Hazard switch removal

[mosman58]

Simple question - how do you remove the round hazard switch from the console?

[esty]

a big plastic nut and wave washer on the back side

[mosman58]

thanks - any tricks to undoing this?

[esty]

if you can't reach it, remove the console face plate, unplug the wires from the switch and unscrew the narrow plastic nut...pull the switch out the front

[mosman58]

hi - the large plastic nut seems to be un-movable - unscrewing the smaller knob only gives access to the light globe.

any other thoughts? - unless I get a socket on it..

[esty]

did you remove the console face so that you can see the back of the switch, radio and any other stuff that you have in the consoles face...if not do so...here is a thumb nut on top of a very thin wave washer, finger tight that holds the flasher in the panel

post a pic if your switch is not like the one i've shown...

[mosman58]

Thanks - mine is the same - must have been a muscleman who did mine up!

[sanman2002]

I was looking for this thread forever, as I had the same muscleman put mine on. Thanks!

 

By the way, if you are looking to take the thing apart to fix it, I was able to carefully insert a thin/cheap steak knife in between the top part as a shim, and then slide it over to the next locked bit until I had enough of those little locking pieces cleared out enough to pull the two pieces apart.

 

I fixed the metal contact that wasn't sliding into place by using a toothpick fixed in place with electrical tape. I trimmed the top of the toothpick off that was sticking out over the metal piece.

[Simeon]

I was looking for this thread forever, as I had the same muscleman put mine on. Thanks!

 

By the way, if you are looking to take the thing apart to fix it, I was able to carefully insert a thin/cheap steak knife in between the top part as a shim, and then slide it over to the next locked bit until I had enough of those little locking pieces cleared out enough to pull the two pieces apart.

 

I fixed the metal contact that wasn't sliding into place by using a toothpick fixed in place with electrical tape. I trimmed the top of the toothpick off that was sticking out over the metal piece.

This deserves a picture

[sanman2002]

I didn't take pics while doing this, but luckily someone else took pics I could use to illustrate what I did. Thanks to them.

 

I just want to show what the plastic nut and washer look like when the switch is affixed to your console:

 

 

Now, once you have the switch removed, you need to separate the two halves, which can be more difficult than getting the switch out of the console. 

 

 

I carefully used a thin/cheap steak knife to get in between the top half to shim over each tab until i got enough of them free to pull the two pieces of the switch apart.  

 

 

 

This is what it looks like with the halves removed and the button still in place. The long metal piece we will be dealing with is in the center of this photo.

 

 

Another view:

 

 

Once the button is out of the way here is what it looks like:

 

 

The problem is that the long metal piece that is causing the hazard light circuit to actuate is not staying in track. Some people will bend it back towards the track. I didn't want to break the thing. Here's what it looks like with the track:

 

 

What I did was to take a skinny toothpick (or a round fat toothpick split in half) and stick it behind the metal piece as a brace. I didn't want it to move, so I tightly wrapped a couple layers of electrical tape around the area of the toothpick that would be sticking out of the case, and affixed it to the two plastic prongs next to the metal piece.

 

 

When wrapping the toothpick with the tape, create a short flag of tape on one side that you can then tape over to the adjacent plastic prongs. Then put one longer piece of tape over the toothpick and both plastic prongs to anchor it.

 

The fist time I did this, I used too much tape and it was too fat, which jammed the button. I reopened the switch and used less tape and it worked.

 

 

Edited February 16, 2016 by sanman2002

[Simeon]

Nice. Thanks a lot!

[sanman2002]

Nice. Thanks a lot!

 

Glad to contribute! I hope it helps save someone a bit of frustration and money.

[TVeye]

Gonna try and save the switch on my '69 1600. It won't come out unless all wires are removed.

It's mounted vertically and the dash is in the way so I can't get a good look at what wires go where.

Anyone have a good picture or detailed diagram?

[jgerock]

2 hours ago, TVeye said:

Gonna try and save the switch on my '69 1600. It won't come out unless all wires are removed.

It's mounted vertically and the dash is in the way so I can't get a good look at what wires go where.

Anyone have a good picture or detailed diagram?

Remove the red center knob with post from the switch- simply unscrew. The black escutcheon is then removed from the top to allow the switch to drop out of the hole. You can then see the many wires.

 

Also, the tip of the red knob unscrews to reveal the tiny bulb which flashes.

Edited April 26, 2018 by jgerock

[TVeye]

Thank You. I thought it came out the front.

Edited April 26, 2018 by TVeye