Hi, I've been refurbishing the GPI (Gear Position Indicator) sensor, the little unit that fits on the back of transmission. Now in addition to all the other problems like testing that it still works I'm at the point of re-installing it but need to re-pott the wires on the back where they leave the unit. For anyone who doesn't know what potting is. It's where you encapsulate electronics in a compound to keep moisture from affecting the electronics. In the case of the GPI There are actually two issues: 
1.) Replacing the outer  rubber cover
2.) replacing the broken potting compound which is used to secure the electrical internals from moisture i.e. rain.

Now with regards to  1.) above I've found that any number of spray can caps, especially those from O'Reilly's Auto parts for products like brake cleaner fit very nicely and a bit of work with a razor to make an exit for the electrical cable is all that is needed.
But 2.) is still an issue. And I am wondering if anyone has found a readily available product to be used for potting the electrics. I recollect someone suggesting "Liquid Tape" and wondered how that worked. Any other suggestions??

(An aside; Living in the S.F. Bay area very near Silicon Valley, in the past I have had several very excellent stores/suppliers for small time electronics needs. One in Berkeley another in S.F. and several down in Silicon Valley). They appear to all be gone. So I may have to turn to on-line purchasing instead of just driving over.  Apparently S.V. no longer has needs .Turn your back and...)

I had success using Plasti Dip in the can the brush on/dip type not the spray. It has the advantage that it's not to hard to remove by peeling and scrapping it off if needed. I don't know whether it's still available as the can is 40 plus years old.
Regards Martin.

MartinW wrote:I had success using Plasti Dip in the can the brush on/dip type not the spray. It has the advantage that it's not to hard to remove by peeling and scrapping it off if needed. I don't know whether it's still available as the can is 40 plus years old.

+1
It's still in stores on the east coast but it might cause cancer in California. Regardless, Amazon doesn't care what it does to anybody anywhere, so it can be bought on there.

I've learned the magical phrase for this is "liquid electrical tape" and probably a few other names. Found one such at a ACE hardware. A tube will more than fill the back of a GPI sensor. The other thing I've found is that there is a gasket associated with the GPI and our stateside supplier, EME, calls the GPI a Transmission Switch - BMW K Bike; 61 31 1 459 593,61 31 1 459 001 / BMW.
Go figure. And there was no such gasket on the GPI when I removed it. Maybe a part of the problems I encountered.

jjefferies wrote:The other thing I've found is that there is a gasket associated with the GPI and our stateside supplier, EME, calls the GPI a Transmission Switch - BMW K Bike; 61 31 1 459 593,61 31 1 459 001 / BMW.
Go figure.

Probably because BMW labels it as a transmission switch in its parts fiche.

Well that's interesting. I've removed five GPIs and not one of them had a gasket underneath. Two of them I can be absolutely certain had never been removed previously.

Dai wrote:Well that's interesting. I've removed five GPIs and not one of them had a gasket underneath. Two of them I can be absolutely certain had never been removed previously.

That's uh, reassuring? And just to make it more interesting, here is a pointer to MAXBMW's fiche showing it as part #23 (their number)  
 https://shop.maxbmw.com/fiche/DiagramsMain.aspx?vid=51739&rnd=07242017

And now I notice there is a "na" marked on the fiche. That means I just went and bought $7.00 worth of gasket making paper without need. But EME shows the gasket. I is confused. Is it needed/not needed or nice to have?  I really need to finish this project.

If you've got it, use it. You can't lose that way.