Re: Headlamp/wiper combo switch repairable?

[Brett Dikeman <dikemanb@stu.beloit.edu>]

Amazing what cleaning out your mailbox finds!

At 1:44 PM -0500 on 9/8/97, DeWitt Harrison wrote:

> I don't mind working with small mechanisms, but having
> taken a run at this switch, I would have to answer no to
> the question. The switch is not repairable. Unfortunately,
you bet your bippy it is.  My father has done this 2 times.  Took him one
afternoon on the second try(the first repair lasted a few weeks.)

> I had already drilled out the rivets and disassembled the
> headlamp and emergency flasher switch on/off  layer before
> I understood why. (For the record, 4-40 X 1" pan head
> machine screws + 4-40 hex lock nuts work perfectly as
> rivet replacements.)
something like that.  I was nearby when he pulled it apart and I heard:
<sproing!><ping!><poing!><whizz>
"Sh$#$%*&@#*!!!  Where did it all go?!?!?"

> As I probably could have seen without taking it apart, there
> are a number of brass strips running around the outside of
> the assembly which serve as electrical connections between
> the connector pin array on the back side and various
> switch functions. Unfortunately, these strips have been
> spot welded together and swaged to contact pins in ways
soldering irons.  They work great for this sort of thing(just clean both
pieces with some steel wool or something.  Get someone to hold the two
together with pliars or something while you solder them.  If you're running
enough current through these switches to melt those joints, you got other
issues you need to worry about first :)

> In principle, one could drill out tiny spot welds and break contact
> pins out of the housing to gain access and, then, reweld
> and repair as necessary. Solder would be a no-no (melts
> way too easily for such service) as would brazing (plastic
> housing meltdown). Then there would be the matter of
> actually reconstructing the internal plastic bits that gave
> way in the first place. I think one would need to have some
The actual piece that lets go is a small roller.  Warning!  ASCII art
follows!(Well, bad ASCII art)
Here's your stalk:

__________
__________0
that little round thing is a roller bearing.  And behind it, inside the
stalk, is a VERY tough, heavy-duty spring.
Here's what the channel(that the roller rolls in) looks like:

^front of car
__  |
__0 )  <-low beam "rest spot"
    |
    )  <-high beam "rest spot"
    |
The roller bearing settles into these spots, resulting in the snappy-action
we all know and love.

Now, if you're not kind to your highbeam switch, that roller will jam and
break the thin walls of the stalk that retain it, and it'll pop out part
way.

______/o
________
this, needless to say, interferes with the snap-action.



> sort of bizarre fascination with pointless mechanical exercises
> to go down that road. (Oh, please. No cheap shots about Audi
> ownership in general.)

how did it finally get fixed?  Well, let's say I've probably got the
highest-tech, composite highbeam stalk in the world.  He wrapped fiberglass
around it, then sanded it down so it would fit.
Why make it so strong?  He summed it up:
"I don't EVER want to have to do that again."

He did get good at putting it back together again.  He used a LOT of string
and such, to hold various pieces in place.
I contributed by cleaning+polishing all the contacts and acted as the
peanut gallery :)

So, be nice to your $150 highbeam stalk :)

Brett

------
Brett Dikeman
dikemanb@stu.beloit.edu dikemanb@edison.ma.ultranet.com
~)-|
Hostes alienigeni me abduxerunt.  Qui annus est?
Te audire non possum.  Musa sapientum fixa est in aure.
------