If your turn signal lever has lost it's “feel” and/ or it won't hold position or won't cancel properly, the following repair should put it right. Note that this repair does not address electical problems, just mechanical issues (although it will allow you to clean the contacts that might be the cause of faults in signal flashing). The repair documents the original...
Most Excellent Turn Signal Mechanism Repair
that was created by George Davis, a frequent contributor on this board. I just took his repair notes and expanded on them a little. Hope it is of some use,
Greg
1.)Remove steering wheel and horn contacts.
1.Pop the center cap off the wheel; remove the 22mm nut and lock washer. Pull off wheel after marking carefully for orientation of steering shaft (if you put the wheel back even one spline off it will drive you nuts later). Prise the outer retaining ring off the steering column (it is just held on by friction from a few ears that both hold the ring on the column as well as space it properly from the shoulder of the column). Remove the three set screws for the center horn contact, noting their approximate depth so that when you put it all back together you will have an easy time adjusting the horn action. If you have bad nerves or nearby neighbors you may want to disconnect the battery for both removal and install.
2.Disattach the two horn wires from the center horn contact. Brown wire on the bottom, striped on top.
3.If you want to service the shaft bearing now is a good time. If you don't want to service the bearing, go on to Step 2.). Otherwise, loosen the two 5mm hex bolts from the bearing carrier. Don't undo the bolts all the way until after the Step 2.), which allows you to reach your fingers in to manipulate the clamshell brackets that hold this assembly together. Assuming you have done Step 2.), remove the bolts, catching the clamshell brackets (pair, upper and lower), square nuts and springs from inside the column. Drop at least two of these down the column so that they lodge too far down the column to reach with you fingers. Consider yourself lucky none of the parts are aluminum and can be retrieved with a magnetic pickup wand. Note carefully which bracket is top and which is bottom. They look identical but they are not. Remove the outer and inner circlips holding the race and bearing to the shaft. Use suitable puller to remove bearing carrier and bearing. (You can remove it without a puller, but don't be hasty or dumb with a screwdriver). Service the bearing and replace in reverse order, except for the following: Do not reinstall the bearing in the carrier until after you have mounted the carrier and the clamshell bracket back on the shaft. You will otherwise never be able to get the clamshell back on properly. To remount the clamshell, put the assembly back together before installing on the shaft, with the square nuts, springs, clamshell brackets, carrier and hex bolts all fit as slack as possible. Reassemble by using the play in the clamshell halves to make scrunch them the smallest diameter possible, allowing you to slide the entire assembly in from the front of the column and around the shaft. Once you have the clamshell brackets in position behind the retaining plates in the column, line the whole thing up accurately (if it is not lined up properly the cancel function of your turn signal will be confused) and tighten down the bolts.
2.)Remove the boot from the lever assembly; then remove the two screws that hold the assembly to the column. Disattach the pin connector from under dash, above clutch pedal. There are two pin connectors there: disattach the one closest to the front of the car. (On my car the other pin connector, which I assume connects other dash functions, is exactly the same as the pin connector for the stalk function. You could literally swap them, resulting in some very interesting electical connections. Imagine a modern car with two connectors that were interchangeable and marvel at the fact that this was not an issue, liability wise or other, in the 60's.). With the connector disattached, give yourself some slack in the harness and carefully pull the lever assembly out of the column; you can get about 8 inches to work with.
3.)Remove the 4 slotted screws from the back of the assembly, don't allow it to pop open on you: carefully allow the back to open revealing the copper contact and pressure spring. Note the orientation of the contact: you can reassemble it two ways and the assembly doesn't care which...but you will. The flat side of the contact should match the flat side of the plastic block into which it fits. You can stop now to clean the contacts, don't remove too much metal from the nubs or you will have to figure out a repair for that and write one of these damn repair notes yourself. Remove the plastic block, careful you don't drop the guide pins that go through the piece. Now that this is apart you can see why you needed to remove the horn contacts, and now you are ready to remove the assembly to your work bench.
4.)Have children and easily offended purist mechanics leave the garage, this next step gets ugly. This next step may lend itself to a more elegant repair method, but I could not figure a better way. So if you are not a member of the either of the aformentioned groups, proceed to step 5.)
5.)The lever arm must come out (the arm has soldered wires attached to it that are not otherwise removable) so that you can get the assembly to your bench for the actual repair. To get the arm out, you must remove the two screwpins that act as pivots in the lever box for the lever arm. The only way I could accomplish this was to unscrew these screwpins with...needle nose pliers. Carefully unscrew these screwpins, watch that when you get them out that the lever doesn't pop out and eject the spring and/or ball bearing trapped at it's end. It is a surprisingly strong spring that controls the action of the lever for high-beam flashing. Note for reassembly: Partially refit the screwpins and washers so the the pins are flush with the inner margin of the lever box. Put a piece of wood, like a short 2x4, on your lap. Hold the lever in one hand and force it into the lever box / partial assembly which, in turn, is supported by the wood across your lap. Press the lever straight into the lever box and completely compress the spring against the ball bearing and against the pivot point in the lever box. You may want to use a towel or heavy leather glove on the hand you use to hold/push down on the lever. It would be easy to jig this assembly together on the bench, out of the car, but I could not figure out how. With the spring fully compressed, carefully tease the screwpins into the lever, I used a combination of a jeweler's screwdriver and...needle nose pliers.
