equium
Well-Known Member
I discovered the headlight switch was bad in my '70 Valiant so I purchased a new one from Autozone. Once installed, I tested the function but something was not right. When I turned the knob all the way to the left to activate the dome light, it did not give me the solid CLICK.
Thinking I got a bad switch, I picked one up from Napa (which was identical to the AZ one).
I installed the switch from Napa. Same problem; no solid CLICK. I went and looked at the AZ switch still on my work bench and manually moved the rheostat; and there was the CLICK i was looking for! I took out the Napa switch, and the CLICK was there! I did some investigation and discovered that the new switches don't have as much room for the threaded nut when it's screwed in. The nut begins to push on the internals causing them to go out of whack. I determined that a spacer was needed. I used a 7/16" split ring lock washer that I flattened so that it now became a thick spacer/washer. This washer fit perfectly over the dash nut and gave me the right amount of clearance for the switch to operate correctly.
You'll see in my second picture (of my old switch) there is plenty of room for the nut. On the new switches, the internals seem to have some extra plastic that the nut hits.
I hope this helps.
Thinking I got a bad switch, I picked one up from Napa (which was identical to the AZ one).
I installed the switch from Napa. Same problem; no solid CLICK. I went and looked at the AZ switch still on my work bench and manually moved the rheostat; and there was the CLICK i was looking for! I took out the Napa switch, and the CLICK was there! I did some investigation and discovered that the new switches don't have as much room for the threaded nut when it's screwed in. The nut begins to push on the internals causing them to go out of whack. I determined that a spacer was needed. I used a 7/16" split ring lock washer that I flattened so that it now became a thick spacer/washer. This washer fit perfectly over the dash nut and gave me the right amount of clearance for the switch to operate correctly.
You'll see in my second picture (of my old switch) there is plenty of room for the nut. On the new switches, the internals seem to have some extra plastic that the nut hits.
I hope this helps.
