Need help changing turrnsignal switch on '88 F250
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Mountain Pass
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 236
Likes: 11
Need help changing turrnsignal switch on '88 F250
I need help changing the turn signal multi switch on my '88 F250. The service manual says it's straight forward on a non-tilt wheel but on the tilt-wheel steering the wiring connector has to be removed from the wiring and run thru a hole too small for the connector, then re-attached and the color codes don't match.
Has any one done this without removing the connector?
Has any one done this without removing the connector?
Lead Driver
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 7,962
Likes: 594
From: Greater Austin, Texas
It is not possible to do it without removing the connector on tilt or non-tilt AFAIK. I have never replaced a turn signal switch on *any* vehicle without removing the wires from the connector body.
Why not just take a pic of the connector with the wires in it before you take them out so you can put them back the way they were? Either that or just draw a little diagram?
Why not just take a pic of the connector with the wires in it before you take them out so you can put them back the way they were? Either that or just draw a little diagram?
Hotshot
Joined: Jul 2020
Posts: 10,477
Likes: 2,634
From: Near Salt Lake City
The wires will have the same colors, just different shades for the most part
An EVTM is your friend
There are tricks to that wiring on the old ones. The ones that need the wires pulled up and out of the column
Cut the connector end off first, so you have that for later reference
Use bailing or mechanics wire taped to the wires, so when you pull the wires up and out, the mechanics wire comes up and out with them
Then tape the new switch wires to the mechanics wire, and ease them down the column using back and forth motion
The tilt needs to be in the straight position to make it easier
Good luck
I have replaced about a thousand switches like yours, and it is a pain every time
Try not to smash the new switch wires connectors when pulling them back down the column
Taping the wires to the mechanics wire one at a time and making them slender is the other trick
An EVTM is your friend
There are tricks to that wiring on the old ones. The ones that need the wires pulled up and out of the column
Cut the connector end off first, so you have that for later reference
Use bailing or mechanics wire taped to the wires, so when you pull the wires up and out, the mechanics wire comes up and out with them
Then tape the new switch wires to the mechanics wire, and ease them down the column using back and forth motion
The tilt needs to be in the straight position to make it easier
Good luck
I have replaced about a thousand switches like yours, and it is a pain every time
Try not to smash the new switch wires connectors when pulling them back down the column
Taping the wires to the mechanics wire one at a time and making them slender is the other trick
i ain't rite
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 65,514
Likes: 5,567
From: Marlboro Mental Hospital.
i cut the wires off the old switch, unpin the wires from the connector on the new switch, tape a heavy string between the new and old wires to secure them and make both wire sets as close to same diameter, than snake the new wires down through column buy pulling the old wires from the bottom. once out through the bottom of the column repin the wires to connector.
Thread Starter
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Mountain Pass
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 236
Likes: 11
OK, it sounds like there's no alternative.
Maybe, since I don't have the special tool to remove pins from connector, how about butt-splice the new wires to the old wires?
Maybe the special tool is cheap and easy to find ?
Thanks for all the help and suggestions!
Maybe, since I don't have the special tool to remove pins from connector, how about butt-splice the new wires to the old wires?
Maybe the special tool is cheap and easy to find ?
Thanks for all the help and suggestions!
Thread Starter
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Mountain Pass
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 236
Likes: 11
OK, it's done. All things seem to work correctly. Nothing has caught fire. YET.
Thanks for all the encouragement.
But what no one said, and the service manual doesn't mention, is that the connectors have a "lock" piece that pulls out of the connector, then the pins just push out using an ice pick.
Lessons learned: Take pictures AND make notes. Sometimes, when you're putting it back together, the note or the pictures don't answer the questions by them selves.
Thanks for all the encouragement.
But what no one said, and the service manual doesn't mention, is that the connectors have a "lock" piece that pulls out of the connector, then the pins just push out using an ice pick.
Lessons learned: Take pictures AND make notes. Sometimes, when you're putting it back together, the note or the pictures don't answer the questions by them selves.
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Hotshot
Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 12,837
Likes: 2,437
You said you needed some special tool. I did t think it needed to be mentioned since that is the way the majority of the connectors work.
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