84 C10 Maintenance and repairs...

[yellomalibu]

I lost my turn signals Wednesday in my 84 C10. I've got nothing but slop in the the turn signal lever - no click left or click right.

I swung by the auto parts store and picked up a new turn signal switch - surprised they had one in stock - and jumped into the project this morning... and it's not the problem. The turn signal switch is fine.
The problem is between the switch and the multi-function lever. A plastic piece inside broke.
In these pics I'm borrowing from the internet, you can see the turn signal switch actuating arm where the lever usually goes in older cars. It has a ball on it that goes into a plastic piece that the multi-function lever also goes into.





Could it be the "wiper switch" that I need? I don't want to keep buying parts that aren't what I need... especially if they are hard to acquire.

I checked the spare steering column I have (thanks again SBG), and it's the older model that doesn't have the multi-function lever - from a truck like my old 82 where the wiper controls were on the dash and the high beam control was on the floor.

[Orange65]

What is the column you are using out of? What year? As you mentioned, that body style truck had just a turn signal there, no multifunction. The wiper switch is in the dash up to 87 to my knowledge.I would go to the junk yard and pull one if you can find it at least to see how a working multifunction switch works.Or possibly one of the auto parts superstores has a blow up of the assembly of the column you have with a listing of the parts.

Not a real answer, sorry. Will they take the electrical parts back where you are shopping?

[tardis454]

I've been down this road with GM columns. There's not much to them.
Straight columns are easier to fix then tilt, but both are pretty straight forward.
I dug out a spare lock bowl and some S10 column pics to show you whats in there..

Start here..



The metal tab nib rides in this groove.
Check if the tab nib is bent or fell out of the groove.
Check if the groove is broken or worn out.



The pin goes through here and holds the signal level stalk post onto the lock bowl..



The red arrow shows the pin on the backside of the stalk post, the purple arrow shows the stalk post itself.



Check this area..




Hope this helps...

[yellomalibu]

When I pulled the metal tab out, the nib or ball looks fine, but the piece it rides in (I think) appeared to be a plastic piece that was broken and fell away inside the column. The metal tab nib/ball now rides in nothing. The multi-function lever flops around with no turn signal operation at all. I can still operate hi/low beams, but barely - it feels like something else is about to break.

The groove the tab/nib rides in; is that part of the wiper switch? Will ordering a new wiper switch supply the broken/ missing part I need?

[yellomalibu]

The plastic piece that broke off is to the right of the 3 o'clock position of your blue oval.

[tardis454]

When I pulled the metal tab out, the nib or ball looks fine, but the piece it rides in (I think) appeared to be a plastic piece that was broken and fell away inside the column. The metal tab nib/ball now rides in nothing. The multi-function lever flops around with no turn signal operation at all. I can still operate hi/low beams, but barely - it feels like something else is about to break.

The groove the tab/nib rides in; is that part of the wiper switch? Will ordering a new wiper switch supply the broken/ missing part I need?

A new switch won't come with the pot metal mount, you get the switch only.
The switches are expensive too, which is why I used a few parts columns to rebuild my S10 column.

Classic Industries sells the switches http://www.classicindustries.com/sho...ical-switches/

And of course you can find them on ebay.. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from...witch&_sacat=0

There are 3 wire and 5 wire switches. 3 wire is standard 2 speed wipers, 5 wire is pulse wipers.



You're gonna have to take the lock bowl off to swap the switch out. (You probably already know that though )

I have a 3 wire and a 5 wire switch. Hit me up if you don't want to deal with the online sellers.

[yellomalibu]

Okay... I made an orange arrow pointing to the part that I'm 99% sure I saw that was broken and fell away when I took that metal tab out of the turn signal switch.
Please tell me that's part of the wiper switch.
...and I don't have the pulse, just off, low, and high.

[redneckjoe69]

i got frustrated working on a 74 c10 column and ended up buying a junkyard column. i guess that could always be a last option?

[tardis454]

Okay... I made an orange arrow pointing to the part that I'm 99% sure I saw that was broken and fell away when I took that metal tab out of the turn signal switch. Please tell me that's part of the wiper switch.
...and I don't have the pulse, just off, low, and high.

Yup, that's part of the wiper switch, and if you only have Low & Hi then you have a 3 wire switch..

[yellomalibu]

Excellent news. Thank you for your help!

[yellomalibu]

I'm stuck.
How do I separate the steering column to access where the wiper switch is attached.
I unscrewed the 4 5/16" screws under the cam assembly (after pulling the cam assembly out of the way), and about a foot of the column is now loose - how do I seperate the top of the column from the bottom, getting access to the wiper switch?

[yellomalibu]

The difference between mine and most I see online are that mine isn't column shift OR tilt... so I'm not seeing exactly how to separate the top of the steering column.
You would THINK that a column without a shifter or a tilt would be easier, but the problem I'm finding is that there aren't any pics or videos online. grrr...

[tardis454]

Column shift and floor shift columns all come apart the same way. The only difference is column shift has a shifter tube and a groove in the shifter bowl that keeps you from locking the column with the vehicle in gear. My S10 column is a fake floor shift. 1st gen S10 floor shift columns are becoming unobtainium, so I sawed off the shifter tab and duraglassed the hole shut lol!




This write up shows you how to remove the lock bowl portion of the column, it's pretty easy once you see what you have to do.

[yellomalibu]

I got it... figured it out. Had to disassemble more than I wanted to, but that's what it required.

Now, to try to reassemble everything.

pics later.

[tardis454]

I just realized you said you had non-tilt, damn adult A.D.D. lol!

In the meantime I found an exploded view of a GM non-tilt column.