WATER IN INDICATOR LAMP

[collywobble]

The nearside indicator lamp has started to let water in.  I have found a 'YouTube' clip with a Ford Ranger having the same problem with a headlamp unit. The fix was to remove the headlamp unit, completely fill it with water and then blow into the hole where the bulb fits to pressurize it so the water spurts out of where the water is getting in, dry it thoroughly and then seal with clear silicone.  Will this work for the 9-5 indicator lamp?

[Audax]

Try it and report back, it's unlikely to make it worse as if the plastic is coming away from the housing it's not going to get better. 

[Max Headroom]

Could you not just pressurise it slightly with air and use some slightly soapy water on the outside to find the leak? (bubbles) - much as you would with a bicycle innertube

[fka]

I'd planned to do something similar with my xenon headlights, I've still got an issue with them misting up whenever I use the washers or it rains. Having ruled out any other possibilities, I can only assume the lens covers are leaking.
There's dust behind the lens cover anyway, so plan to swill them out with a mixture of distilled vinegar and distilled water, then rinse with distilled water. If there's a crack or break in the seal bad enough to let water in, it should be apparent without having to pressurise.

[sgould]

The usual cause of misting in Saab headlights is refitting them incorrectly after removal. Gathered a short 6 inch long rubber tube attached. It’s a vent. It’s easy to kink the tube and trap it when replacing the headlamp. If it’s kinked the headlamp will most up.

[fka]

Been there already mate. They were kinked, they're not now but still misting. Must be something else..
Anyway I didn't mean to hijack this thread, just pointing out that my plan is much the same, albeit tied in with a well needed cleaning..

[Max Headroom]

That rubber tube  - this might sound extreme but if you had the space, you could put silica gel crystals (sometimes referred to as desiccant) into a small filter such as a small in-line fuel filter. The air expanding and contracting with temperature changes will 'breathe'  through the silica gel crystals and will eventually dry out the air inside the misted lamp provided the crystals are replaced regularly.

This was the method of keeping dual skinned cockpit glass 'DV' window panels on the Hawker Siddley 125s from misting up.
I've attached a picture - its not all that clear but (marked it with a yellow circle) it shows a short plastic tube running forward/aft with a bolt head mid-way attaching it to the top of the DV window. 
The bolt is actually hollow and acts as the tube from the glass cavity to the plastic tube containing the crystals.
At each end of the plastic tube is a gauze held on by black rubber end-caps (visible in the picture) that have holes punched in them allowing air to pass through the gauze and rubber caps, (the crystals turned pink when saturated and could either be dried out or replaced)

[fka]

Love the sign gaffer-taped to the cockpit!

I've actually been meaning to try one of the small silica gel packets that come in packaging, stuck to the back of one of the rubber caps, I've stashed one away for this purpose.
There's plenty of room to follow your suggestion and it's a bloody good one!

Any misting from say, using the washers on a dry day, actually clears really quickly (I run with the headlights on permanently, so plenty of heat generated by the bulbs.) therefore I'm assuming the units are breathing ok, and after a long run should in theory be dry.
They both have a lot of dust inside the outer lens cover and the drivers side even has a spider's web floating around in there. They need a clean anyway. And I can only assume the dust and eight legged beasts must be getting in somewhere.. I planned to take the lights off last weekend but ran out of time, will get round to it eventually..

[Max Headroom]

If you can't get any small quantities, I can send you a bag of desiccant if you PM me, but it's unlikely to be the colour changing stuff unfortunately.
Although you can find/use those sachets of crystals found in various items they will probably be worn out or low quality. Im fairly certain there is only a finite amount of times that you can dry them out (you can do that by baking them in an oven at the lowest possible heat setting for say 30 mins. or if colour changing. they go from pink back to blue)

(The taped placard in the cockpit is normal practice and required by CAA standards particulary while engineers are working on the aircraft.
Sometimes crews come out to the 'live' aircraft to either familiarise themselves with systems or procedures without actually wanting to go flying; the last thing you need is your arms or fingers in the flying controls or flaps when some clot turns hydraulic power on. Aicraft also run very lethal voltages - so you wouldnt even want power to be turned on. Its usual to print off a 'placard' and place one in the cockpit and another at the entrance to the cockpit where you would duck to pass by it)

[fka]

That's a very kind offer. I won't trouble you until I'm sure what I'm facing but may well drop you a line!

