left indicator not working... something to do with switch!

[tomothy94]

my indicator switch must be faulty somehow, but it costs a ridiculous amount to replace... right now, it's working fine when i want to indicate right, but unless i put the arm in an extremely specific place, it will not indicate left. this obviously poses a problem as i don't have time to fiddle about before turning all the time, and as i have my MOT next week, I really need to get this sorted. I thought it was the flasher unit at first, so i replaced it, and although that seemed to work for about a week, i began to have problems again. any ideas would be helpful, or perhaps a diagram or picture of how the switch should look inside? thankyou

[bmcecosse]

You'll need to take the cover off and look at the contacts.......not easy - and as you say - expensive. I don't understand how it seemed to work with a new flasher unit.

[mike.perry]

Co-incidence!
Since the flasher is between the fuse box and the indicator switch it cannot tell which side is indicating, therefore go and get the old one out of the rubbish bin as there is probably nothing wrong with it. Have you checked the front and rear bulbs and earth contacts on the left?
If they are ok then as Roy said examine the contacts on the indicator switch which I always thought was rather delicate

[tomothy94]

is there a known diagram or similar? because all i know is that i took it apart last time and it was ridiculous in there, like something from the tardis

[mike.perry]

You should have a light green wire which goes to the warning light. Have you checked that the light is working properly?
The green/brown wire is the feed from the flasher unit, the green/white is the right indicators and the green/red is the left indicators.
With the ignition on, check by joining the green/brown and green/red wires. If the left indicators are working then the fault is in the switch contacts

[autolycus]

An even easier, but less thorough, check than the one Mike suggests is to get out and have a look at the indicators when the switch is to the left but they're not working. If either front or rear is on, but not flashing, the fault is most likely in the lamp that's not come on.

If it is the switch, might you have damaged something last time you took it apart? Or was that because of the same fault? If you really cba to get at the contacts to clean them properly, get somewhere in the area of them and blast some aerosol contact cleaner over them. Then work the switch left and right a dozen times and see if it's cured the problem. Use contact cleaner, aka switch cleaner, not just any old aerosol you find on the garage shelf or bathroom cabinet.

Kevin

[tomothy94]

we took it all apart, wasn't nearly as difficult as my dad made out - just extrememly fiddly! there was a bit of plasting at the end of the arm, which had a piece of brass around it. this is the connector (cant think of anything else to call it) and basically it was bent out of shape. we took it apart and bent it back, then replace everything. now working fantastically!

[bmcecosse]

Great success.