Yet another turn signal switch replacement thread

[spiderw31]

I know, there's tons of threads regarding replacing the turn signal switch, but I couldn't find one that answered my particular issue.

 

I had the all to common issue with a dead right blinker unless I held the switch just right, so with safety inspection almost I decided to replace the switch. Not bad job really, and now my blinkers work in both directions. The car will pass safety now which is good.

 

Since replacing the switch though, most of the time the blinkers will not cancel. Sometime it's the left, sometime the right, and sometimes neither will cancel. Sometimes wiggling the switch stalk will help, and sometimes if I hold a little pressure against the switch (as if to help it), the blinkers will cancel. Equally obnoxious, the volume buttons (and actually the balance button as well) act like they get stuck sometimes. I'd say about half the time I press the volume up button, it will shoot the volume up a full 25% without stopping, instead of just one click. Same thing with volume down.

 

I could live with the volume button quirkiness if I had to, but the non-cancel issue has left me driving down the road with a stuck blinker several time already and that drives me nuts. The trouble is, I can't figure out how the cancel mechanism works! Since I can't test the cancel function with the wheel off, I'm kinda guessing blind.

 

Before I admit defeat and and replace the switch again (this time with a Delco and not an off brand), does anyone have any pointers on either of these problems? Or even how the cancel mechanism works so that I can see if there is anything I can tweak to get it right?

[pitzel]

Identical trouble here after doing a turn switch with the official GM part with all the optical data encoding stuff.

 

For the turn switch cancel stuff, I think its a case of very carefully aligning the steering wheel so its straight. Seems very hard to do, and it won't cancel properly unless you get it absolutely and 100% correct.

 

For the radio, haven't a clue what the issue is there. All I gotta say, additionally, is that it was a stupid, stupid design to have the brake light circuits routed through the steering wheel (the reason why I had to replace mine!).

[95 vert]

Horn contact has the cancelling tab on it (which hits the switch to cancel). Are you sure you got the switch seated properly?

[spiderw31]

Identical trouble here after doing a turn switch with the official GM part with all the optical data encoding stuff.

 

For the turn switch cancel stuff, I think its a case of very carefully aligning the steering wheel so its straight. Seems very hard to do, and it won't cancel properly unless you get it absolutely and 100% correct.

 

For the radio, haven't a clue what the issue is there. All I gotta say, additionally, is that it was a stupid, stupid design to have the brake light circuits routed through the steering wheel (the reason why I had to replace mine!).

What does all the optical encoding do, do you know? At first I was almost thinking that was how it sensed wheel movement and cancelled the blinkers... And yeah the wheel is definitely straight; I got it back on the same spline for sure and cranked it down tight.

 

Horn contact has the cancelling tab on it (which hits the switch to cancel). Are you sure you got the switch seated properly?

Yeah, the switch is seated well; It doesn't look as though you could screw it down properly if it wasn't seated properly. I looked at that contact ring though, and I can't see how it would cancel the signal. I don't see anything that would hit a point on the switch in a way to do that

 

One thing I noticed is that yesterday the cancel function was not working reliably at all, and the column was quite hot. This morning, the column was much cooler, and it worked OK then. I'm definitely puzzled.

[pitzel]

The optical encoding is for the radio controls. The rest goes by way of those slip rings.

[jman093]

I also recently replaced mine with an el cheapo and also now had steering wheel controls that no longer worked right. I always wondered how they worked before the use of clocksprings, but I had no idea they were optic before I replaced the switch.

 

The turn signal cancel cam looks like this:

 

 

As 95 vert stated, it doubles as the horn contact and the tabs you can see on it just swing around as the wheel turns and hit the switch to turn it off. Pretty simple. You'll need to take the wheel and lock plate back off and see why it no longer does that reliably.

[spiderw31]

I also recently replaced mine with an el cheapo and also now had steering wheel controls that no longer worked right. I always wondered how they worked before the use of clocksprings, but I had no idea they were optic before I replaced the switch.

 

The turn signal cancel cam looks like this:

 

 

As 95 vert stated, it doubles as the horn contact and the tabs you can see on it just swing around as the wheel turns and hit the switch to turn it off. Pretty simple. You'll need to take the wheel and lock plate back off and see why it no longer does that reliably.

 

Thanks for the help, but my horn contact doesn't look like that, and it's keyed so it won't spin freely on the column. I'm assuming those bumps are what actually cancel the switch though? I don't recall seeing something like that on mine, but perhaps I should have another look. Fortunately for me though, the switch is not behind the lock plate, so it isn't hard to get to. Looking at your sig, is that a part for your '96? That would explain the different appearance.

[spiderw31]

Why you turn it on the signals?

 

Because all your base are belong to us.

 

I sense a bot in our midst!

[spiderw31]

Alright, after some testing and trying, here is what I've found. After turning on the signal (either way) there's a small amount of travel left in the switch. If I keep that travel to a minimum by gently nudging the switch towards the off position without actually turning it off, the blinkers almost always cancel. So at this point I'm thinking that the switch works, and that the fit is just sloppy. I might try once more to reposition it, but I don't think it will do much good. I think what I'll do is live with it for now, and replace it again when my budget allows (since unfortunately I ordered it quite a while ago and can't return it anymore).