Instrument Cluster Needles

[Cormanus]

You're a wonderful lot. Thanks for the help.

I wimped out in the end. With my ham-fistedness, there's at least an even chance that the operation would end in tears, and I was spooked by the recent discussion elsewhere on the forum about the rarity and awful cost of new instrument clusters. As I was able to find another way through, I decided not to take the risk.

The back story? Riding along the other day, I looked down and saw an ant on the instrument cluster. No, actually that wasn't right. It, and a good few of its mates, were IN the instrument cluster. I'm pretty sure they haven't been there long and I had parked the bike for a day with the left mirror touching a shrub at a house where the owners had been having trouble with ants. I kept an eye on it while I was away and one time at lest thought they'd gone. But, no, they were hiding. So, when I got home, I pulled the back off the instrument cover and found ...







Most of the cluster was easy to clean, but I couldn't get the circuit board off the panel without removing the needles. In the end, I loosened it enough to get a compressed air needle valve in and gave it a good blow out. I then left it sitting next to a bait (thanks rdprdp01) until I was satisfied there were no more ants in there.

I was very relieved when I reinstalled it, turned on the ignition and the neeedles swept normally around the dials.

I'd still like to know when they got in there. I've been on the bike a lot these past days and I didn't see them until 7 or eight days into it.