Did you get the beer?

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On May 2, 2011, at 8:48 PM, mark drillock <mdrillock@COX.NET> wrote:

> I went down south for several days to do some roofing. I took my around
> town hauler since I needed to carry 16 sheets of plywood as well as a
> bunch of other materials and tools. Since I really only use that van for
> local hauling I haven't bothered to do much to it other than keep
> everything mostly working. In 4 years I have never had it more than a
> hour or two from home until recently. I started down late and ended up
> driving about 3 hours during darkness. Most of that was with the
> high-beams on since it was a somewhat desolate route. No problems,
> everything fine, until the next evening when I needed to go get some
> beer for a dinner/BBQ I was invited to. Started her up, NO HEADLIGHTS.
>
> Usual story, holding up the dimmer lever made the brights come on,
> letting go, no headlights. I tried the wipers, no go, unless I held up
> the dimmer lever, then the wipers worked too. Ok, bad X contact in
> ignition switch, easy work-around.
>
> I looked in the glovebox and with some sense of relief pulled a spare
> switch out, took the lower cover off the steering column, and tried to
> pull the wiring connector off the old switch. It was good and stuck, so
> I disconnected the battery ground side so I could safely pry it off with
> a screwdriver. Came off, along with some melted plastic from the old
> switch that had been gluing it all together. I pushed the wiring
> connector onto the loose spare switch and connected the battery. I used
> a flat blade screwdriver to turn the bare switch, engine started and
> lights worked fine. Good enough to run errands and get me home. Today I
> properly installed the switch and added headlight relays so it will
> never happen again. Should have done that all along. At least I had the
> spare switch when push came to shove.
>
> Mark