I bought a Series 2 which needs a lot of work. On electrical, I found that the headlight switch was apparently installed side down. I get lights when top of switch is pushed in and off when bottom in. I believe this is backward but please let me know.
Presuming I am right, I may wish to invert the switch if it is not too difficult.
So my question is how is this switch removed from dash after wiring is detached? Remember this is a Series 2 dashboard.
The switch has a couple of tabs, squeeze them and push the switch forward out of the dash, pretty easy. The top of the toggle has a small white strip that shows when in the âonâ position, so this will tell you whether it is upside down or not. The switch can be opened up by prising the sides apart, but just be careful it doesnât fly apart. The contacts form hollows over time and sometimes the rollers wonât move out of that position, possibly why it may have been inverted. You can sometimes smooth out the contacts with a bit of wet and dry and get more life out of the switch, a bit of lube in there helps, too.
Another thing, the sidelight switch carries less current , so suffers less. If your headlight switch is dodgy, you can substitute the two, but you need to swap the rockers from switch to switch as the headlight one has a little lug that operates the park switch as well.
As has been noted, removing the switch involves pushing the rear tabs in and pushing the switch out. The tabs and switch housing are often brittle, and snap easily. I have found that gently heating the switch with a hair dryer softens the plastic to reduce the chances of the tabs snapping off. Donât over do it.
It also helps to drop the instrument cluster âdoorâ, and work from behind. Be sure to disconnect the battery as it is possible to inadvertently short out some other connection/circuit, there are alot of them behind that door! Label and mark where the wires were connected/take photo.
MFrank gave good advice for working on/taking apart switchesâŚdo it inside a box.There is a tiny spring inside the switches that may set records for how far it will launch itself. I have rebuilt several of my switches and often with good success. Press the tabs in from behind the cluster door with a small flat blade screwdriver or a flat blade interior trim tool.
I use a good grade of metal polish (Wenol) to clean off the contacts, followed by a careful wipe with denatured alcohol. The DA can also clean off the surface of the inside of the switch (white plastic IIRC).
If the outside of the switch needs a little polishing, the Novus series of plastic polishes is my âgo-toâ for many polishing projects. Here is the whole kit from Amazon: