Stack Glass hazing.

[Victor Meldrew]

When I drive my car at night the top half of the Stack is fogged over. It has a white translucent deposit that goes cloudy when the dash lights turn on.
The only similar thing I have seen before is the white hazing that you can sometimes get from supper glue. Are the stack glass glued on?

How easy is it to change the glass?

[Dominic]

Not sure how easy it is to change, but there was quite a bit of chat on the FB "S1 elise" group a few months ago. Chat was around the fact that someone is supplying the stack glass just now... suggesting that it is not always available. Might be worth a wee browse / search on that FB group.

[Victor Meldrew]

Just ordered one.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[robin]

Hmm. If it only fogs over at night that implies that there is moisture trapped inside the stack that is evaporating (perhaps due to lamp/electronics generated heat) and condensing on the cold glass; you could prove that by pointing a hairdryer at the glass when fogged over and see it if clears; if it does then it is 99% likely to be a moisture problem rather than a contaminant like super glue residue.

Whilst you could change the glass, it's not clear you'll eliminate the moisture (it will just condense on the new glass). You really need to dry it out. Rather than split open the stack I would be inclined to remove it (which you'll have to anyway in order to open the glass) and put the whole thing in the airing cupboard for as long as you can - even better would be to put it in a ziplock plastic bag and a load of rice in with it squeezing most of the air out of the bag before you zip lock it, then put in the airing cupboard (the heat in there will cause the water to form a vapour and hopefully find its way out of the stack and into the rice). Rice is very hydroscopic and will absorb moisture preventing it from returning to the stack when the heating goes off and the temperature drops. If you rotate the stack from time to time during this you're more likely to get all the water to come out, IMHO, though if you are just going to leave it in one position, I would leave it face down as I suspect the back of the stack is not air tight (where the connectors are) whilst the front face probably is.

Cheers,
Robin

P.S. When done, be sure to clean all rice off the stack carefully - it will rot and/or rattle about your car if you leave any behind!

[Victor Meldrew]

I can try that when I get home. It doesn't look like moisture but it could be. I can see what looks like finger prints on the inside of the glass. My gut feeling is the glass was broken when it was "away" and a replacement was hastily glued in place using way too much super glue. It's hard to explain what you see, it's like a milky powdery mist thing that has finger prints in it. I had a similar sort of misting on glass when I tried to glue back a rear view mirror. That's what is making me thing superglue over application.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[robin]

Then it's probably condensation forming on super glue/oily finger prints When you have it out and can look at it carefully from the outside you can probably decide to replace the glass straight away then ... might still be worth drying out before you refit it. Is super glue the right glue to use? I thought there was a specific glass glue (e.g. the stuff used to stick rear-view mirrors to windscreens).

Cheers,
Robin

[Victor Meldrew]

I don't know what glue I would use. When I tried and failed to re attach the rear view mirror I bought stuff from halfords that was supposedly made for the job. Mirror fell off pretty much right away and still resides in a box in the garage.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[mwmackenzie]

a thin bead of tiger seal will seal it and see it never come away again lol

[robin]

I don't know what glue I would use. When I tried and failed to re attach the rear view mirror I bought stuff from halfords that was supposedly made for the job. Mirror fell off pretty much right away and still resides in a box in the garage.

Then I suspect you didn't clean the windscreen with meths first ... too busy drinking it

I used the same stuff when my mirror fell off on some ancient Stelvio trip and it remained attached even after the unfortunate incident of the S1 and the crash barrier

[Victor Meldrew]

Meths isn't something I generally have in my drinks cupboard... Not for long anyway.