Solid state meltdown

[Rustyrodknocker]

Has anybody else had this experience?
It seems that the material that the electronics are sealed in hits it's expiration date and liquefies.
I had this a year or so ago with my Coronets ignition module and now the voltage regulator on my Fury.
The stuff is incredibly sticky and looks like partially solidified raw honey. Not sure what it tastes like.
Both cars had sat a couple of years and when I got back to them the stuff was running out of them.

 

[CBODY67]

"Potting compound" is NOT supposed to do that. Don't know that any "expiration date" exists for that stuff. Never saw any evidence of it, over the years. Strange.

CBODY67

 

[Big_John]

I've seen/experienced this several times.

The components are filled with a resin material or "potted" to keep it all dry, insulated and not affected by vibration. It's nothing exotic and the materials have gotten better over the years.

The stuff you are seeing does break down after some years. I think it's a combination of the material breaking down from the heat cycles in the engine compartment, the component itself starting to fail causing more resistance (and therefore more heat) and then there's just age. I've seen it in other applications besides cars too. Possibly the melting point gets lower as it ages from these factors.... Don't forget these cars weren't designed to last 50 years.

 

[Rustyrodknocker]

The dash in my 68 Coronet has a similar issue. It sweats a sticky resin. Its a shame because its a nice dash its been doing that for 20 years.

 

[1970FuryConv]

I've seen it on 1972 and 1973 electronic voltage regulators. Possibly overcharging causes heat and melt down. The question is: how to remove the trail of ossified resin without damaging the firewall paint?

 

[Rustyrodknocker]

This h

I've seen it on 1972 and 1973 electronic voltage regulators. Possibly overcharging causes heat and melt down. The question is: how to remove the trail of ossified resin without damaging the firewall paint?

Happened while it was parked for a couple years same with my other cars ignition.
The firewall paint is the least of this cars concerns.

 

[ayilar]

I had the same experience with Medina, my '71 Monaco -- see here for the pics of the goopy mess and before/after -- and I have seen the same thing happen on a 1972 NYB that I have not (yet) bought. Here is what I bought as replacement for my '71:

The unit I bought is not absolutely correct for 1970-1971, as it does not have the "dimple" that you can see on yours. @polara71 is the person who alerted me to the relevance of the dimple. If correctness is important, then to the best of my knowledge ECS sells the only reproduction VR sporting the dimple (they have several 1969 and 1970 manufacturing dates available):

When I bought Snow White, my 1970 Polara 'vert, I did not like the looks of the VR it had -- so I went to get another of the eBay units, but the vendor was out of them. So, I bought a reproduction VR from Mancini Racing for Snow White. The price was lower than the eBay units ($28 vs. $40), but instead of an engraved marking the Mancini repro has a sticker rather than a painted script:

 

[71newport]

Exact same thing happened to the control unit on my '71 Charger. In the 80's I installed the Direct Connection electronic ignition conversion kit. Now all that stuff has oozed down the firewall. It's dried hard. Have been putting off fixing it for years as I'm concerned about screwing up the paint. Maybe I should heat the stuff up with a hair dryer before attempting removal?

 

[ayilar]

Here are two photos of the goopy mess in the 1972 NYB that I mentioned. I have not yet checked if it is hard or still soft.

 

[Big_John]

the relevance of the dimple

It always gives me a chuckle when I see flaws like that.

The metal "bunched" up a bit when it was stamped. Probably a combination of variation in thickness of the steel, wear in the die, slight variation in hardness of the steel etc.. Someplace, somewhere, in a dingy filing cabinet, might be the engineering/QC paperwork that allows that flaw to be acceptable from the vendor and not worth the expense of retooling.

The lug nut with the little "tit" (yes, that's the technical term, seriously) on the end is from the screw machine not quite cutting them off cleanly, yet that is the benchmark for a good repop. This stuff cracks me up.

 

[ayilar]

It always gives me a chuckle when I see flaws like that.
(...) The lug nut with the little "tit" (yes, that's the technical term, seriously) on the end is from the screw machine not quite cutting them off cleanly, yet that is the benchmark for a good repop. This stuff cracks me up.