Is there no mechanical way of locking out the systems? A note seems a little open to abuse..
Many years ago, when I worked as a fitter in a chocolate factory. If I ever had to work inside anything that might make mince meat out of me, like tanks with agitators or the conchs used to refine the chocolate (enormous tanks with 3 interlocking sets of blades.) I'd padlock the main power switch and if it was fed from an old school board, go in with the fuses in my pocket!

[Audax]

Is there no mechanical way of locking out the systems? A note seems a little open to abuse..

My understanding is that even when you try and mechanically lock out systems that people still try and fly them. I have read of an incident with a military fast jets where a tech dropped a bolt while changing something and it disappeared somewhere and he couldn't find it and then did not ground the aircraft. The bolt let itself known when it got jammed in the control column of the aircraft while it was low level and fast meaning that the crew had to eject and the aircraft was a total loss. It's quite scary reading how often this kind of incident still occurs!

[Max Headroom]

Waaaay off topic now! heheh

Yes of course systems can be isolated and locked out - it's usually only a case of pulling the right circuit breakers, but that can generate more time reading up on the system finding which circuit breakers to pull. This in turn generates more paperwork because everything that is touched on the aircraft must be written into the record of maintenance - this is so that come a shift change etc those circuit breakers are reset when the final check through the paperwork is carried out.

The other issue is that quite often the circuit breakers can be miles away at the other end of a big jet and often behind more panels - more time spent finding which panels to take off; more tools needed; more paperwork needed; another set of steps needed..etc etc. Not something you want to be doing for a five minute job.
So placarding the cockpit is easier.
A placard also tells aircrew that someone is working on the aircraft.
When the crew get out to the aircraft if they find nobody is there (because the engineer has gone for a tea-break or more tools), the aircrew see no placard, so assume the aircraft is not being worked on, they could possibly reset the system themselves and start doing their stuff, then fail to put the aircraft back into the same condition they found it in (circuit breakers) - and when the techie gets back, something unexpected happens and an accident takes place.

Dropping a tool or nut/bolt/washer is a different matter, all instances must be investigated (paperwork raised) to recover the FOD.
Many times when looking for a lost washer or similar item, Ive found all manner of other items that we didnt know were there, from paint brushes to tools, sunglasses, pens, a teaspoon, and even an ancient Mars Bar.
They didnt like doing it much but on fast jets, if a lost article wasnt found, the crews were sometimes asked to do inverted flights and 'jink' around while inverted. They'd be given a little bag to put all the 'bits' into. Hopefully the lost bit would drop into the canopy, but there were many times when it never did.

[fka]

Waaaay off topic now! heheh

Ever so slightly! But fascinating none the less. And just a little bit scary 

[Max Headroom]

I've been working in various forms of aviation since I was a teenager. Fast jets, transport aircraft, and helicopters. I'm still bending spanners on Airbus A330s.

I can't imagine how many miles I have covered around the world as a paying passenger on holiday travels, not to mention the accumulation of miles spent travelling on Her Majesty's own flying machines. So this isn't very scary at all - its just routine stuff.
If anything is slightly scary its helicopters - many moving parts = more that can go wrong. It seldom does but you can still end up with 'concrete poisoning' if it happens.

As a side note, the last flight I did, I was on the same jet for 24 hours (obviously not flying all that time!) - that was from the Falkland Islands to Cape Verde, refuel in Cape Verde then landing in Edinburgh. Another refuel there before landing back at my base in Oxfordshire.
Needless to say I was glad to get off that jet as I had only flown down to the Falklands three days earlier! (20 hours) 

[fka]

I wasn't being entirly serious with the scary comment, I love flying but I do have an overactive imagination sometimes and do my best not to think about the mechanics at work
My first flying experience was at an air show in a Dakota DC10. Absolutly loved it but was sat over the wing and will never forget watching 3 or 4 loose screws, holding the engine cowling, slowly rattling around ..

My Mrs' Dad was wing commander at one of the Scottish bases, he's got fair few stories about the Falkands. Sounds like one hell of a journey!
I'd love to go up in a fast jet but I'd almost certainly be in need of the old paper bag, especially if any airobatics were involved! Mrs, in the air cadets, was lucky enough to take a few trips up in a Tornado the lucky sod.