New Headlight switch Woes!

So my old 1990 switch started going out, the lights would keep going off because the switch wouldn't hold in the outward most detent anymore. I get the new switch, and the housing must be off/bent, and won't allow for the plunger to align with the inner switch. I can make it go in when the switch is out, in my hand, but when I install it, and screw in the retaining bolt with the hole through it, the plunger is off by quite a bit.

Anyone else experienced this? I'm thinking about reaming out the inner hole through the bolt to a much larger size.

Well, I got the plunger installed, by bending the housing a tad. Now, the headlights work fine, the dome light works too, but the dash lights won't come on. I think I got the wrong switch.

Did you plug in the ground wire to the lug on the back of the switch?

I can confirm there is an extra spade on the switch when comparing an 88 to a 94 switch. So it's possible you have the wrong switch.

Silly question... did you turn the knob to brighten the gauges?

Yes, the knob turns, the dome light will come on, but no gauge lights. There's a clock on the dash, which is lit up when the lights are turned of, and the key is on, but it goes out when the light switch is on now.

There was an extra spade on the replacement switch, which I had to brake off to get the plug to engage.

NWDave said:

Yes, the knob turns, the dome light will come on, but no gauge lights. There's a clock on the dash, which is lit up when the lights are turned of, and the key is on, but it goes out when the light switch is on now.

There was an extra spade on the replacement switch, which I had to brake off to get the plug to engage.

Click to expand...

I compared the 88 and 94 switches i had. They all had letters next to the spades.

The letter next to the extra spade was also listed elsewhere on the other switch... so basically you cut the spade off that you need for your dash lights.

Still have the old switch? Compare and you'll see what i'm referring to.

Yes, I broke off the extra spade, because the plug in the dash would not plug in to the new switch, with the extra spade. I know it sounds hasty, I should've just went and exchanged it for a new plug, but I work nights, and had some time constraints.