4WD & Low range lights intermittent issue

So its been a month, and the issue has not re-occurred. (except for about 10 seconds out of the blue on day when i started the car up)

I took out the 4wd selector switch and sprayed it liberally with electrical contact cleaner. Holding the knob bit down so all the liquid can soak into the switch. Let it soak for about 1 minute, then sprayed with with air to dry.

Plugged it back in, all seemed good.

The next day i spent about 4/5 hours in 4x4 and low range playing in the sand dunes.

As mentioned above haven't had the issue for 1 month now.

Except for on day after work I started the car up it came on, and then went off about 10 seconds later while i was putting my seatbelt on...

so i would say a bunch of these switches are a little crap!

Hi Sash,

Same. The problem hasn't recurred for us either. Every now and then since the problem I have sat in the garage for a gew minutes toggling between 4wd and 2wd listening for the tell-tale clicks to do the same as you - ie give the contacts a bit of work. We probably hadn't touched 4wd for around 3-4 months when the problem happened and it was also a wet day on the freeway so either lack of use or water spray could have been contributing factors.

I'm yet to play with any contacts and probably won't do so unless there's a repeat episode. Something to keep an eye on.

Cheers,

BB

started having the issue again after that last post. HAHA, gotta laugh..

sprayed it with contact cleaner again, and its been 2 or 3 weeks now without the issue again.

I also purchased another switch from the wreckers, so when i do start having the issue again, i will swap it with the one from the wreckers...

Over the weekend I swapped out my 4wd switch (the actual low, 4x4 and RWD switch selector knob) with one i purchased from a wrecker.

Mine was having the issues, swapped out, no longer having the issue.

After spraying electrical contact cleaner, the switch seems to work each time for about 1 month.

So with my old one in my hands, i decide to open it up.

Looking inside the switch mechanism, it is very simple. Here are some photos

The Switch:

The back of the switch:

cont... couldn't post all photos???

The switch with the back cover taken off

Close up of the back cover

Back cover again:

So if you look at the photos, you will notice the back cover is the bit that actually does all the work.

The front half just completes the contacts and tells the back cover what mode to be in.

So the contact points (3 of them if you look at the front half) between the front half and back half have to be clean...

Mine were all greasy if you look closely.

I think this is the reason my lights were showing on the dash. It could not read the contact points due to the grease (im no sparky, but could the grease also short out the signal?)to work out which mode it was in. So i cleaned up the grease, now its all nice and shinny!

I will place my old switch back over the weekend to see if it works, and for how long, and will report back here.

I have not seen this question answers before, so hopefully those who have similar issues will be able to see one instance of this issue resolved.

Also when prying off the back cover, be very careful... The plastic tabs and locks are very brittle and snap off easily.

Possibly get another pair of hands, or just work very slowly, with a very thin/small flat head screwdriver or something.

With out these tabs, you will need to buy another switch, as these tabs are what hold the two halves together...

If you look at the image below, not sure how relevant it is, but here are the contact point combinations and the mode that car should be in:

RWD: Contact point 1 and 2

4 Hi: Contact Point 1 and 3

4 low: Contact point 1 and 4

Hi Sash,

Nice work! It's always useful to see what lies beneath the surface so thankyou very much. It will be interesting to see how the "reco" unit performs. Re the grease, I suspect that you would still need some sort of lubrication, but have no idea what works best in an electrical situation. The lightest option would be wd40, but I don't know if it would last long enough. Jimw or hypo may have a suggestion - they know quite a bit about electronics.

Cheers,

BB

BB, i would assume it doesn't need much grease on it if any at all to be honest. I say this as its not a frequently moved part, and when it is moved, its not like it generated much heat. With being electrical contacts i would think dry would be better, therefore guaranteeing nothing gets in-between the two contacts. I think the grease may have leaked into there or something like that. Maybe around there somewhere it needs grease for whatever reason, and the grease has found its way into that area. If you look real closely the grease is all around the bottom area. Up the top there is hardly any grease.

Also if it does need grease, once it gets old and hard, i would think it would be more detrimental... (maybe in our instance).

I can only assume spraying contact cleaner as i was previously doing every month was temporarily cleaning the grease around these contacts and then once the grease hardens up again or something i get the issue.

In automotive switches like these and combination stalks (Indicators / Wipers) they often put a grease in the for whatever reason. What can happen, this grease traps contaminants which can lead to small shorts.

The combination switch is one that gets used a lot and over time and small particles of the contacts wear off and get trapped. I have seen two (one of which was my own) actually smoke up because of this. It is usually a matter of cleaning, and a light contact grease and off you go.

