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690 speedo fog repair

66K views 45 replies 30 participants last post by  MUSAKA 
#1 ·
So I just bought a '08 690 SMC from it's second owner who's getting a superenduro for a trip to Chillie. Original speedo that had fogging, flickering display and dead elements in the tens of minutes clock display - so of course i took it apart.


white dust everywhere



it was pretty obvious what was causing it. The tabs that hold the clear backlighting diffuser to the white plastic spacer were all broken. the bottom of the clear piece is almost file-like with a billion little piramids and there were clearly worn areas at the edges of the spacer from the vibration



there were two pins for the LCD display that had cracked and I believe the flickering is due to fretting of the pins in their sockets due to vibration


sooo... after a compleat cleaning I bonded the clear piece to the white piece with clear silicon around the edges


cut an access to the broken pins in the clear piece and lightly siliconed the LCD down to the clear piece


I brushed a small amount of silicone dielectric lube on the LCD terminals before plugging the bonded assembly back into the circuit board with the two pin pieces already in their sockets. with the LCD secured against vibration this should help prevent poor contact at the terminals due to the fretting corrosion.

a quick solder joint across the cracked pins


then I modified the breather holes in the clear cover with a pair of windshield washer 90' elbows - i didn't like the holes as they were, I didn't want to just plug them even though the manufacturer went to the trouble of putting a gore-tex sealed breather in the bottom case half.



re-assembled with a light skim of clear silicone on the case to cover gasket

sorry no after pics but it does work fine, only flaw is that there had been so much dust in the lower right for so long it wore imperfections in a small area of the speedo overlay - not a problem for me

c'mon china, lrn2speedo

back to lurking now
 
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#6 ·
Nice job dude. Do I have this to look forward to with my '09? I am assuming they fixed this just like they fixed the fondue rear blinker! :lol: It's still worth it though. I still find myself giggling like a school girl to myself under the helmet.
 
#15 ·
Can't attest a internal differences on the replacements but the new SMT 990 does have different shaped buttons on the face of the entire element. I/m assuming they've updated the insides as well considering the number of replacements they've provided.

I had my cluster replaced on my 08 enduro due to it fogging, a year ago and the new one has been fine.

Ironically I had a flaw on my Super Duke cluster too, no fogging but a small light shone through on the upper right hand corner, they replaced it two times and both replacements had the same flaw - only advantage was that they only asked me for my mileage on the 990 the last time:)

Unlike BMW which would have electronically recorded it or something like that -
 
#16 ·
In Rosedale

Hey Squirrley, nice fix, still have the bike? I just moved here to Chilliwack and bought a 690 from holeshot in lLangley, moved from Ontario so I have no one to ride with. I've been riding 21 years and like to go faaaaast. Lemme know if you want to go for a ride someday I dont even know where all the good roads are man!
 
#17 ·
i have cleaned out the white powder yesterday but my LCD is still flicking so i wanna have a look indside if all the pins are ok. However i am not sure how to remove the rev needle so maybe somebody could give me a hint? Also if i remove the needle does it need some calibration before i put it back in?
Thanks
 
#18 ·
new dash

I had the white powder issue also, as well as segments cutting out in the clock.

So KTM traded me this, free of charge. All new design (I have a 2008)
 
#25 · (Edited)
Any suggestions who to talk to about a replacement? I just bought my 2008 and the speedo is flickering to the point of being unreadable. I mentioned to my dealer that numerous folks have had problems and received replacements. They claim that they've never heard of anyone having problems and want me to pay $420 plus labor for a new unit. Anyone have any suggestions??
 
#23 ·
After few thousand kilometers, most of it rough back roads, plenty of whoops, and at least fifty times over the little kick out behind the old IGA there was no sign of the fogging returning.

However the LCD display was down to only the tens digit of the speedo and one bar of the temp gauge still working.

Back apart she comes;

It seems the weight of the LCD is just too much, the bosses that were supposed to hold the white plastic spacer down had cracked and the LCD terminal pins were never meant to hold it in place.



So I pried the plastic off the LCD socket and took out all the socket pins using a soldering iron.



Then de-soldered the holes in the circuit board with solder wick.



Cut away the remaining plastic that shrouded the LCD terminal pins and trimmed all the unbroken pins.



Soldered lengths of wire into the circuit board then to the remains of the LCD terminal pins.



This took a lot of time. Fortunately it rained all weekend.



A bit of re-routing was required to make room for one of the clear legs of the top cover.



Time to take her for a test-toast.





Now I'm committed; the circuit board is screwed down and the LCD, lens and spacer are bonded in with 'Right Stuff'.



Yeah I know they just give those new ones away but I like to fix everything whether it requires soldering, welding, stitching, gluing, wrenching or my favorite - hammering. It keeps my skills sharp and I learn a lot about flaws in design, manufacture and materials.

@ dodojanik;

The tach needle is just a light press-fit onto the shaft, it should gently pry right up and off. When the cluster is first connected back to the bike and gets non-keyed battery power it will display a software version etc and run the tach needle motor against a hard-stop to zero it and learn the correct soft-stop for the straight down (six-o-clock) position. Then you can press the needle on slightly pointing straight down (there's a little orange bar on the gauge backing to align it to) and cycle the key on so the tach performs it's initialization sweep and should return to that same straight down position. If it is still aligned to your satisfaction, press it down (but not so far as that it will rub the gauge backing) and install the top cover.
 
#24 ·
squirrely:
Thanks for the advice on the needle. Managed to get some info on KTM forum earlier so i have managed to break the speedo down. It looked same as yours - quite rubish :anim_peep:
I just wanted to see whats inside and didn't had much time to fix it but i might go same route as u did. Time demanding for sure but it looks bomb proof :thumbup:
 
#27 ·
The dealer in Livermore, CA is the same way, never heard of the problem and since it is not listed as a know problem on the KTM internal website, is not interested in helping other than ordering me a new one for $$$
 
#28 ·
I hear this about dealers time and again and frankly, it's very frustrating. KTM will not import the 690 Duke or 690 SMC until further notice, last I heard. Surely the bottom line is poor sales. Well hey KTM folks, if your dealers were worth a damn, maybe people would buy more of your bikes! It drives me nuts that I can't replace my SMC with a new one because the manufacturer is too lazy and negligent to train their dealers and mechanics here in the USA. /rant
 
#35 ·
I just had mine replaced last week for the third time last week on my '08...looks as if the newest one has been redesigned, it's so nice and clear & clean!

The only curveball KTM threw me was that they wanted a photo of the old one acting up, which was fairly easy to provide.
 
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