The turn signal switch on my 240 will lock in the on position when pulled down for a left turn; but when I push it up for a right turn, it will not lock into position. It just started doing this about a week ago.

Is there a spring, catch, or anything repairable that I can do to fix this? I am getting tired of holding the switch lever when making right turns.

William,

I had the same problems on the '73, asked my local MB Tech about a new switch, instead he told me how to fix it. I followed his advice and the switch lever now stays in place. Since Mercedes seems to stick with the same part(s) for a long time, I think the switch assembly should be about the same (at least I hope they are).

Step 1: Pull the rubber boot from the steering column. This will expose the two phillips head screws you need to remove.



Step 2: Ease the switch around so you can access the locking plate. You wont be able to pull it out very far, but far enough to access. Work the switch for left and right signals, as you do you will see small indentations where the locking mechanism is supposed to catch. After 24+ years of using your signals, you wore the shoulder(s) off.

Now that you see where the problem is, it's easy to fix.

Step 3: While holding the switch, place the lever down for left, that will give access to the right catch.



If you look closely where the screw driver is pointing, you can see the catch notch. Using a small round file, cut the notch a little deeper. I found the small file to be very tedious and used my Dremel with the small reamer bit (which fit the notch perfectly), took about 5 seconds to cut the notch.

Step 4. Repeat Step 3, holding the lever up to access the left catch.



As you work on the notches, occasionally stop and test the catch resistance. As the notch deepens, the resistance increases. Proceed slowly, if you cut too deep, then you end up having to turn the switch off manually after completing the turn, until the new shoulder wears off a little.

After completing the process, blow out the switch with a shot of air to remove any metal particles/debris. Replace the switch in the column and tighten the screws.

Hopefully, you have the same type switch and that this helps.

[Edited by MikeTangas on 01-01-2001 at 03:00 PM]

__________________
Mike Tangas
'73 280SEL 4.5 (9/72)- RIP
Only 8,173 units built from 5/71 thru 11/72

'02 CLK320 Cabriolet - wifey's mid-life crisis

2012 VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI...at least its a diesel

Non illegitemae carborundum.

Mike,
Thanks a million, I believe the switch assy is the same as yours, at least it looks the same when I popped off the rubber boot. Using the Dremel is a great idea! I'll take care of this tonight, seeing as it is so simple.
Thanks again for the pics. They truly are worth a thousand words!

Definitely no problem William. You are lucky though. As I just told Deezel in e-mail, I'm have just reformatted the hard drive and have been restoring programs etc. I found those pics on an unlabeled floppy, and almost deleted them, but thought I might as well keep them. Perfect timing.

Them main thing about using the Dremel, is go slow, little bit at a time, but it's a lot easier than using a small round file.

__________________
Mike Tangas
'73 280SEL 4.5 (9/72)- RIP
Only 8,173 units built from 5/71 thru 11/72

'02 CLK320 Cabriolet - wifey's mid-life crisis

2012 VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI...at least its a diesel

Non illegitemae carborundum.

Nice pictures Mike. I been doing that trick to switches for 25 years. I would like to accentuate the need for touch on this procedure and might suggest the way I have done it. That is with an electrric drill (relatively slow) and an eight inch bit. Use this as a milling bit (come at the work from the side).

The switch holds by the roller rolling over the hill into a valley. The hill wears out and the idea is to undercut the valley. If you do too much the roller WILL NOT come out. Then you have to cut down the hill. There isn't much hill to work with.

BTW, I sure would like to know how to put pictures to this space.

__________________
Steve Brotherton
Continental Imports
Gainesville FL
Bosch Master, ASE Master, L1
33 years MB technician

Steve,

Gosh, you really should check out some of the other forums round here , LOL.

The question has been asked several times, most recently in the post titled "Posting a picture on profile or forum question" in the General Feedback forum. Webmaster Bill, gave a concise how to, including a link to the directions. All you need are some pictures and a little web space on your ISP server. You will need an FTP (file transfer protocol) program to up load the pictures to your web space. There are several free shareware FTP's that work fine.

Check out the post, if you need assistance and Webmaster Bill is unavailable, drop me a line I'll talk you through it.

__________________
Mike Tangas
'73 280SEL 4.5 (9/72)- RIP
Only 8,173 units built from 5/71 thru 11/72

'02 CLK320 Cabriolet - wifey's mid-life crisis

2012 VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI...at least its a diesel

Non illegitemae carborundum.

Great pictures! I remember doing exactly the same thing on my 68 200D years ago in order to get it to pass state inspection.

__________________
Palangi

2004 C240 Wagon 203.261 Baby Benz
2008 ML320 CDI Highway Cruiser
2006 Toyota Prius, Saving the Planet @ 48 mpg
2000 F-150, Destroying the Planet @ 20 mpg



TRUMP .......... WHITEHOUSE
HILLARY .........JAILHOUSE
BERNIE .......... NUTHOUSE
0BAMA .......... OUTHOUSE

Wow! This is really well done! Thank you for the expert advice. My car needs the same thing. Our buddy Franz gave me instructions which I will repeat here.... "Don't buy a new part, just use a file and go slow". Hmmmmm, I guess both of you are saying the same thing, but I like your info a lot better!

Can't wait to see pic's of the front end bushing change!

Any success William?

Deezel, good impression, but not enough "Teutonic grumble" when you say it .

[Edited by MikeTangas on 01-02-2001 at 07:29 PM]

__________________
Mike Tangas
'73 280SEL 4.5 (9/72)- RIP
Only 8,173 units built from 5/71 thru 11/72

'02 CLK320 Cabriolet - wifey's mid-life crisis

2012 VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI...at least its a diesel

Non illegitemae carborundum.

Mike,

The repair took less than 20 min, and that included time to gather my tools and get an extension cord to the driveway!

The pics were a great help! Now I can make turns with both hands on the wheel!

Thanks again,

does anyone have these pics ? time to do this fix but would really like to see pics

__________________
1972 280 sel 4.5
1986 xr4ti
For any given large, complex, hard-to-understand, expensive problem, there exists at least one short, simple, easy, cheap wrong answer.