83 240D defrost switch will not stay on...

[charlottenian]

Hey guys,

first off, awesome forum... I bought my second old diesel a week ago from a friend of mine. It is a 1983 240D with 83K original miles, he was the first owner of it, car is in beautiful shape inside and out. He sold it to me because he did not want to invest the time to figure out alternator issues, he was sold an alternator and it did not work. When I worked on it, the issue turned out to be that the alternator needed adjusting so that the belt would spin properly, a steal for the price of $1500 for that car.

Anyways about the issues....
My rear window defrost switch, when I press it up, the light comes on, then when i take my hand off the switch and it goes back to the middle position the light immediately turns off, anyone know why? Also the lights for those switches (sunroof, rear light, antenna, rear defrost) aren't they supposed to light up when you turn the headlights on? Only the climate wheel light turns on, I cleaned the rheostat as mentioned here and that brought the cluster lights and the window switch lights back to life.

Thanks in advance!