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Following on from a recent query about suitable grease I decided to document this job for anyone who's never done it. I had an issue with my wiper stalk where it wouldn't work on intermittent setting, so wanted to give the contacts a clean and regrease the switch. Worth doing even if your switches are working ok, as the grease in them is no doubt old and crusty and will cause a fault sooner or later.
Start by removing the upper steering cowl (2 phillips screws accessed from underneath)
To remove the lower part you need to loosen the collar which grip the steering column. Again access from underneath at a 45 degree angle. It will either be a large phillips head screw or an hex head screw
Once that's done, remove the steering wheel (24mm socket required)
Pull the electrical connectors off the back of the stalks and remove the lower cowl complete with stalk switches.
looking at the back of the cowl, undo the 4 screws to release the stalks from the cowl and separate them from each other.
once you've separated them you should have something like this
Grab the one you need to repair - I ended up doing both of mine while i had them off the car. These pics are the wiper & hazard stalk from my coupe:
Remove the 4 screws holding the steel backplate on. These will either be phillips or a small Torx. Carefully remove the backplate (there are springs inside which may spring loose!) Here is a pic of the hazard stalk housing with the backplate removed and everything in place for reference:
Carefully dismantle this section, by holding the white spring loaded arm while you pull the stalk off. Be careful, as there is a spring loaded copper plate in the end of the stalk arm which will want to spring out. Once the stalk is out the way remove the white arm and spring (careful you don't loose it!). Finally pull out the copper contact plate from the bottom of the housing and you should have a collection of parts that looks like this
Put all of these bits safely to one side. The hazard switch housing forms the "lid" of the wiper stalk housing. The two halves slide apart to get to the wiper switches. Once you have the housing apart you are greeted by another spring loaded white arm. Pull this up vertically to remove it and the stalk just pulls out.
You can see in the above pic how tarnished and dirty the contacts are, and also the grubby crusty old grease. If you have had big problems with your stalk you might find that the contacts are burnt and the plastic around them is melted. If this is the case, you will need to find another housing. The good news is the trip computer and cruise control stalks fit into the bog standard housings, and there are millions of them about as spares. mine were looking in good condition so I just cleaned them up.
I used lighter fluid on rags and cotton buds to degrease the housing and contacts, then used Autosol on a cotton bud to polish up the contacts and remove the tarnishing. I found one of the spring loaded contacts on the wiper arm was worn down and a bit tired so I found another good one from an old burnt out stalk I had lying about and swapped them over - good as new. Once you've cleaned up the housing and polished up the contacts, give it all a final clean with lighter fluid.
Now its time to get liberal with electric contact grease. I got some in an aerosol from ebay. Make sure the contact are really well greased up.
Then reassemble the wiper section: Put the wiper arm in first, then the spring loaded arm. It can be a bit fiddly to get it all back together until you have the knack. Have another good squirt of grease once its back together.
Slide the hazard stalk housing on and grab all the nice clean parts from this section.
Give the housing a good squirt of grease. Put the copper contact plate in first, make sure its orientated right. Then the stalk arm, remembering the copper contact plate that sits on the spring in the end. Finally refit the white arm and spring back into place.
Refit the backing plate and test to make sure everything moves smoothly and clicks as it should.
Then go and test out your newly refurbished stalk switch and marvel at it working perfectly!
Start by removing the upper steering cowl (2 phillips screws accessed from underneath)
To remove the lower part you need to loosen the collar which grip the steering column. Again access from underneath at a 45 degree angle. It will either be a large phillips head screw or an hex head screw
Once that's done, remove the steering wheel (24mm socket required)
Pull the electrical connectors off the back of the stalks and remove the lower cowl complete with stalk switches.
looking at the back of the cowl, undo the 4 screws to release the stalks from the cowl and separate them from each other.
once you've separated them you should have something like this
Grab the one you need to repair - I ended up doing both of mine while i had them off the car. These pics are the wiper & hazard stalk from my coupe:
Remove the 4 screws holding the steel backplate on. These will either be phillips or a small Torx. Carefully remove the backplate (there are springs inside which may spring loose!) Here is a pic of the hazard stalk housing with the backplate removed and everything in place for reference:
Carefully dismantle this section, by holding the white spring loaded arm while you pull the stalk off. Be careful, as there is a spring loaded copper plate in the end of the stalk arm which will want to spring out. Once the stalk is out the way remove the white arm and spring (careful you don't loose it!). Finally pull out the copper contact plate from the bottom of the housing and you should have a collection of parts that looks like this
Put all of these bits safely to one side. The hazard switch housing forms the "lid" of the wiper stalk housing. The two halves slide apart to get to the wiper switches. Once you have the housing apart you are greeted by another spring loaded white arm. Pull this up vertically to remove it and the stalk just pulls out.
You can see in the above pic how tarnished and dirty the contacts are, and also the grubby crusty old grease. If you have had big problems with your stalk you might find that the contacts are burnt and the plastic around them is melted. If this is the case, you will need to find another housing. The good news is the trip computer and cruise control stalks fit into the bog standard housings, and there are millions of them about as spares. mine were looking in good condition so I just cleaned them up.
I used lighter fluid on rags and cotton buds to degrease the housing and contacts, then used Autosol on a cotton bud to polish up the contacts and remove the tarnishing. I found one of the spring loaded contacts on the wiper arm was worn down and a bit tired so I found another good one from an old burnt out stalk I had lying about and swapped them over - good as new. Once you've cleaned up the housing and polished up the contacts, give it all a final clean with lighter fluid.
Now its time to get liberal with electric contact grease. I got some in an aerosol from ebay. Make sure the contact are really well greased up.
Then reassemble the wiper section: Put the wiper arm in first, then the spring loaded arm. It can be a bit fiddly to get it all back together until you have the knack. Have another good squirt of grease once its back together.
Slide the hazard stalk housing on and grab all the nice clean parts from this section.
Give the housing a good squirt of grease. Put the copper contact plate in first, make sure its orientated right. Then the stalk arm, remembering the copper contact plate that sits on the spring in the end. Finally refit the white arm and spring back into place.
Refit the backing plate and test to make sure everything moves smoothly and clicks as it should.
Then go and test out your newly refurbished stalk switch and marvel at it working perfectly!
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