In the case of your 4wd switch, I would suspect that it is more of a corrosion inhibiting purpose, and may be to stop it siezing in one postiton due to lack of use??

Hi Sash, yes switches do often have a little grease in there to stop them wearing as in any moving mechanical part, they are probably rated at up to 100,000 operations, Another common fault is if the moving contacts lose a bit of spring and don't make good contact anymore. Often worth giving them a slight tweak to increase the pressure, but not too much. Switches used a lot can end up being worn thru.

Jim

i put my original switch back in and took out the one i got from the wreckers. The one that is in there now has no grease, as i cleaned it all off. The grease on my original was a little dirty.

I opened the one from the wreckers (didn't break any tabs this time) and the grease was much cleaner. I used a little screw driver to spread the grease around the most contacted areas once again, and scrapped it from all the little holes, back to the electrical contact path.

So if mine (no grease) starts giving me problems again, i will replace with this one with the grease re-spread around it.

Will keep informed how long the no grease one lasts before i see this issue.

Also what kind of grease would you use for this?

Brand, lables anything info...

Hi Sash,

I did a search for contact grease (limited to Australia) and came up with lots of hits. Here is one example... It also has a couple of links to pdf pages, the second of which is a data sheet that explains why the grease is important and what it is designed to do.

http://australia.rs-online.com/web/p/contact-treatment/0503335/?origin=PSF_344054|alt

Jaycar have an aerosol based contact cleaner lubricant listed as well that might do the trick.

Cheers,

BB

Thanks for that BB, that contact cleaner lubricant is the one i have been using all along. Gives me about 1 month with out the issue, and without me switching it into 4x4 and low..

So since the last post when i cleaned the grease out, it has still been giving me issues (mostly when its cold - car stays outside, no garage). So got that contact grease delivered this week, put on on today will reports progress...

I was driving past the kia parts dept so i figure i would drop in and ask how much for the part. (the 4wd switch). Its only $80 brand new!

Thought i would mention it.

Not so bad after all!

So i have left the switch connected, but not fully pushed back into its position. So not clipped back into the dash, but held in place reasonably well.

No issues. push the switch housing back into its position in the dash plastics, and within the next couple of days, issues. Back to its intermittent self.

With both the switch modules i have. So i have been leaving it plugged in, but not clipped into the dash plastics, and only ever got the issue once.

So leads me to believe that when clipped into its proper position, its not sitting correctly, and kind of on an angle, which is resulting in the 3 contact points not actually touching the points that they should be. As i really only seem to be getting the issue when its held in place and can not budge. But when its out of that position, and its not forced to a particlar position, it works fine.

So i took apart the one that is out of the car again. Took the back cover off and took a look at the bit of metal that has the 3 little 'feet' that form the contact points onto the backing piece. Near each of the little 'feet' you will see in indent (outdent?). What this indent is for is to hold a little spring in place. So i figure i will try and make the springs longer and stiffer trying to make the contact points have more pressure against the backing plate.

I will install this switch in the next couple days, and see how i go. Report back here in the coming months.

Details of how i extended the spring.

No photos of this one..

Pull the knob off the front. The one that you twist. Then the mechanism with the little 'feet' will just slide out of its little home. The front knob is holding it into place.

The you will see the mechanism with the feet is held into place via two clips. One is really easy to unclip the other needs a touch more force. Unclip the metal bit.

Make sure you unclip it gently, as the springs are not held in place. They can fall out, and you can loose them.

You will see where the springs go, pull them out gently, and put them aside. Pack the little holes where the springs sit with something to make the them push harder against the metal plate with the feet.

I used an old qantas frequent flier card. just cut the smallest bits off to fit in there, and fiddled them into place with a small screw driver. An old credit card/loyalty card of some sort is the thickness of what i used. Firstly i tried 2 pieces of card, but the springs were putting out too much force that the metal plate unclipped its self, so i took 1 piece of packing out. The 2 pieces of card also bent some of the springs. Thats it, now put it back together.

Will post how i go in the coming months.

No news is good news. (if i dont post, means i dont have the issue.)

Hi guys & girl.

My 2002 GL has just diplayed the same, (4wd/low lights on) . I have no front drive shaft movement so I went straight for the control switch. I cleaned it, even got hold of a good second hand one.

Still the same, lights on.

My question. Has anyone got the voltage "power in" to switch pin number or wire colour. The only voltage I have is when I put the lights on.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Cheers

Laurie