Getting The NSS switch off!

i can not get this switch off for the life of me. I've tried the put the bolt on 3 spins and get a screw driver and pry but i just ripped the threads off. and it wont budge. i soaked it in wd-40 an it still wont budge.:smsoap:

i say this because my reverse lights don't work and inspections coming up. i just need to get it open to clean it.

Did you check the fuse for the Backup lights?
You can always add a second backup light switch, it comes in dam handy some times anyways.

some times they come on. and yes i've got the switch. but they take the car during inspection. so i cant use the swich

did you take off the top bolt? i for got to do that and the same thing happened !also put a little lube on the shaft .

yes, i remembered the top bolt.

The pry gently as you tap the Nut with a plastic or brass hammer.

the treads are shot so the nut thing is not going to work

Well then tap on the shaft without the nut, the only reason I said tap on the nut was to protect the threads.

here in texas the reverse lights are the one thing that we dont have to have checked in our state inspection.

ill have to check that. up here. i don't think the need mirrors.

Don't pry on the collet nut - it usually strips out.

Instead, get a couple bits of flat steel stock (say, 1/8"-1/4" thick, 1" wide, and about a foot long) and put them BETWEEN the switch body and the transmission case. GENTLY pry back and forth on them (so you're "rocking" the switch) until the switch starts to loosen, and continue to do so until you can get your fingers behind there. Once you have room for your fingers, you're over the worst of it.

Use Contact Cleaner or ether to clean the inside of the switch. Relubricate the contacts with a light film of Ox-Gard (it will lube and protect from corrosion, but it won't interfere with the connection, and it won't crap up the thing like the OEM stuff do...) and apply a VERY LIGHT layer of RTV Black on the mating surfaces of the switch case halves before you put them back together. Assemble the switch and screw it together (1 pound-foot or so for the case half screws) and let it set up while you go have a sandwich.

BEFORE you put the switch back on, apply never-seez to the shaft (nothing threaded - just the shift shaft!) and then slide the switch on. This should make it easier to take off in five years, when you do this again. I seem to recall that the adjuster screw should be tightened to about five pound-feet, or a bit less, and that the collet nut should be down somewhere around three pound-feet. Don't get stupid tightening it down - that's what got you into trouble in the first place, was the ape on the assembly line!

5-90

i like that shim thing what if i kept putting them around the switch and slowly tapped them in. once i get it off it is my turf. i can fix almost any thing electrical. and i wont over tighten the bolt.

You shouldn't need to - once you can get your fingers behind it, it's yours.

One other thing I forgot to mention this time (I've covered this process extensively before...) is that you should, really, have a bag handy that's big enough to stick both hands in. Once you take the case half screws out, put the switch and both hands in the bag, and THEN separate the case halves. There are two contacts on a wiper arm in there, and both contacts are spring-loaded (and I don't recall the dims, I need to take another one apart and measure everything again...) Having to make one of those contacts because you lost it - or replace a spring because it went airborne - is a HUGE pain in the arse! Don't ask how I know, I shall leave that as an exercise for the apt pupil...

You're not really "shimming" the switch out, you're just prying on alternate sides, and using something wide enough and flexible enough that you shouldn't damage the switch assembly. DO NOT beat on it - just gently pry, it WILL come loose. It just may take time. However, you DO NOT want to break the thing, since it will cost you upwards of $300US to replace!

5-90

(Edit - OK, I didn't need to bother with "$US." I guess I got crossed up - last time I went through this, the other guy was in England...)

$230 and thanks for the bad thing that would have been awful.

90xj06 said:

$230 and thanks for the bad thing that would have been awful.

Click to expand...

You're welcome. "Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it," or, "Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want."

Brother, I've got a LOT of experience!

5-90

who pays retail.

me and my brother both bought 1 a piece for our xjs.

They work flawless. BORG WARNER $120

I just replaced mine. Spent $2.50 at a junkyard, brought it home, cleaned it up and works good as new. Plus I've got a spare that I just need to clean up and put on the shelf. For the past few years I have done this to pass inspection. The guy just kind of shakes his head.





The switch usually breaks within a week, and I have to do it all over again the next year. Finally broke down this year and did it right. The Safety Pin allows it to start in any gear.

im thinking of doing that only running the wire inside.

Here's another suggestion, sort of along the lines of 5-90's but a little different. The shaft that runs through the NSS has a little end play in it usually. Remember that your goal here is to break the seizure between the shaft and the aluminum collet of the switch. Once you have any movement at all you have won.

So use those pieces of flat stock to pry the body of the switch out as far as you can without too much force, which will also pull the shaft out as far as its end play allows, and then, very gently with small brass hammer or the like, tap the end of the shaft that comes out of the tranny. If you're lucky, the shaft will move just enough to break free. You'll still have to baby it out the rest of the way, and perhaps even move it in and out a few times, but once that corrosion is broken you should be in business.

if somebody hasnt already stated this, I put a rubbermounted against the oil pan? (dont remeber right now) but anyways i put the rubber malat against something then used the screw driver against the end of the handle on the mallat and got it off.