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ELECTRIC MIRROR ADJUSTMENT SWITCHES: When the parts man at a Jag dealer was asked about these
joystick switches, he had the part number memorized! We’re talking junk here, and they charge $85 each for the two
of them. Note that for ’92 the joysticks were replaced by a fancy electronic adjustment scheme, and the following ideas
do not apply.
Note: The mirror circuits are always hot, even with the ignition off. 12VDC won’t electrocute you but it may cause
burns or blow a fuse, so you may want to remove the appropriate fuse or disconnect the battery before working in this
area.
Glenn Waterfield sends a description of how to rebuild the joysticks: “I was able to very carefully remove the pins
holding the body of the switch together and strip down the pieces and clean the corrosion off them. To re-assemble the
switch I did not want to try to reuse the metal pins that originally held it together since I will probably have to clean
them again, so I found a tap just barely larger than the pin hole, a 4-40 I think, and carefully tapped the hole and put in
three 4-40 nylon machine screws. If you try this I would recommend a clear work area with no carpet to drop the
unbelievably tiny bits and pieces into.”
If you’d rather just get rid of the junk switches, the following is a replacement scheme.
1.
Make a flat rectangular panel to replace the original chrome escutcheon. You can make this out of
anything you think would look good in your car -- chrome-plated steel, sturdy plastic, sheet metal
covered with leather, elm burl, etc.
2.
Go to an electronics supply store and buy four toggle switches. They need to be “mini” or “submini”
(“micromini” will also work if you find any, but you need to drill smaller holes in the panel), “DPDT
momentary center off”. This means that they not only need to have three positions, but need to
return to the center position by themselves when released. The current here is very low, a 3-amp
rating will do. Once you find such switches, they should be only about five bucks each. Technically,
a DPDT momentary center off rocker switch would also work -- if you can find one small enough to
fit four of them in the car.
3.
You may also want to buy some Molex connectors, such as Radio Shack catalog no. 274-236 and
274-226, to replace the hokey originals.
4.
Mount the switches on your panel. The upper two should be mounted vertically and the lower two
horizontally, since there will be one up/down switch and one left/right switch for each mirror.
5.
A soldering iron or gun is required here. Connect wiring as shown in Figure 32. Note that each
wire connects to two terminals.
If you’d like to see a photo of the author’s installation, go to:
http://www.jag-lovers.org/xj-s/book/MirrorSwitch.html