 Friends

One of this days I decided that due to the cold weather and the car not being used very much I should disconnect the negative terminal from the battery. When I went and started it this weekend for a drive, I adjusted the analogue VDO clock by pushing the button and moving the dials clockwise ( I heard that if you move the dials counter clockwise you might damage some clocks mechanisms so I try to be extra careful). And now to my surprise the clock doesn't seem to work , before I could hear it working and now nothing, just stopped where I left the dials. I tried pushing the button away etc.

Did I just broke my clock? Or is there a step I might be missing ?

Many thanks in advance for your help

Cheers
Alex

Alex,

Don't think I ever managed to break one haha! It is more likely the fuse is blown, or that the fuse has a corroded surface. So I'd start with checking the fuse and rolling it for corrosion. Get used to it, E21's owners do have to roll their fuses on a regular basis. That's why they changed to different fuses with the E30.

Fingers crossed now!

Jeroen wrote: Mon Dec 20, 2021 12:34 pm Alex,

Don't think I ever managed to break one haha! It is more likely the fuse is blown, or that the fuse has a corroded surface. So I'd start with checking the fuse and rolling it for corrosion. Get used to it, E21's owners do have to roll their fuses on a regular basis. That's why they changed to different fuses with the E30.

Fingers crossed now!

Hi Jeroen so I just went and had a look. The fuse looks okay, its shared with other electrical items such as the hazard lights. I rolled the fuse for a bit of luck but no signs of the clock ticking or moving unfortunately. Then I took the fuse out and the hazards didn't work, so I guess is something on the clock that went kaput. I am not too bothered, not sure if I take the whole dashboard out to fix it, unless its an easy fix ?

Many thanks
Alex

is the big one or do you already have the tachometer?....

nic65 wrote: Mon Dec 20, 2021 3:25 pm is the big one or do you already have the tachometer?....

Hi Nic65, is the small square VDO Zeit one that lives on the dashboard. I have a tachometer. Do you know what could be wrong?

taking it out of the upper speaker compartment shouldn't be difficult ... let's hope that while running out of power, some internal capacitors have not been damaged

Just as an update on this. I wasn’t that bothered about the clock not working so I just left it. Today as I shut the car off and I go looking for my phone close to the dashboard I hear the “tick-tick” noise, I see and the clock works again! It has fixed itself! Not sure what happened so I will leave it and see if it stops after, but for now I have a working clock !