Repairing the climate control blower switch
By the end of '97 I had finally managed to get the climate control going again. It was getting cold and having a functional blower and heater was definitely a plus. So I was proud I had fixed it by myself (after all i'm a programmer, not a mechanic) until I played a bit more with the climate control level. I found the blower was always running at low speed, except for a tiny spot between the HI and FOG positions where it ran at full speed. So I took the climate control panel out and here is what I found:
See the black hole in the switch plate? One of the contacts was literally burnt out, I found it sticking in the cable connector.
There was no chance to get a replacement switch so I took it out and apart to see if it could be repaired:
Everything was there, but the old contact was severely damaged and could not simply be put back in. I got the old contact out of the connector, found a piece of copper wire with almost the same diameter and cut 1/2" off. Now, how do I make the nice round head? First form the head by holding the wire vertically with a grip wrench and and hammer on its end for some time. After that the wire was crooked and looked awful, but it was a lot thicker at the end.
How do I make it round? I have a little electric drill, similar to a Dremel tool, but a lot cheaper. I put the wire in the drill, held a file against it and formed the new contact surface. The wire was inserted into the old connector, soldered and shortened. After that it looked surprisingly good :-)
The new contact has to be attached to the contact plate. The burnt out hole and the area around it was cleaned a little with a round file and sanding paper. Then I glued the contact to the plate using a two-component glue:
This is the result:
The switch was put back together, the control panel reinstalled and now the climate control works just as it should. Hurray!