drivers door switchpack

[Kengeo]

Hi there, If anyone has a drivers door switchpack (fully working) to suite a 1994 Mk2 four door, please send price etc.

[soundrediscover]

what colour?

[Kengeo]

Any Colour as I can use the existing casing if necessary.

[scoobyh123]

I think it would have to be a dark grey one as the colour coded switch packs came from post 96 cars. There is a strange wiring anomaly with some of them whereby the windows and/or the mirrors won't work unless it's the right switchpack.
Also are you looking for one to suit a car with electric memory mirrors? Again there's some weird thing about matching like for like. The mirrors haven't worked in my 94 Sterling since fitting a switchpack from a 94 car without memory mirrors as a stop-gap while i attempt to fix the original switchpack.

Talking of repairing the switchpacks, when you find a replacement and are happy it's working, i'd be interested in buying the old (non-working) switchpack for a nominal sum as an experiemental test bed to see if my repair will work.

[mercedade]

I have a basket of these, but I'm unable to tell which are for which model - if someone can reveal the secrets to me, I'll post you one out for £15.

Bearing in mind that they don't work in the 'wrong' car, I don't want to send the wrong one, but I'm happy to spend a few minutes testing my selection to make sure it works, provided someone lets me know how to tell the difference!

[scoobyh123]

There's usually a date code moulded into the oustide of the casing giving the month and year of manufacture, a bit like a clock face. Numbers 1-12 round the outside with an arrow pointing to one of them then the year of manufacture on the inside with one digit either side of the arrow. So for example a switchpack made in April 94 will have the arrow pointing at the 4 and a 9 and a 4 beside the arrow in the centre.
If you get one from the right year there's a very good chance of getting the right one, other than that it's down to testing in the car.

[Fastback]

Switch packs are interesting. I too have some ideas about fixing these, and what goes wrong on them, but rather than fixing them what about getting the PCB remade, which I believe hairline fractures? This is easy to do and inexpensive and then reseat all the components? Diodes are easy to decode, if faulty, and replace the pressure switches with micro switches. New small oranges diodes, I have loads already, and they are freely available. Window/mirror micro switches are refurbishable and actually tend not to be the faulty part. We, as a group, should be thinking bigger and more collectively about solving these problems, getting things remade and improved. I know group buys can be tricky, but I have proved with the sills, if somebody leads others will take advantage of the opportunity. Extruded plastic 'C' section for replacing the bumper mounts anybody?

[scoobyh123]

In many ways i agree with you Mark, however, to replace the thin metal discs that form the contacts and the switch (they change from convex to concave when the rocker is pushed but are meant to then link all of the contacts as far as i can make out) with microswitches could be difficult, simply due to the space needed.
The mirror microswitches are easily found, can't remember if they are a Honeywell or Cherry item as OE but both make the same profile units so they are easily replaced.

The hairline fractures you mentioned actually occur in the thin metal discs in between the PCB and the clear, adhesive film on top of it. This prevents them springing as they should and contacts being made as they should be. Perhaps changing them for single contact microswitches with relays to provide the multiple switching functions might work but again, they would have to be very small relays to fit anywhere.

I've come up with a method to transplant the good discs from a little used switch (so little or no wear on the discs) to a worn one that involves cutting the little nubs off that secure the plastic frame the rocker sits in, drilling a pilot hole with a dremel-type mini-drill for some tiny self-tappers, peeling back the adhesive film, changing the discs, rnewing the film and then screwing the frame back on top.
However, first of all i've not tried it yet so can't comment on how well it works and secondly, the Allen key to do the screws up is sized at 0.9mm so easily lost, broken, twisted etc!

As for the LEDs, i've changed the colour of them and added more in my Sterling (yet to do the coupé) :







Oh yeah - i did other things like the stereo and the climate pack too!

I agree it should be fairly easy to get the PCBs replicated, after all it's only a double-sided PTH (Plated Through Hole) board but the problems would lie in finding a good usable "master" PCB to make a transfer from, things like the connector pins (they look standard Spectrol-Reliance but i seem to recall something odd about them) and the other bits that are bespoke to the switchpacks.

Things like sills, fuel filler necks and so on are by comparison relatively easy to source and in the fullness of time, the bearings that go in the upper front wishbones, anti roll bar bushes and other suspension bushes. Not trying to pour cold water on your idea, just trying to point out the bits that will be difficult to source.

[Fastback]

I'm sure things are never as straight forward as we would like. I have acquired some sub-miniature micro switches that are 4mm square and two or three mm thick. Given that there are nibs on the bottom of the window switches, I think they should be usable as obviously it is not the switches which affects the window operation as such, the window control ecu does that. I have traced the circuit and it looks like it is just a very simple connection; the three contacts are irrelevant as they are circuitous round the central point, only one is needed to make the circuit. Like you, I have not quite put this into practice yet, so I could be talking a load of rubbish

I like your 'full on' lighting of the panel, something I have been meaning to do but to worried to try it on a working pack

[scoobyh123]

Well when one of us finally gets round to sorting the switches we'll have to report back here. The sub-min microswitches sound good but these days i probably couldn't solder that small!

As for the full on lighting as you call it, if you have a working switch pack with little or no light output it has to be worth a go but bear in mind half the trouble when they don't light properly is the row of joints where the multiway connector plugs on as they go dry.
So either way you need to get busy with the soldering iron lol!