# 69 Turn Signal Switch Replacement- Walkthrough



## soberjoe (Nov 28, 2016)

Turning into a Walmart parking lot yesterday I scared the beejeezus out of several people crossing appropriately with their shopping carts when the horns in my '69 decided that this was a great time to start randomly blaring.

I smacked the wheel and the horns stopped - for a second. Then every time I touched the wheel the horns started blaring again.
So - super embarrassing but also indicative of a more serious problem. . .

It took all of 12 seconds to find the culprit: my turn signal switch arm was dangling at an unnatural angle!
It seems that as I signaled my turn into the Walmart parking lot, the plastic switch housing that acts as a receiver for the signal switch arm decided that it had had enough. I can see the crack in a caramel colored piece of plastic just inside the small rectangular hole that the signal switch arm goes into in the steering column. This apparently has allowed the horn switch springs to fail, so the horn activates every time the wheel is turned. . .

Ok - now for the million $$$ dollar question:

Can any of you walk me through, or direct me to a detailed walkthrough for removing my steering wheel, removing the broken components, installing the new components and buttoning everything back up?

My '69 has the 3-spoke plastic sports wheel with three horn buttons (one on each spoke).
I will push my luck and ask that if anyone has completed this task with this particular steering wheel, could you tell me where you found the parts?

Is this what I am looking for? https://www.opgi.com/gto/1969/chassis-suspension/steering-components/PP00033/

No cruise control.
No tilt wheel.
Here are 2 pics of my issue:

















Thank you in advance for any help offered.

Joe


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## PontiacJim (Dec 29, 2012)

In the upper right hand corner is a Red search engine for the forums. I pulled this one up which may help. http://www.gtoforum.com/f12/turn-signal-switch-replacement-41738/ There are others as well. If you get stuck, just keep on posting and there are many who can help. 

I suggest you might purchase a chassis manual, even a color coded wiring diagram just to have, for your car which can be very helpful if you enjoy working on your car. :thumbsup:


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## soberjoe (Nov 28, 2016)

PontiacJim said:


> In the upper right hand corner is a Red search engine for the forums. I pulled this one up which may help. http://www.gtoforum.com/f12/turn-signal-switch-replacement-41738/ There are others as well. If you get stuck, just keep on posting and there are many who can help.
> 
> 
> 
> I suggest you might purchase a chassis manual, even a color coded wiring diagram just to have, for your car which can be very helpful if you enjoy working on your car. :thumbsup:




Thank you Jim.
I have managed to get the steering wheel pulled, however I need a spring compression tool in order to remove the plate and spring clip that cover the switch mechanism. Off to the tool store tomorrow morning 


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## soberjoe (Nov 28, 2016)

soberjoe said:


> Thank you Jim.
> I have managed to get the steering wheel pulled, however I need a spring compression tool in order to remove the plate and spring clip that cover the switch mechanism. Off to the tool store tomorrow morning
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk




Ok, for anyone who has to complete this task in the future I am going to lay out a bit of a walk through.
My GTO is a 1969. I ordered a signal switch appropriate for the year make and model - the criteria seems to be whether or not your goat has cornering lights, as the switch is different for that model option.
Mine does not, so I ordered a TW20 sign signal switch from a local garage yesterday morning - he some how had it delivered yesterday afternoon!
I went out and purchased the necessary tools




























This morning I dove in and began the task.



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## soberjoe (Nov 28, 2016)

My goat has the 3 spoke sports wheel, so there are 3 Phillips head screws to be removed from the back side of the steering wheel - one on each spoke.










Once those are out (make sure to use the correct sized Phillips screwdriver and use a gentle touch) take the front off of the wheel. Thread the 3 screws back into their holes so they don't get lost.

Now the wheel looks like this, with a 7/8" nut holding the wheel to the steering shaft.










Break the nut free using a ratchet, then use the steering wheel puller to remove the wheel from the steering shaft.










