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Jim Koepke
04-18-2011, 11:37 PM
About a week ago we were driving home from Oregon because the road was closed into our local town.

For the story on that see:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?163796-When-One-Road-Closes%85

It was dark and while we were driving the headlights decided to have a bit of fun. When I went from high beam to low beam, it went dark.

I said, "that's not right."

My wife thought I was playing around.

The high beams would come on and stay on, but no low beams.

So today I am looking at this and trying to figure out how to trouble shoot and take it apart.

I liked the old days when there was just a big switch on the floor to change the beams and it cost about $3 for a new one. Now days there is a fancy switch on the steering column that works the lights, the wipers, the turn signals, the four way flashers and the cruise control on some cars. If only it made coffee.

Of course, today's switch that can do so many things is going to be about $200 unless you find it at a discount for $29.99. Still a lot more than that old fashioned $3 floor switch.

Besides you can't even take it apart if you do not have the star drivers and the special star drivers with the hole in the center. Good thing I do not get rid of tools I don't think I will ever use again.

I looked all kinds of places for more information on this, but from all that is going on, it seems it is this "super" switch that is going south.

For a while before the head light problem, the four way flashers have not been right. They all blink but the passenger side arrow on the instrument panel and sometimes the front passenger side marker light decide to take a nap.

The turn signal seems to work most of the time, but sometimes it was a rapid blink when the signal was set for a right turn.

Then the head light thing happened. I have found that pulling back the lever with the high beams on, but not pulling it all the way, the low beams come on. If it is let go at that point, I can get the low beams stay on. Kind of dicey for regular on road use.

Another reason to make me think something mechanical has gone wrong inside the switch. It is kind of intimidating in all its sealed plasticness. When I was young and broke, I would likely take it apart and try to fix it. Most of the time I was pretty lucky with that kind of thing. In those days, switches were switches and didn't come with so many bells and whistles. This super cluster switch with its bits of electronics, cams, gears and levers could be more than even the most accomplished tinkerer might tackle without breaking some delicate part that was meant to do nothing other than to go ka-boing and make little pieces of switch fly every which way.

So, I guess a day or two more will be spent searching the car forums before ordering a new switch and then putting my truck back together.

Then I'll take that sucker apart just to see if I could have fixed it.

jtk

Shawn Pixley
04-19-2011, 9:59 AM
Jim, I feel your pain. From the sound of it to me, I would guess the problem lies not with the switch in the steering column, but in the relay switch elsewhere. The switch in the column would not be built to take the amperage of the headlights. It typically drives a relay switch elsewhere. With the flasher problem, I would look there first.

I did take apart the column switch on an old corolla once. Never again. Find a junk yard and get a new one?

Joe Angrisani
04-19-2011, 10:53 AM
.....Find a junk yard and get a new one......

Impossible, by definition. :)

Jim Rimmer
04-19-2011, 11:24 AM
In the old days I would start with the flasher module or look for a burned out bulb. These days - :eek:

Brian Brown
04-19-2011, 1:53 PM
Same problem a few years ago. It was the Multi switch/lever on the steering column. The contacts got so worn they wouldn't trigger the relays. Bite the bullet, and get a new one. If you get one from a junk yard, you have a high probability of getting one that is on the verge of worn out. Junk yards typically sell the newer and better parts to regular customers (mechanic shops and body shops), and leave the older parts for those who only come in occasionally to the counter.

Jim Koepke
04-19-2011, 2:04 PM
Thanks all for the replies and moral support.


I would guess the problem lies not with the switch in the steering column, but in the relay switch elsewhere. The switch in the column would not be built to take the amperage of the headlights. It typically drives a relay switch elsewhere. With the flasher problem, I would look there first.

Yes, I do understand what you are saying and this was one of my first thoughts. The part that makes me think different is all of the disfunction is in the same junction, i.e. this multi switch. Then it is the mode of the failures that direct me to this again. The flasher is the same for left and right turns. I have been looking for the location of the headlight hi-lo relay. It seems that it is buried beneath the power distribution box. But I can make the contact and make the relay work. So that leads back to a mechanical problem back at malfunction junction.

