Moving the turn signal stalk into the position for a right hand turn is causing my headlights to turn off. If I use the brief position where it does not "snap" into place, it does not affect my headlights. When my headlights go out, they will either come back on after a second or if I push on the stalk a little bit.

I'm assuming the switch is going bad and could use cleaning. If anyone has other ideas, please voice them.

My next question is for verification... I'll need to remove my steering wheel to get to the switch. Do I need to do anything besides disconnecting the battery to avoid the air bag from deploying while I'm removing the steering wheel? A mechanic told me a few years back that there was more to it than that, but I think they were trying to run up the bill.

Thanks

 

I've never heard of this exact symptom for a combi switch on its way out, but thats the first thing that popped into my head when i read the title of this thread. I would start by trying to fix yours before buying a new one.

To do that, you will need to remove the steering wheel, yes. Your mechanic wasn't trying to run up the bill, those guys are usually pretty careful when dealing with airbags. What you'll want to do is disconnect the battery, then very carefully touch the positive and negative battery cables together. This will discharge all capacitors and what not that store electricity after you disconnect the battery. Once thats done, VERY CAREFULLY remove the airbag. Some of the guys here more knowledgeable about electric engineering wear whats called a ground strap when doing this. Basically its the same stuff that grounds the motor to the chassis, 'cept this time you're grounding yourself. This will prevent any static electricity from building up and sparking, which I'm told is enough to set off the airbag.

Once you've got that all apart, you can either remove the switch from the steering column, or work on it in the car. Thats up to you. I left mine in the car, but about half way through the job I wished that I hadn't.

This is the DIY I used when I did the combi switch on my 97....twice....http://www.audiworld.com/tech/elec114.shtml

Hope that helps!!

 

Ah that makes sense to discharge the capacitors. I actually have a ground strap less than a foot away from me so I've got that down. What do you mean by "VERY CAREFULLY?" I'll be sure to be gentle. Thanks man

 

Be careful with touching the cables - discharging everything, from what I read once, can reset some parameters of the ECU in such a way that vagcom is needed to reestablish them. Never tried myself, so I can't say for certainty. Chris, if you did it with no issues, that's cool. I just unhook the battery negative.

Use your ground strap Tyler, and it is easier having a second person (preferably not a klutz or an idiot) to help. That way you can undo the T30 torx bolts that secure the bag while your buddy holds it. He eases the bag down and holds it while you disconnect it and then put it a safe distance away from you. Do your work, and reassemble the same way.

Don't forget to turn the key on and leave it a few minutes once you're done ^^^so the TPS can reset itself.

 

Treat the bag with the respect that is due for something that can kill you, keep ESD in mind, and you'll be fine.

 

Did it several times on my 97 to reset CEL's before I had Vag-COM, never had any issues. Its very possible that you might run into problems on newer models though, that's a good point.

EDIT: Skythe, by "VERY CAREFULLY", I just mean don't rip the bag out and toss it on the floor of your garage. Theoretically, once the battery is disconnected you should be fine to manhandle it without incident, but it's basically a small bomb so I always use extreme caution with them.

 

^^^no doubt. Chris, glad to hear there were no issues when you did that.

 

Thanks for the advice guys. I have a few days off coming up. I could probably disconnect the battery terminals and leave them off over night to let the capacitors discharge. I'm not sure how long a full discharge will take, but waiting over night seems to be a good idea even if I do tap the two together before starting to get into this.

After that, it should be somewhat smooth sailing until it's time to reinstall the airbomb

 

The only other bit of advice I have is to be mindful of the bolt that holds your steering wheel on. Some B5's came with a big *** triple square, others with a large metric nut. I dunno how to tell which came with what, but if you don't have the triple square you'll prolly have to order it from ECS or someplace.

 

I found that I could remove mine with a T55 Torx bit on a 1/2" drive ratchet.