Lotus Elan Central

There appear to be three GM part numbers (at least):

90 282 846 = black / dark blue - matches door mirror switch
90 282 847 = light brown
90 282 849 = dark brown - as fitted to my car

As one of mine was feeling a bit dodgy, I got a pair of -846's and -847's some time ago. The only problem was that one of the -846's was U/S. Having practised on an old one that Phil donated, I managed to get the broken -846 apart: Some tweezers down the side of the knob to open up the body, allows you to lever out the knob. There is an LED soldered into the top of the switch body which must be removed before prising off the back of the body. All that was wrong was that the spring contacts of the switch had come off the retaining bracket. While putting it back together, I took the opportunity of replacing the yellow LED with a red one.

What is the part number on your glorious heater switch upgrade Geoff?

Those proddling holes for the bulb holders look good Geoff but you can cover them up now

Ray

Geoff have you tried changing the bulb in the fog light switch?

got the top cover off BUT the bulb broke as I was trying to remove it? = any ideas!!!!!!!!!

Looks great with the red bulb BTW

Gee0

Yep! I've got one open in front of me Gerry. It's a fairly easy job to change the LED once you've prised the back off. If want me to fix it for you, drop me a PM and I'll do it for a donation to the kitty.

Geoff,
Looks good!! I like your attention to detail You wouldn't, have a solution for seat heater switches, would you?
Peter

Peter, I see you found it!

Geoff did you pull the rocker switch off from the top? Im going to have a go at putting some green LED's in. I just cant picture in my head how you described it. Soz for being a thicko!

Yes it comes out from the top. The two pivot arms have a chamfer at the bottom, so it is relatively easy to press the knob in until it locates in the recesses and the sides snap back in. Forcing the tweezers down the sides opens up the body so you can prise the knob out with a small screwdriver.

Geoff what type of LED do i need? Are they 12v or something else. I just thought that 12v LEDs need a resistor in line and i cant see one in the switch. Any detail's would be great. Cheer's Holty

Geoff, I've got a few quesiotns on this procedure if you don't mind.

I tried to take a switch apart last week and broke it instead Good thing my alarm fob has a feature to roll the windows up and down! I tried to remove the "bottom" of the switch from its "top" and ended up with little peices all over the floor. Worse, I couldn't even see the LED as it appears to be right up againt the top of the switch (the button you actually push) which can't be accessed from underneath. So, I'm guessing what you did was essentially pull the "button" off of the body of the switch itself thereby exposing the LED................correct? I'm thinking you'd need a pretty small LED as well as you don't need much light.

Having said this, I was wondering what you thought about some other options. I've no idea if these switches actually just "plug in" to the connector on the Elan (probably not) but the wires could possibly be re-threaded into the Elan's connector provided you knew what wires did what of course. Here's a few switches that look a bit more modern perhaps. I've always wanted a switch with the locking "auto-down/auto-up" capability. Would you know if this is a switch funciton or a window motor function or both?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CORSA-C-ASTRA-G-Z ... 0271027672

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vauxhall-Astra-El ... 0259724960 (black version of the original?)

Elanlover wrote:I tried to remove the "bottom" of the switch from its "top" and ended up with little peices all over the floor. Worse, I couldn't even see the LED as it appears to be right up againt the top of the switch (the button you actually push) which can't be accessed from underneath. So, I'm guessing what you did was essentially pull the "button" off of the body of the switch itself thereby exposing the LED................correct?

Correct - that's why I said on my first post "There is an LED soldered into the top of the switch body which must be removed before prising off the back of the body." I have recovered a switch from an identical position. The old bits of the LEDs legs need to be removed from the posts in the bottom of the switch. The button needs to be prised out of the top part and you will see the LED. Re-assemble the top and bottom and you should be able to see where to solder the LED - not sure which way round at the minute! Solder the LED in, replace the button and job's done.

You could use other switches with a bit of re-wiring and as you say, the bottom one is an identical single plus a dual that has two single mechanisms in I believe. Not sure about latching switches/motor mechanisms.

holty wrote:Geoff what type of LED do i need? Are they 12v or something else. I just thought that 12v LEDs need a resistor in line and i cant see one in the switch. Any detail's would be great. Cheer's Holty

Whoops, missed this one. The resistor is in the base of the switch (perhaps Blair could confirm the value now he's got one apart!) and they are standard LEDs which drop ~2V.