Interesting discovery about 308 GTB headlight switch..

Discovered the same issue on my 328 two months ago. I noticed that the plastic switch portion had a hairline crack on the inside and as I pulled it off the ball and spring came off. on reinstallation it did what yours was doing, namely any touch would activate the lights. After a few moments and taking it apart again I figuered out the missing ball.

 

Cool, you know I'll be digging into mine this weekend! Thanks for the tip!

So are you saying you disassemble it by just pulling the knob off the end of the shaft really hard?

 

Did you get your AC working?

 

Welcome to the world of Ferrari. That part is very common.

A buddy of mine use to carry a box of BB's and springs in his car. He had a habit of letting buds drive it at night and they would invariably pull the thing off.

 

BE CAREFUL!!!!! These parts are no longer available from Ferrari. Don't force anything. You will notice that the cap is two pieces. You need to carefully pry it at the seam towards the inward and gently pull back. If you slide slowly back, you will come to the bearing which is spring loaded. It is also important to note the orientation of the cap. Inside the cap is a small rectangular protrusion made to fit between the two copper straps that have the wires soldered to them for the switch.

 

WARNING!!!!!!

I went thru this 2 weekends ago. It almost brought me to tears dealing with it:

CAREFUL with that little ball bearing, BB thing. If you are going to reposition it make sure the doors are closed, top on, and the windows are up. It is very tricky getting it to go back in place since the spring has to be compressed by it. If you let it slip the spring will fire it out of there like a .22 and out into the yard will it will never be seen again. Also cover the shifter gate up with a rag so it cannot shoot into it either.

No matter what - just take my word for this.

 

Use Bosch dielectric grease and it will help hold it place. It's not that difficult, but you could always use a gallon size zip lock bag around your hands while installing it and you can still see what you are doing. I do this procedure when doing transmission syncro hub installs.

 

JB Weld works great too plus it can handle high heat. It dries a gray color so it's no good on clear plastic type stuff but it's amazingly strong and you can build it up.

Ken

 

Neither crazy glue, epoxy, or even 'Plastic Welder' work with the plastic used on these column switches. It just doesn't 'bite' into the plastic. Been there, my wiper stalk broke off, repairing it is what got me to start Unobtainium Supply. See my thread in old fchat:

ADHESIVE FOR REPAIRING COMBINATION SWITCH??
http://70.85.40.84/~ferrari/discus/messages/256120/107784.html

The one adhesive that did work is: Surehold Plastic Surgery from TrueValue hw store. It is a varient of crazy glue, but definitely bites into this plastic.

Haven't tried it, but Loctite makes a similar plastic cement.

BTW, I now have molds for most of the column switch parts that are likely to break. I have supplied complete wiper stalks, turn signal stalks, Contact ends & twist knobs for 308 & 328 headlight stalks. Have 2 switches in for service right now.

 

I tried the epoxy thing too where there is broken plastic in mine. It held a week - that was it. I'll try the stuff you recommend.

 

I have had a fit with my headlight switch. I even sent it out to be "rebuilt" not happy at all. Lights will just go out for no reason I have to flip my brights on and they start working again. My plan is to wire a pull type light switch under the dash and use the levers up down motion to activate the headlights themselves (high & low beam). This is the plan next time I go into the steering combo switch or under the dash. Has anyone done something like this yet?

 

i wonder if we can use an old Benz or Porsche push pull switch. i suppose the key is the number of wires and the amp loads that run through the switch. i really think you should get Birdman's glass fuse fuseblocks and i bet your lights will work better. see ya this weekend. Michael

 

Hmm, what happens if instead of switching to brights you just twist the headlight knob off & on?

If that also makes the lights come back on, then the probllsm is most likely a poor solder connection between the wire & a switch blade inside the knob. It's a common problem with these switches.

The other problem that often comes up is severely tarnished contacts, combined with the spring that holds the contact in place being weakened with time.

Fix is to thoroughly clean the contacts, & lap the brass sliding contact on a fine diamond stone or 600 grit sandpaper on a piece of glass or other flat surface to ensure its really flat. Sometimes have had to use a points file on the mating contact buttons to flatten them. Very important that they're flat. If the current is concentrated in a small area of the contacts, they'll overheat or develop pitting & be intermittent.

It is a good idea to wire a couple of relays to switch the high & low beams, then the switch contacts need only carry the relay coil current. They'll last forever that way.

If some of these don't help, I'll be happy to take a look at if you want to pull it & send it to me whenever it's convenient.

 

Amen brother, altho I thought Drs were specially trained to do tricky work in tight quarters ;^)

If you think the little ball detent for the twist knob is a PITA to install, try putting a complete column switch back together. Each arm has a somewhat larger ball with a MUCH stronger spring on it's back end. Again, these are 'detent' balls that cause the arm click into position.

Just spent almost 2 hours replacing the headlight & turn signal stalks into a customer's switch.

Must have had the #$^%&^ detent balls fire themselves out of my fingers a dozen times for each stalk! Luckily I too have learned the necessity of working inside a large plastic bag, so there wasn't much danger of loosing either a ball or spring. No tears either, but I sure wanted to toss the $%#^j switch onto the floor & stomp it to pieces a few times....

 

a quick question on relays. what is their function? i've used them but never really understood the principle behind them. how do you check them? is there a set test method?

 

I started to answer your question but then I found a site with a much better explanation. I hope you enjoy reading it, as I did.


http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/relay.htm

 

i learned how good epoxy is the hard way. the rear view mirror was knocked off of my bmw by the homeless window washer guy, dont ask why i let him do the inside, please. anyways, of course bmw said i must install a new windshield as some of the inner glass flaked off. i said no thank you. so off to the auto parts store and to make a long story short, i know have a one inch spacer holding my mirror on, lots of epoxy there. btw, no one but no one touches the inside of my car anymore, except the little princess who owns me.

 

hey for all you guys own early ferr you maybe interested in this post do a search for this dude wolfgang (fire in the fusebox) just the thought sitting in your car at a set of lights and see smoke comming out from your fuse box now that's some scary ****

 

I'm resurrecting this thread because my twist stalk has developed a problem. I thought my lights wouldn't come on at all and maybe it was a relay, but with a little more experimentation in the garage where I can see what's going on rather than while driving, it's clear that twisting the headlight knob on the end of the stalk takes it PAST the point where contact is made. If I don't turn it all the way to the stop/detent, then I can finese it into working.

So... I presume this means that I'm going to need to rebuild/restore the mechanism. It's clear to me from the previous discussion that everything I need to get to is in the twist knob itself. I'll be careful about the ball bearings and springs, but any more tips about getting the knob off in the first place to expose the mechanism? And did anyone take pictures of what it looks like once it's apart?

Verell, if it completely breaks apart, do you have replacements made?

 

Do you have a steering wheel hub puller? You won't be able to pull it off with your hand. Once it's off it is pretty easy to see how things are put together in there.

 

No. Are you talking about a standard tool or the funky Ferrari "toothed" one like this one from Baum? From the previous discussion, I don't see why this would be necessary if the problem mechanism is all in the twist end of the headlight stalk...
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