6.)With the lever arm off and left behind in the car, remove the assembly to your bench. Inspect the assembly, you will probably find that one or both of studs that hold the pivot arms (see pic) are loose. The arms pivot on hollow pins that are mashed (on assembly) on one end and, along with a tiny washer, keep the arm in place. If the arm has any wobble in it then you have found your problem. You may even have lost the tiny washers from the top of the mashed pin(s) (in the pic, you will see that I had lost the washer from one of the pins). If you don't have any issue with these pins then your problem lies elsewhere. The springs that tension both levers and the spring that pushes the cancel tab are easily replaceable, would suggest doing that now just for good measure. If your problem is electrical, this set of repair instructions won't help. Call Mr. Sparky.
7.)Have ready: a new #43 drill bit -- this is a soft casting, and you only get one shot at it, a sharp and clean bit is essential. Use only a #43 bit, don't substitute a metric or inch equivalent. #43 refers to a wire size, and any good hardware store will have it); a #4 tap; two prepared #4 x 40 x 1 inch stainless pan head phillips machine screws. To prepare the screws, use a suitable grinder to remove approximately 1/2 of the heads: grind them flat (so that instead of a pan head you end up with a thin pancake head) and so that you have just barely enough purchase for your jeweler's phillips head screwdriver. It works out that the head will be flat and thin enough just when the slots can still accept a 5/64 inch phillips head screwdriver. You need to do this to create clearance for the mechanism.
8.)If you don't replace the springs, at least release them now. It is essential that the levers and pins be precisely perpendicular to the assembly when you drill them out, and you can't assure that condition with them under tension.
9.)With the levers and pins flat and perpendicular, carefully drill through the center of the pins, all of the way through the assembly. Yes, you can do this by holding the assembly by hand, against a wooden surface. Now, from the same direction you drilled, of course, tap the holes with the 4-40 tap.
10.)You will now have a complete mess on your hands, and the assembly needs to be spotless before the next step. Wash the whole thing in a suitable bath, be careful that if you use a strong solvent that you neutralize before you relube, as the plastic cancel tab will otherwise get brittle and will be subject to wear/breakage. Now you can see how elegant this assembly is, and then wonder when VDO got out of the business of making these beautiful mechanical assemblies...and why.
11.)Use compressed air to completely dry the entire assembly, paying attention to the springs buried beneath the levers.
12.)Carefully thread the prepared screws into the tapped holes. You will need to deflect the levers, one at a time, to allow the screw heads to pass by and seat in the assembly. Careful with torque: you know by now how soft and thin the receiving material is. Now you can either use a dremmel to cut off the portion of the screws that extend outside the assembly or, as I did, use a very sharp nipper to do the job. Finally, back the screws off a few turns and locktite the receiving holes (from the back!), then reset them in their final position.
13.)Reattach the springs.
14.)Use appropriate grease and oil to lubricate the mechanism. You can actuate the mechanism by carefully moving the lever box with a suitable tool, (I did not mention needle nose pliers again, out of respect for any real mechanic who is still reading) and marvel at how it all works. Now the lever should hold when it should hold and cancel when you deflect the cancel tab in the opposit rotational direction from the lever's deflection.
15.)In my case, I needed to go one step further. The end of the cancel tab had worn down enough that it would cancel sometimes but not always on RH turns. But I did not realize that until after putting everything back together. No problem, you can reassemble everything before taking this next step, as the final repair can be done with the assembly in the car (with the assembly intact but pulled out of the column).
16.)Before reassembly, use a flashlight to look into the side of the steering column for the raised cancel plate on the steering shaft. It should center at exactly 270 degrees when the steering wheel is straight ahead (there is a punch mark on the end of my steering shaft that indicates straight up / straight ahead, don't know if PO did that or if it is factory). If the cancel plate is off-center, you will not cancel properly. The only solution I see here is to set the plate at 270 degrees, then set the wheel for straight ahead, then have the tie rods adjusted so the car actually goes straight ahead. If that's all good, your done.
17.)I love this part, I can now get back for all the times I have read “reassemble in reverse order”. Reassemble in reverse order.
18.)Now, if you still don't cancel properly, you can take the next step. You need to add some length to the cancel tab, a few mm's is all you need. A #25 plastic tie, the kind used for large bundles of cables, happens to fit the head of the cancel tab to a tee. Cut a piece from the plastic tie of a length to just fit the head (about 3/8 inch). Carefully place one drop of super glue on the head of the cancel tab and, with steady hand and tweezers, set the cut piece of plastic tie on the head. Let it dry. Step away from the car...let it dry (2 hours).
19.)Now enjoy your car, teach yourself to keep your hands off the lever like you used to when you needed to hold the turn indicator and/or cancel it by hand.
Please, please feel free to make any changes to this repair note to correct any of the likely mistakes I have made, and put the needle nose pliers away.
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Download Attachment: with new screws.JPG68.61 KB
'64 230sl, fully sorted out...ooops, spoke too soon
