Time to start working on it again! That wretched Albatross (240D) and the putting in of next year's firewood have gotten in the way long enough, and with fuel prices being what they are we could really use this car. I pumped up the two rear tires (which have slow leaks, perhaps due to disuse), put the rear of the car up on ramps, and reconnected (and adjusted) the parking brake.
With that out of the way I examined the always-on low washer fluid sender and found it to be defective, so I disconnected it until it can be replaced. No sense burning out the dash bulb too! Next I started looking at reassembling the console. The plastic clips were broken off of the shifter's wood surround, so I glued them with Shoe Goo and set it aside to dry. This panel lifts up from the _back_, guys, not the front! Pulling out the upper console piece it was time to confront the jammed blower switch. I had bought a used replacement on eBay, but since the broken one was nicely held together with screws I thought I'd have a look inside first before just replacing it. There are three plastic rockers inside driving spring-loaded electrical contacts, with a spring-loaded roller wheel that travels along the rockers. The first rocker had spun around on its post allowing the roller wheel to wedge itself down into the gap next to the rocker. Careful examination showed that the reason this happened was that a little plastic protrusion on the rocker's axle post that mates with a travel-limiting hole in the rocker had broken off, allowing for more rotation of the rocker than was intended, and opening up a big gap for the roller to drop into. This is a weak bit of design there, and the reason that #1 rocker is more susceptible to breaking off the pin is that there is only the one rocker supporting the force from the roller, everywhere else two rockers (and limit pins) share the load. To try to fix this I used a small drill to drill through the shell right next to the axle where the nub had broken off, then I glued a metal brad into that hole to serve as a replacement. (I left the brad long so that on the back side there was plenty of protrusion for the glue [Shoe Goo of course!] to grip to lock it in position.) I then set it aside to dry. As it turns out, these units are _not_ supposed to be easily opened, they are normally heat-staked closed. Someone else had been inside it and had drilled out the stakes and replaced them with small wood screws and washers, so it's obvious it had been broken for some time before. I suspect they missed seeing the little broken-off plastic pip, it's a pretty subtle failure (though not in its effect). If I can't repair it I always have the replacement I bought, but I could re-sell that back on eBay if this repair works out. We shall see! It is interesting that there are two Bosch ice-cube relays inside this switch assembly. They're welded in place, not socketed, I doubt they'd be easily replaceable if they went bad. Today I reassembled the blower switch. It works smoothly now. (Sorry about the batch of blasts from the past, my ISP had something caught in its throat and sending e-mail has been hung up for the last few days.) -- Jim
