I swapped the combo switch from my '83 300D parts car to my '81 300TD daily driver due to a failed wiper switch. The socket under the dash mated perfectly and I thought it was a done deal.

Now, however, the high and low beams are reversed. The high stays on in both positions and the low goes on in high and off in low. The high beam indicator lamp is on in both positions. I assume the pins in the socket are in reversed locations on the '83 relative to the '81.

My question is this: rather than pull the socket, test with a meter to find the high/low pins, and reverse the wires there, can I just reverse them at the headlamp connector instead? If so, will that affect the indicator lamp?

Bump

I would try reversing the pins at the switch first.

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All gave some, Some gave it all ~ 9-11-2001 Never Forget

People shouldn't fear their Government, The Government should fear its people.

According to the electrical manual the switch is wired the same for both model years. You could pull fuses to make sure that the lights are wired correctly. The one thing that you need to ensure is that F11 is 16A and still controls the fog lamps. My guess is that if you swap the connectors at the lamps your fog lamps will only work when the brights are on. If this is the case, then the best bet is to try to figure out why the wiring is off. I've never had one out, but if you can get to the connector (C106) then you should be able to figure this all out. It appears from your description that pins 2 and 3 of the connector were swapped somehow.

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mjk

'84 300SD 119KMi (Liesl der Diesel)
'84 300D 326KMi when the oil left (former parts car)
'82 300SD 253KMi (new parts car)

Interesting. I never considered how the fogs would be affected. Thanks for the help.