Headlight switch shenanigans

[Tom Nas]

Hi all,

My '87 80's failing headlight switch had been lying next to me for over a
week now, so I decided to take it apart to see what's wrong. One of the
zillion previous owners of this $60 car has changed the column switches to
the later type with the more rounded stalks and the newer connectors, so
chaniging it back is really no option.
Fortunately, as opposed to the earlier type switch, this one's actually
screwed together instead of riveted. The appropriate Torx screwdriver had
it apart within seconds, revealing... nothing, really.
The frontmost switch mechanism controls the headlights (that is: city
lights and low bwam, the latter of which was dead on this switch), but I
couldn't really find out what's wrong. There are quite a few springs and
sliding contacts, most of which are catapulted around the room when you
open the switch up. I anticipated this and was able to catch everything.
There seem to be two rows of four(?) contacts at the top and the bottom of
the mechanism, the lever moving two copper sliders between the lower
contacts and a metal spring plate over the topmost contacts. Everything
looked greasy and dirty, so I cleaned the contacts and the sliders, but I
wasn't able to find any burnt-in or especially corroded contacts anywhere.
Reassembling the switch took a while, as the springs are under considerable
tension and you really need three or four hands to hold everything in place
while you assemble it. Anyway, it's back together and I'll reinstall it
next week to see if it works...

Now to see if I can find the reason why my horn doesn't work. The wire's
connected securely to the horn pad, so I wonder if there's a loose contact
somewhere (wire itself looks iffy) or if the sliding ring contact is dead.
At least having the wheel off is a good reason to test the switch.

Tom