Knowing that my logic could be all wrong and not needing the truck for a few days has me cogitating on my next move before I dive in.

So, any other hints, comments or blowing holes in my theory are more than welcome.

jtk

Jeff Wittrock
04-19-2011, 6:23 PM
Sometimes I'll look on ebay for a part and get lucky. Same risk as a junk yard I guess unless you happen to find a new one. I keep a Chiltons manual for our older car to, but I usually end up finding better information just googling. It's just with googling, you end up sifting through a lot of bad advice to find some good advice and hope that the distinction between the two is obvious.

Good luck with the switch. My 98 Ranger has a problem where if I put the air control to the window defrost position, I hear the Air Conditioning clutch engage.

-Jeff

Jim Koepke
04-19-2011, 6:45 PM
My 98 Ranger has a problem where if I put the air control to the window defrost position, I hear the Air Conditioning clutch engage.

Most cars will use the air from the air conditioning unit to defrost the windows. Depending on the type of air conditioner, the air should be dry and will remove the fog from the window quicker.

jtk

Bryan Morgan
04-19-2011, 11:55 PM
If you figure it out let me know. I have a problem with my column lever switch on my Ford. The headlights work ok as its a separate pull switch on the dash, but the wipers don't work. Rather, as long as its not raining they work fine. When it rains none of the wiper settings except max work. This is ok as long as I leave it on full blast or manually flick the knob from time to time.... but I have to time it right or the wipers stop in the middle of the windshield.

Jim Koepke
04-20-2011, 9:44 PM
When it rains none of the wiper settings except max work. This is ok as long as I leave it on full blast or manually flick the knob from time to time.... but I have to time it right or the wipers stop in the middle of the windshield.

This does seem weird. Things could be different, but in the old days there was power to the wiper motor even with the switch off. This allowed for the end of cycle sensor to shut off power to the motor so the wipes wouldn't stop mid wipe. If all the power to the motor goes through the switch, then I would suspect the switch. I do not know how the different makers do the time delays on the wipers. I suspect mine goes to a relay somewhere under the dash board. The control on the steering column could be just a resistor pack, or it could be some simple electronics to drive a relay.

It could be the control part has gone bad or it could be the electronic time delay circuit. Knowing how the control is set up and where all the components are located is one of the needed parts of troubleshooting.

Good luck,

jtk

Larry Edgerton
04-21-2011, 6:14 AM
My brother, who is a master mechanic, wires in a foot pedal high/low switch on his personal cars. Its nothing I would attempt, but easy for him.

Steering columns keep getting worse, they keep adding more controls to the wheel. I miss the old days when I could work on my own car. I just bought a 47 Dodge pickup, I am going to enjoy playing with that. Simple.

Barry Bruner
04-21-2011, 7:00 PM
It`s always something is better than the alternative. I miss the little button on the floor, they were way to simple, even I could change one. They have too many people hired to unsimplify things. BARRY BRUNER

Charles McKinley
04-21-2011, 11:11 PM
Make sure you disconnect the battery then the airbag if you will be playing arouind there. You really don't want to set is off.

jared herbert
04-21-2011, 11:23 PM
That was my first thought, having the airbagblow up in my face if I was doing it.

Jim Koepke
04-26-2011, 9:24 PM
All is well in the world of multi-function column mounted do-hickeys.

The part arrived via Fed-Ex. I knew it would be hear right before five. We are just about the last stop on the Fed-Ex route since the area driver lives a couple doors down the road from us. Sure beats what we used to have. I would not let shippers send things by Fed-Ex because their drivers never had maps and couldn't find the court where we lived.

It came apart and went back together without any problems and now everything is working like it should.

Took the switch apart and it is unlikely I could repair that unless I was really motivated by being poor. Of course, if I was that poor I would likely be driving an older and cheaper car that could go further on a gallon of gas.

The good thing is there was a long spring inside that looks like it might be small enough to use in a drill chuck I have with a mangled spring.

That is a something for a different day.

jtk