HELP--Headlight switch rheostat broke--late production '50 Special

Need some guidance. I was having issues with the dash lights on my '50 Special, external lights were working fine. Found out that the map and dash lights were on the wrong terminals. Corrected wire placement. Still no go. Removed switch and cleaned the little "rivet" terminals for the turn functions as well as the screw-in terminals for the wire placement. Re-installed switch and wires. All external lights still work, interior lights don't work in any of the turned positions at all and saw a puff of smoke from behind dash. Removed the switch and saw that the spring rheostat had either snapped when turning the switch, or overloaded and broke.

Long story short...Does anyone know of someone that repairs these switches? Are they repairable? Shop Manual says no. The switch was used on late production '50-52 only. Early '50 had a separate Map Light Switch from Headlight/Interior Lights. I saw a near identical '53 switch on eBay, but it was 12 volt. I don't know if the 12v switch would work. Direct replacements are pretty much none existent, or at least from I've found so far. YNZ has one, but it, like the others I've seen, doesn't have the separate terminal for the Map Lights.

Switch should have 3 terminals up backside, 3 across bottom, and 2 towards the front of the switch on top.

Are any of you guys holding an extra they're willing to part with?

HELP!!

I don't think you'll find a new replacement for it. To my knowledge nobody makes them. You have to be careful because some "new" or "universal" switches you find out there look similar but don't have the turn function, meaning they just pull in and out. I don't know about repairs. I've never really looked into that. Might be able to call some of the Buick parts guys and ask if they know of a person that repairs them. Your best bet is EBAY. They pop up on there from time to time when people are parting out a car. Good luck!

Found this. Might work: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1951-1952-Buick-Dash-headlight-Knob-switch-Control-Button-51-52-/390856243882?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5b00d8faaa&vxp=mtr

Bypass the rheostat and turn them on bright or put an adjustable potentiometer in line and adjust them the way you like. Or wire the terminals to a Pot with a knob on the dash.

Bernie

Robert. I saw that one on eBay. For $20, price is great, but condition is pretty questionable. Might be just a ton of rust on the screw terminals. Worry would be if the rheostat coil was just as badly corroded as the terminals. I think when I did the cleaning, that's how mine got loosened up. Might be worth grabbing though. Curious if I could pull just the rheostat coil/porcelain section out of the eBay one and put into my frame. I saw on a Ford Truck forum last night that Ford actually carried the rheostat/porcelain section as a replacement part. Another thing I'm going to try on mine is to either drill out old rivet, put a loop in the end of the broken coil and insert a new rivet. Other option may be to again, create loop in end of coil and put a small brass screw thru loop and run the screw down into the old terminal; will grind head of screw as flush as possible so flipper doesn't get caught up on it.

I'll let you guys know what I do and if I have any success.

What I did was find a really fine spring and put it between the two end terminals. It doesn't dim, but I do have dash-lights! Taking the switch apart is a bit tricky as there is a spring loaded stud, well at least on my 1956, and the end caps will shoot off and fly across the room, perhaps whoever buys my house after I'm dead will find the one I lost. I found that taking it apart in something like a shoebox helps. Putting it back together is kind of a pain, but it can be done: I used a strip of index card that I taped down on either side of body/casing, this holds the spring loaded indexer-dingus-thingy in place while you hold/screw down the cover back on. Before you tighten the screws, slip the strip of paper out. I hope that was maybe a little help if not too confusing:confused:

Jaybird

Jaybird, thanks. I've been down the road of pulling the switch apart. Not too bad, just need lots of patience and a way of holding the springs in place from "blowing up" on you. I tried to remount my original rheostat coil using the new rivet option. Snapped right off again as soon as juice hit it. I recently found another switch on eBay, though unfortunately, it's not as "pretty" as mine was. Pretty rusty and discolored even after cleaning with a wire wheel on the Dremel and PB Blaster. I also had to drill out a couple of the terminal screws as they had rusted themselves permanently in place. Current plan, is to mount this "new" switch in place and see if it works. If it doesn't due too much screw terminal corrosion or hidden internal damage inside the "box end" of the switch, I'll be yanking out the porcelain/rheostat component from the cruddy switch and mounting into the frame of my nicer, semi-functioning switch, and see I get all functionality back. Here's to hoping!