My 240z Turn Signal Switch Fix

[Hardway]

The turn signal switch in my 240z is actually a "restored" switch I bought in April 2015 from Parsignault Parts on Ebay.  It has worked flawlessly up until April of this year when the right side rear would not blink but the circuit would turn off the brake light. So when I was at a stop light with the right turn signal selected, my right front turn signal flashed but the right rear light was dark with only the left brake light on.  With ZCON coming in June I wanted to get this taken care of.  After some troubleshooting I determined the problem was with the switch, UGH!  The switch was not completing the rear turn signal circuit when activated so I carefully opened up the switch and removed the rocker contact, bent the tab up a little, and reinstalled.  On the bench it tested fine but once back in the car and a few more cycles were performed, it would stop working.  The thin metal of the rocker contact has weakened over time and so I spoke to Dave Irwin about restoring.  He said he could do it and should run $70 which sounded very fair.  Before I spent any money I wanted to have another go at it.  Since the metal was fatigued I figured I would add some metal to the contacts using some rosin flux and solder.  Here it is with the first side done on the left.  

Then I did the other side.

Knowing this amount of solder was too much I started filing it down and reinstalling it on the switch base to check it.

It took a fair amount of trial and error and I ended up filing off approx. 90% of the solder.  I didn't take a picture of the final state of the contact but needless to say it worked and only took about three hours of my time total with all the troubleshooting and work I performed.  If your switch is not working properly, take the time to troubleshoot it.  All of these switches are between 40 and almost 50 years old and may just need some cleaning or in my case, a little extra metal added back to make them consistently work again.

[dutchzcarguy]

Never had that problem but as an electronic engineer i can't believe the problem was the switch when the front blinker worked... Also..is solder not much to soft for a contact? (It will breakdown in month's unless you use a relais..) Better use copper at least. And a layer of silver.. Did you know that silver oxide has a better conductivity than silver itself?

So.. if one sees that black layer on contacts.. LEAVE it there!!

[Namerow]

Are the contact points in the Z's switchgear actually made from silver? 

[Hardway]

9 hours ago, dutchzcarguy said:

Never had that problem but as an electronic engineer i can't believe the problem was the switch when the front blinker worked...

The front and rear are on separate contacts, see diagram below.  The contact for the right rear taillight is what needed attention and now that I have been through this exercise, I would have only put a little solder on it and filed it down.  I can see how using copper might be better but I would feat heating up the copper on to the contact would distort the thin metal of the contact.  I will see how my fix holds up and report back if it fails.

[dutchzcarguy]

Aha, now i know why that's the case...  Your USA. cars have brake lights on the rear blinker lights.. Euro version does not have that, it is a much simpler circuit. All blinkerlights are the same signal for left or right.. front and rear are all same signal also fender blinker on front