90/91's = Don't Push Your Light Switch Too HARD!

[tjenkins]

Ok, so perhaps someone will read this and save some time. What should have been a five minute up-stop adjustment, turned in a nightmare on my 1990 coupe.

Having seen a bit of 'wobble' on the left side head light, while in the up position, I decided to take a few moments and adjust it. During the trial 'up-and-down', I in-advertantly pushed the light assy into the dash. The main (top) push button appeared to break off and insert itself inside the plastic light assy frame.

Disconnected the battery, disassembled the dash, disconnected the two connectors, removed the light assy, and noticed that the housing had come apart, breaking a tab or two between the two halves of the housing when I pushed it in.

Springs, buttons and other parts came out... took about an hour to reassemble the entire switch such that I was sure that it was back to factory settings.

Reconnected the assy and battery, and continued on with the up-stop procedure. Ended up with a few drops of super glue to hold the assy together.

A final note - the engineering (in my opinion, ANOTHER failure on GM's part, just like the replacement of the side lights, horn button assys, seats for large framed individuals, mirror/vent glass placement, leaking door rubber etc) is such that the switches in the 90/91 hinge from the right (passengers) side. If you push on the left side of the buttons all the time, you will probably have NO problems with the switch assemblies.

If you push on the right side of the front switch plate(s) with some force, you MAY end up pushing the entire assembly into the frame of the dash.

Good luck!

--Tom

[Guest Buick Mike]

That is exactly what happened to me once... except I was unable to reassemble the parts. And I wasn't even pushing hard.

Before installation, I put some zip ties around the replacement so it cannot fall apart like that.

Mike