MyE28.com

Thanks for the tips. Having trouble finding silicone rubber orings and info on effect of size/thickness. Need more on "good quality .22 caliber fine brass bore scrubbing brush". Picked up one at Walmat but it looks too coarse.

I put a lot of rounds through a Colt Woodsman many years ago but it is lost in the attic somewhere along with the bore brush.


Post subject: E28 Fuse Box Maintenance Reply with quote
The CAIG Labs stuff (DeoxIT) will solve all your contact problems, unless you have cooked fuse holders that are rocking around on their base in the fuse box. Best fix I've found for this is to use small (about 3/8 to 1/2-inch depending on thickness) silicone rubber O-rings to squeeze the ends together, after the fuse and fuse holder contacts have been cleaned and DeoxIT applied. The silicone rubber O-rings will last longer than you'll probably own the car. Clean the fuse holder contacts with a good quality .22 caliber fine brass bore scrubbing brush, which you can bend to match the surface angle of the holder contacts.

I've lost count on how many E28 fuse problems I have resolved with CAIG Labs products on other folks cars and my own 24 year old E28 has never failed with an electrical problem, having used the CAIG products since day one, when they used to come in little red and little blue bottles, with a half-dozen Q-Tips.

Gene in NC wrote:Thanks for the tips. Having trouble finding silicone rubber orings and info on effect of size/thickness. Need more on "good quality .22 caliber fine brass bore scrubbing brush".

Gene,
Ya, I probably should have included size and sources, I've already gotten E-mail about it.

The size I've been using recently, shown on my web page is a 7/16 inch I.D. 1/16 inch cross section, made of EDPM that I got from a local NAPA store. I ran out of Silicone O-rings. Here's a typical O-ring source in case nothing is local to you.

Here's the bore brush source. I am revising my web page to include this info. Thanks for the feedback.
-Rod

NAPA had 7/16 by 3/32 orings that in emergency, w/o cleaning or replacing fuses, restored my low beams.

Orings rock. Going all the way with Rod's tips

Oh, by the way, as soon as low beams were corrected, instrument and tail lights failed. I hereby claim to have worst and most dynamic fuse box in universe.

Gene in NC wrote:NAPA had 7/16 by 3/32 orings that in emergency, w/o cleaning or replacing fuses, restored my low beams.

Orings rock. Going all the way with Rod's tips

Oh, by the way, as soon as low beams were corrected, instrument and tail lights failed. I hereby claim to have worst and most dynamic fuse box in universe.

Gene,
Ya, the NAPA O-rings are a bit thicker, but still do the trick. Don't trash the fuse box just yet. I've worked on other electrical problems on E28s owned by others here on the forum and a good cleaning of fuse and relay contacts, along with DeoxIT has made all of them reliable again. Just takes some time and effort and it will pay off.
FWIW,
-Rod

NAPA 7/16 by 3/32 are breaking. Not holding up. They really clamp the fuse but ng if not durable. Guess I need to clean all with Deoxit, replace the fuses, and then find silicone orings as required. One suggestion was a brake shop specialist.

Gene in NC wrote:NAPA 7/16 by 3/32 are breaking. Not holding up. They really clamp the fuse but ng if not durable. Guess I need to clean all with Deoxit, replace the fuses, and then find silicone orings as required. One suggestion was a brake shop specialist.

Yes, I've had reports of this with NAPA and Advance Auto O-rings, but can't identify what they were made of such as ETP, Nitrile or the several dozen different formulations available. The counter clerks don't know! Silicone is still the best, obtained from an O-ring supplier, such as Apple Rubber Products, Inc. The longterm fix for cooked fuse mounts and the fuse box floor that supports them is a good two-part epoxy, to restore the mounts.

If you don't use something like DeoxIT to clean the fuse holders and fuses, all bets are off, even if the fuse holders are still mounted firmly in the fuse box and you bend them to hold the fuses more firmly! You'll still have problems at some point, if you haven't taken care of fuse contact oxidation.
FWIW,
-Rod

Gene in NC wrote:NAPA 7/16 by 3/32 are breaking. Not holding up. They really clamp the fuse but ng if not durable. Guess I need to clean all with Deoxit, replace the fuses, and then find silicone orings as required. One suggestion was a brake shop specialist.

As Rod has also previously mentioned, O-rings are also available at: http://www.marcorubber.com/orings.htm
However, the epoxy repairs are the better approach, if you're dealing with heat damaged fuse holder mounts. And DeoxIT is mandatory, IME.
Carl

Another take on a long-standing solution: if you cannot find appropriate O-rings, just use small zip ties that are snugged down. Works in a pinch.