Now you should be looking at this 










Carefully remove the 3 small Phillips head screws and put them somewhere safe!
Then remove the dust cover plate.

You should now see this










There is a spring clip that holds this plate in place on the steering shaft. Use the steering spring plate compression tool to push the plate down further on the shaft, exposing the spring clip and allowing room for you to remove it. 
This is where the mechanics picks come in handy.


















Once the spring clip is out of its groove and further up the shaft, release the compression tool, then remove the spring clip be sliding it up off of the steering shaft and then finally remove the steering spring plate.

Now you see this










The green plastic part is the signal cancelling cam. It simply comes up off the shaft.

Now you are at the signal switch! Hooray!!










The signal arm sits in that rectangular depression in line with the hole in the steering column - I had removed mine already prior to taking the picture.

I'll finish this post up tomorrow - 

Joe





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## soberjoe (Nov 28, 2016)

Ok, so now it's time to pull the switch out of the column. To do that, you first have to do 4 things:
1) disconnect the signal switch wiring harness at the base of the steering column. Mine actually sits in a 2-tab holder on the bottom of the column. You'll recognize it by the 10 wire harness (no cornering lights)










2) Remove the signal control arm from the switch - and put the screw somewhere safe!

3) Remove the 4-Ways Hazard switch from the right side of the column. Mine simply screwed off by turning it towards myself (lefty-loosely)



4) Finally, Remove the 3 Phillips head screws holding the signal switch in place. Again, use the correct sized screwdriver and be gentle. Everything in here is 48 years old!










Now gently lift the old switch out of the steering column. It will likely come up far enough to clear the steering shaft, and that's all. To get the switch completely removed you have to coax the 10-wire harness up through the steering tube.

*Note: tie a piece of string, or piano wire around the end of the old 10-wire plug. The string/wire will get pulled up the steering column tube as you remove the old switch and harness - you can then tie it to the new harness end to aid in pulling the new one back down the tube.

My switch harness was enveloped in a plastic sheathe the length of the steering column tube, as seen below:



























Now here I am, feeling great about my progress so far. I grab the new switch and harness, and I'm just about to tie the piano wire that's running the length of the steering column to the new switch harness end when I decide that I should check the plug for figment first. Will the new male 10-wire end mate up with the 48 year old female 10-wire end????

No.

It will not!!!

The male end on the new TW20 switch is wider than the old one.

Great!

Now what?!?

Well, one at a time, pull all 10 wires from the old male harness plug as well as the new male harness plug, and place the old plug end on the new harness!































Then gently fish the new plug and harness down the steering tube (after putting the harness back into the protective plastic sheathe) by feeding from the top of the column and gently pulling on the string/piano wire from below.










My aftermarket switch did not want to just slide right into place in the column - it took some gentle persuasion to get it to seat properly- but it did go in quite easily.

Then I tried fitting my signal control arm into its rectangular hoke in the left side of the switch and...no go.

A bench grinder fixed that. I removed a little metal from all sides of the control arm end and voila! In it went.

Kind of makes me wonder if that's why the old switch cracked where it did - because the signal arm was slightly too big for its plastic receiver?

Anyhow, I got it back in, screwed the hazards switch back into place, and buttoned everything back up.

*Note: apply a film of dielectric grease to the bottom of the green signal cancelling cam when reassembling

After getting everything back in place- including the outer 3-spoke portion of the steering wheel - I reconnected my horns and tried everything out and...

SUCCESS!!!

I'm not exactly sure how much money I saved by doing this job myself - but I bet it was at least $300

I hope this helps someone faced with this problem to complete the task on their own!

Joe


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## 60sPontiacs (Jul 14, 2016)

Good job and thanks for details. I'll be doing this on mine when I get time to work on it.


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## Boomstick (Sep 13, 2021)

following 

my side markers and front turn signals still dont work and all i have are hi beams...


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## BLK69JUDGE (Jun 10, 2010)

Boomer
start a new thread and we will chat there about your issue "s" ...

Scott


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