Spill under tilt-ometer in dash

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qtherampage
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Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Sep 13, 2016 8:50 pm
My tercel:: 1984 Tercel 4WD SR5 Wagon

Spill under tilt-ometer in dash

Post by qtherampage »

1984 Tercel 4WD Wagon -
I recently spilled a bottle of lemonade on the right side of my dash (and by spilled I mean it leaked slowly onto my dash while I was at work) and it dumped pretty much entirely underneath the housing of the tilt-ometer on top of my dash. Is there any potential for this to cause serious problems? I dried it as much as I could but I can't honestly say I know where any excess might have drained into. Is there some part I should take apart and clean/inspect?
Thanks!
xirdneh
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My tercel:: 87 tercel 4x4 wagon w/reringed engine, 83 tercel 4x4 wagon w/salvaged engine and 4.1 Diff's
Location: seabeck, washington, USA

Re: Spill under tilt-ometer in dash

Post by xirdneh »

a wire for light passes through dash from inclinometer
that's the only thing that could get wet
Love those Tercell 4x4 wagons but they sure suffer from road noise.
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Petros
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My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: Spill under tilt-ometer in dash

Post by Petros »

it is full of sugar and citric acid, it could corrode any mental it comes in contact with, I would flush it out with water with perhaps a small amount of liquid soap in it.

remove your carpet and perhaps the glove box, and than wash the area with mild weak soapy water, allow it to run under the inclinometer where it will like drip through the wire hole on the dash. than flush with water, vacuum up with a wet and dry shop vac if you have one, and blow out with compressed air spray, otherwise use towels to get any excess off the floor, dash, firewall etc. than set up a fan and heat lamp (or small electric space heater) inside the car under the dash over night with the windows open a few inches (or more if there is no risk of rain overnight). should be good to go in the morning. Moisture will not really harm anything if it dries out fairly quickly. corrosive liquids will eventually create problems, even if dry. so best flush it out and than dry it out. You also might spray some silicone lubricant behind the heater control panel for good measure, keeps all the the control cables and levers working smoothly. You can spray in through the slots on the panel, and from the glove box area, and drivers side foot well area.

Good luck.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
qtherampage
Newbie
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Sep 13, 2016 8:50 pm
My tercel:: 1984 Tercel 4WD SR5 Wagon

Re: Spill under tilt-ometer in dash

Post by qtherampage »

I removed the inclinometer from the dash and it turns out there wasn't enough spillage to get into the hole that the wire goes into and therefore get into the dash, so I'm all good! I just wiped up underneath the inclinometer before reattaching it. Thanks for the input!
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