Around 8 months ago I ran into a strange issue with my headlight switch. It no longer centered on the electrical contact - lights went off / on / off with each bump. I purchased a used one with same features (auto on) from a gent who was breaking the car. All of a sudden my headlight switch worked normal, the replacement went on the shelf.

Yesterday it happened again. For diagnosis/reference let me describe. When you turn the selector to any position on a working switch (parking lights, head lights, auto on), you can feel the intent position where the switch makes the contact and all works well. What happened to me was like something inside the switch mechanism came loose. Turn to headlights and the indent that normally stops the movement wasn't there. Yes you could manually position the selector over the proper spot, but nothing was holding it in place. First bump may = no headlights.

FWIW the BPM treated the selection wherever it landed as ON - the fog lights could be turned on/off at will regardless of the headlight state.

I was fortunate that the guy who sold this to me gave me the entire assembly: the turn signal swtich, black plastic housing that fits over center of steering wheel and managed turn signal reset, and the wiper washer assembly. I say fortunate because I could study how to remove the turn signal/headlight switch before I got in there. There is one white connector that would have stumped me. The connector that is on the car side is extracted away towards the front of the car, leaving the female connector somehow firmly secured in the black plastic housing. I realized after studying it, it just requires a significant pressure , also towards the front of the vechicle, to unhook the female connector (which is part of the turn signal assembly). Once you get that free the other connectors are obvious and not too difficult to get to.

IMO to get this turn signal assembly out, you need to disconnect the entire black plastic housing. It looks a lot more complicated than it is. Just note the 6 o'clock position of the 2 wire harness that feed into the steering wheel (one air bag connector; one switch connector). It must be reinstalled at 6 oclock or you will never get the steering wheel back on.

As I took out the old turn signal assembly I saw an open (dangling) grey wire. Nope no such orphan wire on the new assembly - I wondered to myself. Could it be? I haven't had the factory tilt steering wheel controls working in 5 years. . . Side bar: I also wondered if I'd restore the Headlights On circuit that lights the symbol on the dashboard. That symbol never worked again after my first dive into resoldering a loose wire on the turn signal's circuit board years ago. Don't get me wrong I don't miss it (hate that indicator in fact - it doesn't dim), just worried the new switch may restore it.

Well after feeding the wires back through the steering wheel housing, and spending 5 minutes trying to find the female recepticle for the dangling mail connector (duh - it was the tilt switch connection you disconnect each time you take the lower steering wheel cowl off), I got it all back together, connected the battery, and turned the car on.

Auto headlight selected - Nothing! Ouch I thought how the *#*** did this happen. Did I buy a defective switch? It gets better - I selected headlights and pressed the front fog light switch - Nothing! This is going . . Then I remembered! I've seen this before. The car needs to sit for a minute, or go through a couple of on / off cycles before headlight function goes normal after being disconnected like this. Turned her off / on - Sure enough auto works, fog works - Headlights and turn signals work as they should! Glad I remember seeing that before I'd have gone nuts.

Then - I tried the swtich Tilt up. IT WORKS! This whole time I had an open connection in the wire harness. Guys years ago I actually built a 3 relay 4 switch bypass after trying everything else I could to fix that function. Oh well now I have the normal switch and a custom bypass switch that isn't blocked from working at all speeds like the factory switch is.

Oh yeah - the Headlight Indicator is still off. Must be a burned out bulb that I'll never replace .

Well it was kind of a good feeling to solve the tilt unexpectedly. What did I learn here? I'm going to advise the next guy who has to resolder a wire on the turn signal board to unscrew both the turn signal assembly and the wiper assembly to pull the entire housing back. It will give you a lot easier access to the wires and the circuit board that way. Guess I pictured about a thousand springs ready to shoot all over the garage if I pulled that out Like I said it's not as complicated as it looks.

John

 

Good info John.

However I think we should start a gofundme page to get John a camera so we can get some pics next time.

 

Made me laugh at myself!!! You are so right, next time promise.

John

 

Do you mean the tilt steering wheel ? The auto tilt that everybody has problems with ? Or is this another kind of tilt ? (I'm a little dense this morning)

 

Oh yes I meant tilt and telescope on demand.

John