HELP! Emergency. Broke the headlight clicker.

[edmontowndeli]

Hi!

I'm new to this forums so please excuse my "new-show"-ness and my utter lack of mech/elec. savvy. I'm also new to a diesel engine, but I'm having fun with my 91 Exceed P35W with 167,000 kms!!

So, just got my van from van-city and have been having a ball cruising around and learning as much as I can from this site and from tinkering around. However, the first time my lovely girlfriend drove the Turbo Fun Bus (or TFB for short) she had a little freak-out session when she couldn't get the interior/headlights to turn off and accidentally got the rear wiper going and then couldn't turn that off! (Lovely isn't she) I tried to talk her through it on the phone and we got the rear wiper off easy enough and the interior/fog lights, but when it came for the heads we had a problem. I told her to push in on the end of the lever and twist towards her. Well I guess she was a little revved up and pushed in and twisted with such force that she broke the lever where it connects to the rest of the unit at the driving wheel console...cough(???).

Anyway the turning signals still work fine and the high-beams work when I pull the lever towards me as per usual, its just when I push in (lightly) and turn the little nobber the headlights no longer turn on. The whole unit can now easily twist all the way around. The fog's still work fine. This is a HUGE problem because I just got the vehicle and have a week left now to get the out of province inspection done (the vehicle was previously registered and insured in vancouver).

I took it to the local mitsu dealership and a very nice young man there tracked down the part from England (#MB571631) and told me it would be $923.74 just for the part!! Excuse me while I go throw up. I knew these beauties were bad for parts but CMON. He said they need to replace the whole unit which includes the windshield washer lever and the wiring all the way to wherever it goes. I figure there must be an easier way.

I have considered rewiring from the fogs to the headlights so that at least I will have headlights on when I switch the button on. Other than that I'm kinda having a shitty day. I know from the other posts that you fellas and ladies seem to love helping newbs fix problems. Hopefully I can pass on the favor in the future. Looked at all the tech. posts and couldn't one dealing with this specific issue. I need HELP! like the beatles.

Any ideas comments? I would love a blow-out diagram of the headlight/turn signal lever to see what is actually broken and if I may be able to figure something out.

WOW, long post. Cheers if you suffered me this sin.

__Matt aka edmontowndeli

ps- pics below of the part that is broke. (sad face)

[TardisDeli]

Matt, can you type your full private email (like a hotmail or yahoo), so someone can scan you the pages from manual.
I wont be able to scan till 5:30 pm Vancouver time. Anyone else sooner ?? I don't have the wiring diagrams from the back of the Russek Manual, does anyone else ?

Christine.

[EricN]

Probably just as fast to PM some of the folks wrecking delis (scan the buy and sell
parts section) and get a used switch.

[edmontowndeli]

Thanks eeerybody for the quick replies. I will def try to get a part from some of the poor folks who trashed their del's. I also went to two other mechanics today (one who deals with imports of all kinds, and one guy who had japanese looking writing on his signs). They both said the same thing. That the whole unit must be replaced because there's some kind of switch or column or something that is now broken. I would still like to see a diagram of the thing though. I just can't believe that there isn't some way to get in there and re-attach the wires or something and then super glue the damn thing back in place.

Cheers all. Looks like Turbo Fun Bus won't be goin out for any late night good times and yuk yuk's for some time to come.

--Matt

ps - my privvy email is humble7_14@hotmail.com. spam shmam I trust ya'll.