A while ago my high beams went out on the Missing Linc, so I ordered the multi function switch. Last night when I was coming home from my birthday party, the low beams went out, so I figured it was time to install it. Thank goodness it was a dry celebration! I drove home with the flood lights on the rack above.
Itās actually a pretty simple swap. The biggest problem was I had was getting the 37 year old plastic covers on the steering column to line back up. I had to fix one of the screw holes with the baking soda super glue trick. It was on the inside, so it doesnāt show.
Like always, curiosity, I took the old multi function switch apart, which was also pretty simple. It has four tiny Torx screws and it comes apart in two halves. I was lucky that when I pulled it apart, the side where the plugs plug-in was laying flat on the table, and I pulled off the side closer to the driver. If you do it the other way around, some contacts for the turn signals fall out.
I had to break out a tiny bit of the gray plastic at one spot to get my Torx bit and holder down to that one screw.
The low beam/high beam contacts are a simple little pivot bar that snaps back-and-forth on four contacts. Obviously, one side of the contacts are tied together because thereās only three bayonet connectors on the outside.
We all know what a set of burnt contacts looks like, but these actually looked pretty clean. There was a spot on the bar side, something black and built up almost like a piece of plastic. I think it might be dried and burnt grease they used to lube the contacts. It was hard like a rock, and I think it was just preventing the bar from pushing down on the Contacts when it flipped.
I picked that off with a pick, and then used my Dremel Moto tool with a tiny wire brush to clean all the contacts on the inside, and the bayonet connectors on the outside.
There is no doubt in my mind that it will work perfectly, so I put it on the shelf as a spare.
I had assumed it was going to be all kinds of printed circuit boards and such, but I shouldāve realized it would be pretty simple from a 1987. If I had known, I couldāve saved my $30, and it wouldāve taken 15 minutes longer than swapping it with the new one.