Condensation in guages...

[howellm70]

I've been getting some condensation in the fuel and temp gauges when I drive - typically it's the worst when the heat is on but can also happen when the heat is off. Any ideas for reconciling this problem?

[javelinadave]

I get that from time to time. Park in the sun and it will clear up. Oops, I just noticed you live in Seattle. It will clear up some time in late June......Dave

[Mike Hippert]

Mine does the same. the defroster tube runs behind the gauges and warms them which causes them to fog up. I have heard of drilling a small vent hole to help keep the gauges from fogging up.

[DJ Menasco]

Michael

I too have that issue with my gauges. It happens when there are drastic temperature changes inside or outside of the instruments. I believe this is because they're not sealed properly.

I recommend exchanging them for some nice VDO Vision or Industrial Black guages. They're extremely similar to the stock dials if you want to retain that fashion. Plus, the illumination in each dial is far superior to that of the stock.

If you're interested I'd go to www.egauges.com Their prices are reasonable and they supply other series of VDO and other makes. If you want to do the whole dash I priced out the following to provide you with an idea what it'll cost:

All are Electrical

Temp Gauge Vision 2 1/16"
Fuel Gauge Vision 2 1/16"
Tack 6K RPM Vision 2 1/16"
120MPH Spdmtr Vision 3 3/8" (Not sure if this it the correct size)

Total with shipping: $270 Which isn't too bad considering you're stock speedometer is probably more than $300. You can modify some of the dials to narrow or expand their readouts too. I'm sure a couple of guys on this board might chime in with their experience with it. I know a few have built their D90s from scratch and have elected to use other gauges. Hope this helps.

Regards

DJ

[BarryO]

Originally posted by javelinadave
I get that from time to time. Park in the sun and it will clear up. Oops, I just noticed you live in Seattle. It will clear up some time in late June......Dave

Uh, make that July. Summar arrives there even later than it does here....

At least he doesn't live in San Francisco. I've been chilled to the bone in August in that city.

[nickt]

Hi,
My 110 is on the coast in the UK. The OE gauges fog all the time. Once I get further south (i.e. dryer and warmer) they never fog. Same with the 90 in Denver, once I shipped it there, they never fogged.

Despite the fogging, the operation of the gauges has never been affected.

I have a VDO voltmeter, tacho, oil T and P gauges, never seen them fog, ever. However, the bulbs have gone in them though, never in a LR OE gauge. Apart from that I the quality of the VDO kit is impressive.

Cheers,
Nick.