Sloppy turn signal arm

[WhiteTurbo]

Am I the only one with a loose/sloppy turn signal arm or is this common on the 2000 9-5 SE 3.0 Turbo? My other car is a Lexus RX300 and all levers are nice and tight as the RX has 180K miles on it. There is a one play when moving the arm from up and down position. Other than that the cruise and indicators do work as expected.

[metrognome]

Mine's the same way. Not sure if that's normal or not.

[toxicavenger]

my first 9-5 was like this too but the one I have know doesn't have that issue. I think it is just a little worn out and causes this issue.

[gghh]

There are small plastic tabs which tend to break and cause this behaviour.

[raquettelaker2]

It's because the tabs break off. My '01 V6 was the same way, I don't think they've broken in my '04... yet. Basically there are two tabs on the back of the switch box that apply force outward against the retaining clips so the switch doesn't wiggle around. Idiot design if you ask me, but hey, there are lots of idiot designs on the 9-5.

Here's a broken one I found on eBay:


And here's a non-broken one:


My solution was to break off the remaining portion of the tabs and glue a piece of 1/4" rubber vacuum hose to where the tabs are and that provided decent resistance so it didn't wiggle around.

[WhiteTurbo]

I guess the next question is, how difficult is it to take handle out and fix the problem? I have lots of pieces of rubber I could cram around the assembly. Thanks for the pic's they at least give a great illustration of the switch assembly.

[raquettelaker2]

Originally Posted by WhiteTurbo

I guess the next question is, how difficult is it to take handle out and fix the problem? I have lots of pieces of rubber I could cram around the assembly. Thanks for the pic's they at least give a great illustration of the switch assembly.

"So easy a caveman could do it." With the car running move the steering wheel 90 degrees in both directions and remove the torx screws from the column cover. Then remove the one on the bottom. With the steering wheel telescope fully extended, the two pieces unsnap and you can take them off. Then the signal switch is just held in with clips.

[WhiteTurbo]

Me be Caveman this weekend Har Har..

Excellent response and most appreciated..

[jmcox44]

To be honest, I always thought this was normal....

Oh well, I guess I'll be buying a new one. I take it that you have to replace the whole stock and can't replace just the white piece with the two tabs, am I correct?

Edit: You guys need to stop adding things to my list. The wife is getting of tired of me spending my weekends in the garage instead of out buying her stuff....

[Tailspin]

I often feel like Im going to break mine, Ill be super careful now!

[WhiteTurbo]

Mine are now fixed and it took a whole ten minutes. Note procedure below. Start car, turn steering wheel which allows access to front screws and 1 bottom.

1. Take off the covers....2 minutes..star tip of course
2. Depress tabs and slide turn indicator unit out on the left side
3. Purchase some 3/4 wide by 1/4 thick weather strip foam..one side sticky peal.
4. Turn signal side I used 2 layers on top of one another/doubleup and attached to steering column where unit slides into. Like making a spring
5. Slide unit back in against foam strip which is now acting like a spring and apply pressure until plastic tabs snap inplace. Nice and snug now
6. I did the same for the wiper blade arm which took another 30 seconds. Only 1 strip on the right side as that side is used less and less warn

That was by far one of the easiest and rewarding as you use these indicator arm's daily and mine are like factorysnug. Enjoy..I tried to attach a picture of my tools and equipment but 1st time and crash and burn..

[hiros]

I thought it was normal lol. Wondering though why the wiper arm stalk was rigid and firm while the turn signal was little flimsy but work a OK.

Guess will be doing it this weekend lol. Learning something new everyday. Good work guys.

[WhiteTurbo]

After driving to work this morning, I can't tell you how Fricken normal the two steering column arm's now feel. What a great fix and I advise anyone who has this issue, stop, go to the store and spend the 5.00 on the high desity foam stripping which I mention above. They are like brand new. I'm a little anal in my own way..