this is a letter I got from someone along time ago, it's solution worked for me, and a number of others: A while back we had some discussions about Ghia clocks not working. Since mine wasn't working anyway, I decided to take it apart and look at it (it couldn't hurt :) ). Anyway, I'm happy to say that I fixed it, and suspect that 95% of the broken clocks out there have the same problem. Keep in mind that I did all of this on a '73, so no gaurantees that it's the same for everybody, though I would suspect that it would be close. So here's what I did: 1) Disconnect the power connector to the clock. 2) Take off the two screws that bolt the clock "mechanism" to the actual clock unit. (The clock "mechanism" is the white plastic container). If you feel safer taking the whole clock out of the dash, then by all means do that. But what I am saying is that that is not necessary. All you really need is that white container. 3) Carefully pull the white container away from the back of the clock. I say carefully because there are two metal "studs" that connect the "clock mechanism" to the "clock spindal" (what makes the clock hands turn around. 4) Take off the "three" small nuts on the back of the white plastic container. I said "three" in quotes because only two are visible. The third one is hidden underneath the gray plastic cap. That is the plastic "tamper proof" cap to make sure you don't void your warranty by opening it yourself. So if your clock mechanism is still under warranty don't do it :) Otherwise, break the plastic cap to get to the nut underneath. 5) With the three nuts removed, the plastic container should just slide right off (you don't have to remove the three "spring clamps" on the front of the clock mechanism). 6) The most likely cause of your problem is that you have an open between power and ground (i.e. you are not getting a "complete circuit" therefore your clock is not getting any power). To test this connect an ohm meter between the power pin, and the screw that use to have the plastic cap over it. A "good" circuit would have a reading a couple ohms (if this is the case, go to step 10). A "bad" circuit will give you a reading of infinity (i.e. an open circuit). 7) This is kind of difficult to explain over e-mail, but what you are looking for is piece of metal that is sticking up at a right angle and has a hole at the end of the right angle. (sort of like if you took a sewing needle, flattened it (so it wasn't round anymore), bent it at a right angle, and then enlarged the eye of the needle so that is was perfectly round). Like I said, it is hard to explain, but this "eye" use to be soldered onto a contact just above it. So if you pulled on this "eye" you would noticed that it's kind of like a "spring". It isn't soldered down onto the board. The reason for this is because the eye use to be soldered to the contact with a special type of solder that would melt at 120 degress C, or 248 degrees F, (that is what the warning on the side of the plastic container is talking about). I believe that the purpose was so that if for some reason you got a short within your clock mechanism the heat generated from the short would cause the solder to melt. Once that happened, the "springyness" of the eye would cause the contact to drop away so that you wouldn't have a short anymore (and your clock wouldn't work anymore either). 8) To check what I am talking about, hold the eye to the contact point and then use your ohm meter again. This time you should get a reading (assuming it was at infinity before). 9) There are a couple of things you can do. a) You can go out and buy (or try to find) this special type of solder they are talking about, and resolder the "eye" to the contact point. b) You can buy a fuse (you can buy really small ones that look like resistors) and solder one end of the fuse to the eye and the other end to the contact point. What size fuse to use is your best guess, or experimenting, or... c) Just solder the damn thing and assume that it will never short (which is what I did). 10) The next step is to make sure the clock mechanics are functioning"smoothly". When you apply 12 volts to the power pin (ground would be the screw that had the plastic cap over it) you will notice a metal spindal that rotatesall the way back and then slowly begins to advance once again to its contact point. This is what makes the clock work. Once the contacts "contact" a circuit is completed, which causes the spindle to wind and the contacts to seperate. This "winding" is connected to a spring which drives the clock mechanics (just like all clocks did before battery watches came around). What happened with me was that it would wind fine, and the clock mechanism would start running, but then would "die" half way through. 11) I took the clock mechanism to a clock repair shop and they said it would cost $28 to clean it (they said they take the whole thing apart, clean it, and then put it all back together). Well, I wasn't interested in spending $28, so I squirted some WD40 in cup and used a tooth pick to apply WD40 to each of the contact points of the various spindles. And it seems to have worked. Clock is running find. 12) Put everything back in reverse order, and enjoy! ONE CAVEOT! Steps 6 & 8 (when you're using the ohm meter) *assume* that the contacts (the ones that cause the metal spindle to wind) are "closed". If those contacts are not "closed" then you will always get a reading of inifinity. Therefore, you will be thinking, "what the hell was that guy talking about." So please help be out with my assumption. Make sure those contacts are closed when you do your ohm measurements. Thanks! Mark Beamer beamer@colorado.cirrus.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- Oh yeah, one other thing along with that line, Richard Troy has mentioned that VDO (the origional manufacturer) will put in a whole new movement for a reasonable fee. Something else out there to put in the option bucket, anyways. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Just to offer another clock repair story: I too, had two non-functional '71 Ghia clocks. Both were of the electromagnetic winder/mechanical clock variety (small size). I believe RT posted that he had a '71 which was all-electric (?). Anyway, the first one I disassembled (careful removal of chrome ring by the method described in a recent post) had the temperature fuse open. At the time, I did not really know what that was, BUT I simply crimped the two halfs of the fuse circuit together with a pair of needlenose pliers (no heat, no soldering) and it worked great (for 5-6 months now). I assume that the fuse is still functional (the low-temp solder should melt as designed) and the clock works just fine. Sure, it is slightly inaccurate. After a couple of days' adjustment, I now have 1-2 minutes per day to adjust. BTW, I have determined that the temperature outside has much more to do with the clock's accuracy than the battery voltage (at least on an electrically wound mechanical clock). It was losing 2-5 minutes per day in sub-freezing temperatures (I don't have an enclosed garage). Personally, I would never replace the mechanical clock. I am strangely comforted by the every 3-4 minute winding clunk and constant ticking while working in or around the car! -Dan ('71 coupe) ------------------------------------------------------------- House of Ghia used to/still does repair/swap Ghia clocks.