I was researching fixes for a sport mode button that was stuck on (in the up position) on my 2003 XK8. The sport mode on mine activated and turned off fine but the button would not stay down. While I saw several folks with this problem, I didn't see this fix that worked for me. My sport mode button had worked fine when I got the car last August but began to act up occasionally and eventually quit engaging the lock entirely and wouldn't stay down.

So this evening I pulled the trans shifter cover where the button was mounted to see if anything was repairable or maybe just dirty (Reverend Sam's video on that was very helpful!). Once I disconnected the button from the wiring and popped it out of the cover piece I could see that while it was a little dirty, the real problem appeared to be wear in the plastic grooves and paths that allowed too much play to the small metal locking wheel.

The locking wheel is a small metal disc with two pins that is sandwiched between the body of the button and the outside of the switch body on the left side of the button. It engages a groove in the outside of the switch body and another set of grooves on the interior flat surface of the button. There was enough play that sometimes the pin that should engage the groove on the outside of the switch body would disengage completely and just rub against blank plastic. Usually you could get it back in the groove with a couple of pushes of the switch but then the other side wouldn't engage properly and it still wouldn't latch. I noticed while examining it that if I squeezed the sides of the switch body together tighter the play was removed and the lock started working again. However as soon as released, the plastic returned to it's original position and the lock stopped working again.

I tried a couple of things to try to keep the side of the switch body in a "working" position. What finally worked was using a clamp to compress the area where the groove was until the switch worked consistently, then taking a lighter ( used a long grill lighter) to heat the plastic on that side between the corners of the switch body and the clamp until it took the set of the new position. Once cooled, I pulled the clamp off, the plastic held the new set and the switch lock continued to work fine. Only a little heat is needed and not much distance had to be taken out to get the lock wheel to engage correctly. Reinstalled the switch and now it works fine.

Hope it helps someone.

Reb

 

Well done, a very creative fix....

I am curious about your 1971 240Z. My first new car was a 1974 260Z. I loved it, kept it for 13 years, and finally sold it to the son of a colleague at over 200,000 miles when we had too many other vehicles to justify keeping it any longer. I still miss it. What is the story on yours?

 

It was my first car as well Jon. And I dearly loved it. Everyone should have a sports car at least once in their life, but probably not at 18! Got in a lot of trouble with that car.
It was bored out, camed up, over sized valves, high rise induction hood, air dam and three flu radiator to try and keep it cool. With a new set of BF Goodrich Radial T/As, it would pop the front tires about an inch off the pavement. Had to chain the rear end down to keep it from breaking diff mounts and it still ate u-joints.

I drove it for about 6 years. From the end of high school to the a year or two after college. Dated my wife in it. It was in poor shape but still running when I parked it, intending to eventually restore it. I still have it but it may be beyond restoration since it has been sitting outside for WAY to many years and they were prone to rust anyway. My son has been after me to start the restoration but I have too many projects now and that is just too big a one for the moment. That '65 El Camino has been driving me nuts. Every time I think I'm done with it something else goes south. And now I think the XK8 is going to be taking up evermore of my time. The 240Z will have to wait a little longer.

 

Thanks for the details. Yep, the biggest flaw in the early Z-cars was the rust-prone steel exterior panels, especially down at the back of the wheel wells. My car experienced the same issue. Better-quality steel would have been a major improvement in those days....