Anyone rebuilt their directional signal stalk?

[n/a]

Seems this is one of those parts that is stageringly expensive to replace, yet is prone to problems after years of use. I've seen articles on improving the detents so it stays up or down. What about electrical issues? Has anyone rebuilt one of these?

I have a short somewhere. When I signal left, the fuse blows. Could be almost anywhere, but I'm thinking it might be in the stalk. My wipers don't go either. Haven't had a chance to do a thorough debug, but thought I'd toss the stalk rebuild question to the group.

I have to resort to hand signals. My fear is that most drivers today have no idea what I'm doing. Then again, most drivers don't signal in the first place.

Shawn Rock
Philly, PA USA
1968 280 SL 4 speed

[George Davis]

Shawn,

I've done some work on the turn signal switch.  I'm guessing yours has the same problem mine had.  There are two pivots in the switch that were made by mashing out the tops of two studs that are part of the main casting.  These mashed sections eventually break off, and when they do they look sort of like a small washer.  In addition, there is a washer under the mashed section which might come off.  So you now have 1 to 4 small, conductive pieces of metal floating around in the switch, any one of which can cause a short to ground and cause the fuse to blow if it gets in the wrong place.  This is repairable, see this discussion string and look for my post:

http://pagoda113.com/eve/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=3846000021&f=2076001521&m=6266031521&r=6266031521#6266031521


George Davis
'69 280 SL Euro manual

[rwmastel]

George's post from mercedes113.org:

Now that I think about it more, the problem I had was that the turn signals wouldn't stay on, but maybe the problems are related. What happened is this: there are two little metal rockers that pivot on little studs. The studs are part of the main switch casting. I think the springs attach at one end of the rockers, the other end has a small roller on it. The ends of the cast-on studs were originally mashed out like a rivet head to retain the rockers. There is also a small washer between the rocker and the mashed stud head. In my case, the mashed stud heads had broken off. The rockers and washers stayed on the studs, but since they were no longer tightly held, the rockers could twist, which got the rollers out of alignment, and this caused the problem.

The fix was to drill down through the center of the studs, tap the holes and install #4-40 round-head machine screws. The screw heads replace the mashed stud heads and keep the rockers from twisting. I left the washers out and had to grind the screw heads down so that the mechanism would clear them, and had to recut the screwdriver slot with a dremel and cut-off wheel. Used a tiny bit of lock-tite to hold the screws in place, making sure not to get any lock-tite into the mechanism. The screws stuck out on the other side of the casting, a few seconds with the dremel and cut-off disc took care of them after lock-titing. Work carefully, and reassemble and test before lock-titing, and make sure no little pieces of metal (or a stray washer) are left in the mechanism, they cause short-circuits and blow fuses (learned that the hard way, of course). Last, use 1 inch long 4-40 screws, they have to be cut off anyway and longer screws are easier to work with.

Hope this is helpful, my turn signals have been working well since doing this.


Also, check out this old thread in our own forum, very informative!
http://index.php?topic=554

Rodd
Powell, Ohio, USA
1966 230SL, Euro, Auto, Leather, both  tops
1994 E420