turn signal switch

[Banana Bonanza]

Look at the white wishbone shaped piece I circled in the pic. I have half of it!

Thats all I need, complete wishbone. Just that piece and of course cant buy the 5cent piece for $15 or whatever the crazy markup is for plastic trivia. Cant buy it at any price short of price of a new $120 complete switch assembly on ebay. And even new switch off ebay would just be more shelf aged plastic that would be likely to break in near future. Plastic is the greatest material ever for those wanting planned obsolescence. Make the part multifunctional and UNIQUE, then make it out of plastic which of course isnt repairable and ages poorly, then discontinue offering the part.

Its a simple shape and symmetrical so I could make it of metal though steel would wear quickly into the other plastic that interacts with this piece. Even aluminum probably wear into plastic quickly... If I were experienced wood carver and knew what kind wood would be best probably could make one out of wood. Something like boxwood or teak I suppose...

Anybody else find way of fixing this switch?

If no suggestions, will try making one out of metal. When that fails by eating into the other plastic piece, will just make one of those turn signal / emergency flasher switches out of four generic Bosch relays and two toggle switches. Unfortunately that will lose the self cancelling ability but suppose I can add some little piezo buzzer to the mix to sound off when turn signal engaged and remind me to manually cancel.

[Christ]

I can sell you the complete multi-switch for $20 and shipping...

[Banana Bonanza]

Same problem, old plastic. I have done this in past on other cars, old plastic under stress doesnt hold up. Doesnt matter if its been in a car or just setting on dusty shelf someplace. But thanks for offer. Thats a fair price for used one.

Its just that I dont want to do this every couple years. If I have to go to toggle switch and relay solution, so be it and such generic parts are cheap / easily replaceable if they ever do fail. That does work just no auto cancel unless I come up with timing circuit.

First though I will make an all metal wishbone and go with that long as possible. Who knows, might outlast the car. Wishbone is obviously the weak point in this assembly. Just like the plastic legs on the C shape on older GM car turnsignal switch was weak point. But at least some third party finally offered reproductions of it for cheap.

[1chrisapple]

kinda silly to re engineer he signal switch when they are so readily available and cheap and easy to change.but your car your territory. I was gonna offer a used unit for about same price but your not interested

[Banana Bonanza]

I was hoping somebody had an ingenious long lasting way to repair the old switch. Not sell me an old switch cheap that wont last that long. Short term thinking yes re-engineering switch is probably not worth it, but as I say old plastic doesnt hold up long term. These switches will get rarer and rarer. Also I rather do this once and never touch it again for the life of the car. Long term, its better to re-engineer.

I have been looking and think maybe remove the combo switch completely and I possibly could adapt an old Volvo 240 turn switch. And should be able to make it cancel. Those old Volvo switches lasted forever, well most older Volvo parts did before Ford and whatever the new company Ford sold Volvo to owned it. But I would have to move the wiper switch to dash. The Volvo switch did high/low beam so that might be able to hook up.

I'll figure it out if the metal wishbone I am putting in current switch doesnt last or rather the part it rubs against doesnt last....

[GenevaDirt]

first person I have seen in all my time here asking for that part. I have had 7 Festy's...currently 4 and have never had an issue with any of the signal switches. Maybe go a little easier when hitting the turn signals....

[Chobobulous]

Boil the plastic in water as per the other thread:p

[burnt_toast]

I bond plastic together in two different ways. One is to super glue the pieces together then fiberglass the broken pieces. That won't work here because fiberglass doesn't really "bond" to plastic, it just adheres.

The other method would work but it would be so freakin' frustrating to do on a part that small. Get thin sheet metal like .080" and cut 2 strips. Make like a splint to bridge the 2 broken halves then drill and rivet. If a rivet is too large a diameter use bailing wire or .032" lockwire and be really determined with the workmanship so there's no wiggle/flex.

Like I said, mighty long day at the office to accomplish that. It's the kind of job I'd only do if there was nothing available and a repair was my only option.
-toast

EDIT: Also, if you made the whole piece out of metal and didn't want it to wear the mating surface, put a thin bead of JB Weld where it will contact the plastic. Paint it on with a brush or cotton swab. Again, time consuming.

[Christ]

Plain ole' urethane or enamel paint and/or liberal amounts of a thick grease at the contact points would work just fine, even metal to plastic.

If it were me optioning to make another piece, I'd cast one from plastic. the only part that takes any time is making the mold and melting the plastic in a pot, but if you're determined to break that part repeatedly on every multi-switch you come across, it may be better in the long run to have the mold already around.

Short of that, get a scrap piece of Delrin and cut/file to your heart's content.

If you want to go the signal/switch route, use momentary contact switches and latching on/off relays or a timed relay, like you mentioned.

[Banana Bonanza]

EDIT: Also, if you made the whole piece out of metal and didn't want it to wear the mating surface, put a thin bead of JB Weld where it will contact the plastic. Paint it on with a brush or cotton swab. Again, time consuming.

Hmm, worth a try though I imagine JBWeld would crumble. The only thing I have found JBWeld good for is to seal between two flat surfaces. Now there is that "wears like steel" putty epoxy on every chain auto parts store checkout. It might work for an edge. Its nothing like steel but it does form nice hard glob and doesnt crumble.

first person I have seen in all my time here asking for that part. I have had 7 Festy's...currently 4 and have never had an issue with any of the signal switches. Maybe go a little easier when hitting the turn signals....

