The Frankenheap (200D 115 Euro) has _always_ had trouble with its turn signals 'sticking'. Like the proverbial cat at the door, "I wanna come in, I wanna go out", they would either flash or not at their whim. Usually grabbing he flasher knob (red-dot pull knob on console) and cycling it a bunch would bias it towards working, but you never could tell. I've opened it and cleaned the contacts several times over the years, and resoldered the PCB. It helped, but pretty much at least once a week the lights would stick on anyway. I've done a _bunch_ of flashing by hand using the stalk, which is annoying but at least is possible.
Anyway, since the last time I operated I'd gotten some Caig Deoxit, which I had used to miraculous effect elsewhere, but I was out of it. (I'd bought it at Radio Shack, it was a 2-pack of tiny spray cans, one the usual 5% product and one for Gold contacts.) The Gold product only has a tiny fraction of the ability to clean and protect non-gold contacts that the regular has, but I used it anyway as it was all that was left. I did not want to purchase that particular package again, as too small and 50% something I didn't want anyway, so I mail-ordered generous supplies of the good stuff: a large spray can of the 5% solution, a needle drip applicator of the 100%, and a spray can of fader cleaner, for use on scratchy radios, dimmers, etc. _Anyway_, the flasher is inside the knob/switch, and is oddly constructed: the knob is attached to the PCB and pulls it back and forth. There is a row of eight or so copper contact patches at one edge, and a bunch of springy contact fingers that ride on them, and which are connected to the external pins of the switch. The spring contacts look normal, but the copper patches are just raw copper and oxidize quickly. No amount of cleaning or burnishing would last for all that long. I'd used regular contact cleaner the first time. It lasted a little while. Then again, but with burnishing of the copper and protective grease. It worked, for awhile. This time I shot it with the Gold spray. It is now working perfectly again, probably better than it ever has for me. If it should go out again I am now armed with a lifetime supply of the good stuff. (Needle applicator, for switches that are opened up. The spray is for quick jobs, and which I will no doubt exhaust long before the bottle.) The Caig stuff works, the dome light in the Frankenheap is now reliable, from both doors and the overhead switch, and has been for years. (I think the driver's door switch might need another shot, as once in awhile now you might need to jiggle it to get the light on.) -- Jim _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