Same type of imperfection as the sloppy paint jobs in the trunk or around the radiator, or the screws on the floors, I suppose

Thank you as always for an informative post, which provides levity to boot.

 

[Mike66Chryslers]

It always gives me a chuckle when I see flaws like that.

The metal "bunched" up a bit when it was stamped. Probably a combination of variation in thickness of the steel, wear in the die, slight variation in hardness of the steel etc.. Someplace, somewhere, in a dingy filing cabinet, might be the engineering/QC paperwork that allows that flaw to be acceptable from the vendor and not worth the expense of retooling.

The lug nut with the little "tit" (yes, that's the technical term, seriously) on the end is from the screw machine not quite cutting them off cleanly, yet that is the benchmark for a good repop. This stuff cracks me up.

The "dimple" that @ayilar is referring to doesn't look like an imperfection due to bunched-up metal to me. It's perfectly round and pretty large.

 

[Big_John]

The "dimple" that @ayilar is referring to doesn't look like an imperfection due to bunched-up metal to me. It's perfectly round and pretty large.
View attachment 434061

Oh! OK, I thought it was the bunched up metal around the top.

Because it sticks out, or looks like it does in the pic, I didn't think of that as a "dimple".

 

[Rustyrodknocker]

Oh! OK, I thought it was the bunched up metal around the top.

Because it sticks out, or looks like it does in the pic, I didn't think of that as a "dimple".

That is a peculiar thing about car restoration work.
I can remember when I first seen guys in the early 90's recreating the grease crayon inspection marks and it was only the mopar guys. Now of course its on all brands of restos. But you notice they are never as committed when it comes to paint work and door gaps. Over restored is the norm when it comes to paint and body.

I remember a magazine highlighting a foot long sag on a roadrunner. But nobody wants to recreate that!

 

[Big_John]

That is a peculiar thing about car restoration work.
I can remember when I first seen guys in the early 90's recreating the grease crayon inspection marks and it was only the mopar guys. Now of course its on all brands of restos. But you notice they are never as committed when it comes to paint work and door gaps. Over restored is the norm when it comes to paint and body.

I remember a magazine highlighting a foot long sag on a roadrunner. But nobody wants to recreate that!

I think the Bloomington Corvette guys were right there about the same time.

I never went down the date code/crayon mark restoration worm hole, choosing instead to just drive the cars and enjoy them more than the guy that hauls his car in an enclosed trailer.

I do appreciate the effort though... and I have tried to keep my '65 Barracuda original in appearance because it's just the right thing to do. If it gets painted, it's not getting the "OEM" type orange peel paint... It'll get BC/CC and it'll shine like I want it.

 

[Moseman]

Has anybody else had this experience?
It seems that the material that the electronics are sealed in hits it's expiration date and liquefies.
I had this a year or so ago with my Coronets ignition module and now the voltage regulator on my Fury.
The stuff is incredibly sticky and looks like partially solidified raw honey. Not sure what it tastes like.
Both cars had sat a couple of years and when I got back to them the stuff was running out of them.View attachment 433860

Yes, I have seen it a lot. I can give you pictures of at least 4 of my 72/73 Imperials and Furys that the electronic ignition has had the backside melt and run down the firewall.

 

[1970FuryConv]

This h

Happened while it was parked for a couple years same with my other cars ignition.
The firewall paint is the least of this cars concerns.

So after we correct the resistances and bad components that are causing charging system problem, we still have the resin trail to get rid of. My question was how to get rid of it without damaging firewall paint. @Big_John, any suggestions?

 

[Big_John]

So after we correct the resistances and bad components that are causing charging system problem, we still have the resin trail to get rid of. My question was how to get rid of it without damaging firewall paint. @Big_John, any suggestions?

Good question and I wish I had a good answer. The part about damaging the paint is the big problem.

Heat might melt it, but I wonder if something like dry ice or even freeze spray might make it brittle enough to chip off.

I need to ponder this....

 

[70NEWYORKER]

Get something plastic, like a credit card, and dig into it. See if it's brittle or gummy. If you do get a chunk off now you have something to test a few solvents on with out messing up the paint.

 

[Rustyrodknocker]

Well I can take one for team with this car. Ill try a couple of things.