S1 Elise dash switch rebuild
Discussion
Hello,
My dash switches have been making a bit of a "sparking" noise at random for a few months, and the illumination on the fog and hazard lights doesn't always come on, and my fog light stopped working, and the side light button started sticking down leaving the lights on when I'd pressed the button to turn them off.
All annoying things and I'm hugely negligent for leaving it so long to fix.
Last year I had a 3 series which was as old as my Elise (18 years!) which had issues with the brake light switch, which I fixed with a rebuild, so I assumed I could fix the Elise switches too.
I had a spare switch I pulled from a Pug 106 in a scrap yard ages ago, so started by pulling that to bits first, just in case (Elise Parts don't sell a new headlight switch so I'd hate to muck that one up).
Once you have the switch out of the car (dash trim off then 4 screws to remove the switch plate) you can see the three little white bits of plastic that hold the switch together, two on one side and one on the other. I used a small screwdriver to lever the casing over these one side at a time and carefully pulled the switch apart waiting for the spring to fly out. I only stabbed myself in the hand once doing this, so just be slightly more careful than I am.
When I pulled the switches apart there was corrosion on most of the contacts, and deposits of black dust in them (the sidelight switch was worst, hence the sticking on). I cleaned the contacts with a bit of fine sandpaper, flushed the switches out with contact cleaner, put a tiny dab of electrical contact lube on each contact, and pushed them back together.
I got a bit cocky with the hazard switch and bent a contact putting it back together. This was immediately obvious so I pulled it to bits, bent it back and put it back together carefully. No harm done.
The side light spring was rusty so I replaced that with the one from my spare switch. I probably could have cleaned it up and it would have been fine.
While I normally hate electrical problems on cars this is one I could fix while sat on my sofa, so not that bad really. The only tricky part of the job is getting the dash trim off right at the start.
Mine is a really early car, so it could be that no one else has had this issue yet. They all work perfectly now, and are ready for another 18 years of being ignored.
My dash switches have been making a bit of a "sparking" noise at random for a few months, and the illumination on the fog and hazard lights doesn't always come on, and my fog light stopped working, and the side light button started sticking down leaving the lights on when I'd pressed the button to turn them off.
All annoying things and I'm hugely negligent for leaving it so long to fix.
Last year I had a 3 series which was as old as my Elise (18 years!) which had issues with the brake light switch, which I fixed with a rebuild, so I assumed I could fix the Elise switches too.
I had a spare switch I pulled from a Pug 106 in a scrap yard ages ago, so started by pulling that to bits first, just in case (Elise Parts don't sell a new headlight switch so I'd hate to muck that one up).
Once you have the switch out of the car (dash trim off then 4 screws to remove the switch plate) you can see the three little white bits of plastic that hold the switch together, two on one side and one on the other. I used a small screwdriver to lever the casing over these one side at a time and carefully pulled the switch apart waiting for the spring to fly out. I only stabbed myself in the hand once doing this, so just be slightly more careful than I am.
When I pulled the switches apart there was corrosion on most of the contacts, and deposits of black dust in them (the sidelight switch was worst, hence the sticking on). I cleaned the contacts with a bit of fine sandpaper, flushed the switches out with contact cleaner, put a tiny dab of electrical contact lube on each contact, and pushed them back together.
I got a bit cocky with the hazard switch and bent a contact putting it back together. This was immediately obvious so I pulled it to bits, bent it back and put it back together carefully. No harm done.
The side light spring was rusty so I replaced that with the one from my spare switch. I probably could have cleaned it up and it would have been fine.
While I normally hate electrical problems on cars this is one I could fix while sat on my sofa, so not that bad really. The only tricky part of the job is getting the dash trim off right at the start.
Mine is a really early car, so it could be that no one else has had this issue yet. They all work perfectly now, and are ready for another 18 years of being ignored.
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