• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!

    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

Hazard switch

artpart

Member
Offline
The hazard switch on my '70 tr6 is broken and Moss seems to be the only company that sells one at a cost of $180...ouch! Has anyone used a later switch with success on their car?
 
Who all have you tried?

TSI?
BP Northwest?
Rimmer Brothers?
Google UK search for Triumph hazard switches?
 
Is the toggle switch physically broken or just not working?
If it just isn't working, carefully disassemble it as the plastic can be very brittle. The copper contacts inside can be cleaned with a pencil eraser.
You just have to work in an area where flying springs and other small parts are easy to find.
Hazard switches are available on ebay fairly often. You just have to make certain that you get the proper number of spade terminals on the back. Earlier cars had four, while the later ones had six.
 
Have you heard of Google?

It is a search engine that is a rather useful resource for locating parts.

I just did a Triumph TR6 hazard switch and got a bunch of entries.

Might wanna do the same.
 
The hazard switch on the '69-'71 has four terminals on it. The switch for the '72 has six terminals on it. Of course, the '73-'76 is a completely different style switch. The earlier switch activates a relay, whereas the later six terminal switch doesn't.

Dan Master's wiring diagrams shows the interal contacts of the early switch, but not the later one. Therefore, without having one in hand to ohm out the switch contacts, I can't say whether or not you could use the later switch. The other question, is whether they are the same pysical size and will fit in the dash.
 
Thanks, guys.

Ron, I tried vb, moss, and trf. As I said, moss is the only one that had the switch ... for nearly $200. I'll try the others you mentioned, including Google.

Doug and Art,

I've ordered a later switch to see if it will fit in the same hole, though I suspect not without modifying it. My switch is completely broken apart.

I dropped it of with our local british car guru, art ziesk, before I left town. Apparently when the switch breaks, it causes the turn signals not to work since they are all tied in together. Anyway, Art says the switch is beyond repair.

Thanks for the info.

Chris
 
Chris,

It's very easy to replace that switch with an ordinary DPDT switch from your local auto or electrical supply store. You'll need to leave the old switch in place and hide the new one, as the new one won't match your dash. You'll save yourself a lot of trouble in the future if you do this, as the turn signal power goes through the hazard switch, and this causes most of the problems with sluggish or inoperable turn signals.

The diagram for this is shown on page 122 of my electrical repair manual, but if you don't have a copy, let me know and I'll send you a diagram by e-mail.

Art,

The internals of the later switch are pretty simple: with the hazard switch off, terminals 7 and 8 are connected together inside the switch. In the off position, terminals 1, 2, 3, & 4 are connected together.
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]this causes most of the problems with sluggish or inoperable turn signals.
[/QUOTE]

Or smoke and melted plastic as mine did.
 
artpart said:
Has anyone used a later switch with success on their car?

When I got my 6 (71)10 years ago the hazard wasn't working. I recieved a new later style 6 pin and after enlarging the hole and much moving of wires I was able to get it to work. I can't belief Moss has the old style I thought they where NSF
 
All, both swithces use a roll pin to activate on or off and the later style is a bit larger and was used on the Spits's and GT6's. The pins for the wires were small on the early switches and I would not cut them to install a newer switch, use a 3 or 4 inch pigtail, tape them up well and hope you can find the right one at a later date. The later switch works fine but requires a bit of filing on the wood and metal behind the wood. I found the small spring and the plastic hook for the roller brake in the early switch, it was so small that is why they went to the large switch is my guess. Sorry I can't rememeber the wiring for the later switch, but it will work with just the four wires. I was lucky and found a early one and have replaced the bigger one. The larger hole did not look out enough to worry about and the switch is tight.

Wayne
 
Wiring to use the later switches is pretty easy:

P - pin 1
PR - pin 2
LG/N - pin 7
LG/N - pin 8

It doesn't matter which of the LG/N wires goes to which pin.
 
Back
Top