Use the website search engine! I am not the first to have problems with this switch and its always that wishbone that fails. Though everybody else in the search results was looking for cheap used one, not to fix their existing switch. One guy mentioned he somehow glued a thin strip metal to the broken plastic wishbone and made it work. No pics but all I could think is that it would be easier to just shape a complete new one out of metal.... Glueing things to plastic never ended well for me. And on such a tiny piece.... Also I could only find the one half of the wishbone, no idea where the other half went. But since its symmetrical, I still have a pattern.

And nope, havent been heavy handed with the switch or different part would have failed, just getting old enough the plastic failed. Just like that throttle cable on my F250 crumbled cause Ford made the sheath out of plastic. Simular poor design on that wishbone if they just had to make it of plastic, too thin in the middle.

Looking at various switches on ebay, noticed Mazda, GM, Ford, and others have now went to the trigger design turn signal switch Volvo originated. Course unlike the old Volvo switches, the copies are all plastic. Nobody wants to make anything that lasts TOO long anymore and plastic is perfect material to accomplish that. Its going to fail eventually, no doubt about it.

If it were me optioning to make another piece, I'd cast one from plastic. the only part that takes any time is making the mold and melting the plastic in a pot,

Made me think of those newstories of the 3D printer that can make small plastic parts, think somebody even made a working gun. That maybe the future for anybody wanting to restore a machine from the plastic encrustation period of engineering. Eventually though the logic of using metal and making things to last a hundred years is wiser use of resources, even if the item price is a little higher. Plastic is just crazy idea of maximizing profit and minimizing useful life of any manufactured good. So of course you then have to buy another. Bend over and ask "may I have another please...."

Ok, may have found a solution. This past spring I made one of those self watering grow boxes out of an old 55 gallon plastic barrel. There were couple disks I sawed out of one end for wick tubes to go. Anyway that end plastic is pretty strong and durable. It also is correct thickness. So with a hacksaw, I cut out a new complete wishbone, cleaned up edges a bit with a dremel. Just out to car where I installed it.

Well first of all it lets turn signal lever stay in position cause spring now holds little steel balls in the notch. It cancels when turning wheel in one direction, but looks like I cleaned up edges on other end bit too much and so it only sometimes cancels.

I have time, probably make a new one tomorrow and make that edge thicker on both ends so it easily cancels both ways. It didnt take very long to do, the hacksaw cuts through this plastic easily and quickly. Just matter of making cuts as accurately as possible.

Now how long it will last is another question altogether. With plastic there are no longevity guarantees. But pretty sure this plastic wont eat into the cancellation cam bumps like metal would. And I will save the plastic so I can make several of these if needed. Amazing it hadnt already got thrown away. One of nice things living alone, if I dont do it, nobody else will. And I rarely throw out anything that looks at all useful for future projects.

[Banana Bonanza]

Think I would be successful if I hadnt misplaced the white round thing with the cancellation bumps on it. I remember putting it someplace clever so I wouldnt lose it. But its been very hot weather last couple days and I procrastinated.... and forgot the clever place I put it.

Anyway here is pic of switch with final wishbone plus earlier one and the broken half of original:



It will work just without auto cancel when steering wheel turned. And I will probably find it one of these days.....

[1990new]

This would probably last:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon-fiber-reinforced_polymer

Thanks for the information in this thread.
I have a switch in the garage now which is broken at the same place. Don't need it now but may in the future. I'm going to
try to make a piece to fix it like you did.

[GenevaDirt]

Use the website search engine! I am not the first to have problems with this switch and its always that wishbone that fails. Though everybody else in the search results was looking for cheap used one, not to fix their existing switch. One guy mentioned he somehow glued a thin strip metal to the broken plastic wishbone and made it work. No pics but all I could think is that it would be easier to just shape a complete new one out of metal.... Glueing things to plastic never ended well for me. And on such a tiny piece.... Also I could only find the one half of the wishbone, no idea where the other half went. But since its symmetrical, I still have a pattern.

And nope, havent been heavy handed with the switch or different part would have failed, just getting old enough the plastic failed. Just like that throttle cable on my F250 crumbled cause Ford made the sheath out of plastic. Simular poor design on that wishbone if they just had to make it of plastic, too thin in the middle.

Looking at various switches on ebay, noticed Mazda, GM, Ford, and others have now went to the trigger design turn signal switch Volvo originated. Course unlike the old Volvo switches, the copies are all plastic. Nobody wants to make anything that lasts TOO long anymore and plastic is perfect material to accomplish that. Its going to fail eventually, no doubt about it.

well I only see 1 from 2009 that expresses the reason for repair "may be" for the same reason you are talking about. All others are different issues and just a "want" to upgrade to an intermittent wiper switch.

[Banana Bonanza]

well I only see 1 from 2009 that expresses the reason for repair "may be" for the same reason you are talking about. All others are different issues and just a "want" to upgrade to an intermittent wiper switch.

Did you happen to read the post IN THIS THREAD by "1990 new" just before your latest post? De-nial is not just a river in Egypt. I counted at least half dozen posts of broken switches before I gave up the search since people were just replacing switches not trying to repair old ones. The reason you dont read a lot about this problem is because its still relatively trivial since you can still find used switches on Festivas and 323s that fit for like $15 at a pick a part yard. Rockauto is still selling new old stock switches for $50. Few are going to mess much to save relatively small amount (and figure out a long term solution) except some crazy like me that doesnt see sense in replacing junk with more junk that has same weakness. This is ending as the cars disappear and the plastic has reached age where it gets brittle. Next five years you will see lot more posts I am sure. Though even then most will just pony up $50 until Rockauto and other sellers run out. I doubt anybody is going to make new production run at this point.

[jason_]

I remember putting it someplace clever so I wouldnt lose it.

... Then unable to remember or find....

That theory has shafted me so many times....



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