Another Project Done

Saturday - Today’s project is trying to fix the turn signal lever. Lately, when signaling a left turn, the rear and Jeep lights flash but the front, mirror, dash, and the light on the side don’t. For quite a while, if I applied a little more force on the turn signal lever, it would work. That temporary "fix" stopped working on the drive from Texas. So I was pretty confident that the problem was something mechanical inside of the switch. Before removing the switch, I searched for a replacement and, big surprise, they were pretty pricey. 

After removing the switch assembly from the steering column, I disassembled it and discovered that there are two sets of contacts for each direction. I’ll assume front and rear. Some of the contacts look a little burned so I’ll clean them up with some fine sandpaper. If I was home I would use the points file that hasn’t been used since the mid-80s. (Remember points?) The reason for the multiple contacts is to handle the current from many bulbs. In this case, five incandescent bulbs for each direction. Maybe I should replace the bulbs with LEDs just to limit the current. 

I used the Dremel to clean off all of the contacts for both directions. Only one left turn contact was severely burned and pitted so I'm going to assume that was the problem. Time to reassemble the switch and test. Look at all that Cu! I guess it’s lasted quite a while. 

Later - Success! We now have front turn signals and four-way flashers. I had earlier assumed that the switch was a sealed, non-serviceable unit. It is probably considered non-serviceable but I was pleasantly surprised that it was so easily disassembled. This was one project that I really wanted to get done while we were stationary as it’s kind of a safety issue.

Other projects: kitchen slide lock, 12v compressor refrigerator conversion, replace SeeLevel II black tank sensor (I already have the sensor), replace inverter, repair windshield washer (pump leaks), add 600 additional watts of solar, LiFePO⁴ batteries, and replace tile and carpet with vinyl plank flooring. The last one is really major. The inverter, batteries, and solar is pretty straightforward, it’s just $$. The refrigerator conversion is probably the next major project while we are here in Tucson.