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Trunk Lid Switch Repair

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  • Electrical: Trunk Lid Switch Repair

    The trunk lid switch on my '50 Commander works but sticks much of the time. Is there a way to loosen up the interior workings of this switch so I works each time I open the trunk like it should?
    I can shake it and hear the weight/contact switch moving back and forth.
    Ed Sallia
    Dundee, OR

    Sol Lucet Omnibus

  • #2
    I haven't worked on one but I would have thought they'd be a mercury switch.
    BTW, I used to have a half a cup of mercury in a flask and would play with it in my hands. It didn't bother me. What was the question......ssomething about spots on potatoes? LOL

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    • #3
      TW, I believe they do contain mercury. I think there is still a solid part inside as well. I wish I knew what they looked like inside. It would help me figure out how to make it reliable again. So, about the spots on the potatoes, ahhh, huh?
      Ed Sallia
      Dundee, OR

      Sol Lucet Omnibus

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      • #4
        With the trunk closed the mercury sits in an empty end of its vial. When you open the trunk the angle change allows the mercury to flow to the other end of the vial where there are two metallic contacts. Mercury, being metallic, simply closes the circuit. If it works sometimes, my guess would be you just need to bend or manipulate the position of the fixture to assure that the mercury is getting where it needs to be when the trunk is open. It's the simplest position switch possible, albeit dependent on a hazardous metal. Any home thermostat that hasn't been replaced in the past thirty years probably uses the same principle.
        Brad Johnson,
        SDC since 1975, ASC since 1990
        Pine Grove Mills, Pa.
        '33 Rockne 10, '51 Commander Starlight. '53 Commander Starlight
        '56 Sky Hawk in process

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        • #5
          I wish you could get mercury thermostats now... In the shop where I want to keep it just above freezing, I just tilted the thermostat so I could set the temp that low. Somehow one of the leads broke & it was a heck of a job to get another lead fastened onto it.
          We used to play with the silver stuff in chemistry class, even coated dimes with it in grade skool... didn't affect me at all mashing those dimes or was it pennies?

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