Late headlight switch repair

From THE Corrado Forum Knowledge Base

'lo all,

My headlight switch broke and I didn't fancy paying £53 for a new one from the dealer. I mended mine, and took some photos along the way... thought I'd put 'em on here in case someone else wants to attempt a repair.

Remove switch from dash, disconnect connector, and take the switch into a nice clear area - there's small parts, which you'll lose if you do it on a messy desk (like I nearly did!).

Unclip the clips with a small screwdriver, and slide the two bits apart.

Watch out for the dash light rheostat when you've got everything to bits - it's only attached by its resistance wire which looks a bit delicate.

Take the rocker off by pushing it in towards the connector face (this pops the pivots out of their holes), then sliding it sideways a bit until it can come past the pivot holes. This took me a few goes.

Here's what the switch contacts look like.

The tabs on the rocker break off, so they can't slide that white bit back and forth.

Luckily, there's enough space for us to add reinforcement.

This space is on the outside of the tabs - created by this blinge that spaces the pivot away from its corresponding shear web.

Make or buy some repair pieces, and check that they fit.

Glue those mofos on, along with the old broken plastic bits - make sure you line everything up where it used to be!

Note the use of twigs from the garden to keep the pieces in place while the glue sets - I used areldite rapid. Also, one of the black bobbles on my tabs had been melted - this is why it's shorter than the metal bit, which is the shape of a healthy tab. Don't make the bobbles on your repair pieces any bigger than the original ones or they won't fit into the while sliding bit.

Put the rocker back into the front half of the switch body - note how the pegs stick through the gaps.
If it doesn't move back and forth all the way, you might need to file a bit off these edges.
Put the dash light knob into its middle position so that when you reassemble, the wiper rides up this ramp.

Line up the bobbles on the tabs with the holes in the white sliding bit when you're putting it together.

And there you have it! Click!

Hope this helps someone out, feel free to give feedback and ask for clarification.

Cheers, -- Olly (Funkster)

Note: These metal repair kits are now available from daves16v on the forum for £5 inc P&P (within the UK).