Hi again.
I just found the post that you were talking about Earl, and it may address part of my problems, but I don't think it's the whole solution - bummer. I will take the control unit out tomorrow tomorrow morning and look at the wheel, though since it doesn't have any numbers, I don't think a repair will do the trick - assuming that it is the problem and I could do the resoldering as you did, I'd still need to get a new switch so that I could see what the scale is.
Looks like I'll be ordering a new switch and new vacuum pods, and spending next weekend in dashboard hell!
Thanks again all.
Sean