Switches & Relays

Did you know that nearly every car and truck in the RockAuto catalog has an "Electrical-Switch & Relay" category devoted to its switches and relays? That is where you will find Power Window, Turn Signal, Headlamp, Dimmer, Brake Light, Oil Pressure Senders and other commonly replaced switches, as well as hard to find switches for older cars and switches for the newest vehicles including:

• Passenger Air Bag Disable Switches - Dorman builds these switches for a wide range of applications, such as these popular Fords: 1999-2007 F-Series pickups, 2000-2005 Excursions, 2002-2005 Thunderbirds, and 1998-2006 Rangers. The passenger air bag disable Switch allows the driver to turn off the passenger air bag if there is an infant or small child in a carrier in the passenger seat. These switches don't require programming and are a direct fit replacement.
  
  
• Starter Switches For Vehicles with Keyless Start - ACDelco, Standard Motor Products and Airtex/Wells build ignition starter switches for vehicles with the increasingly popular push-button start. This button often controls starting, stopping and switching the vehicle to accessory mode. Switches are in the RockAuto catalog for vehicles as new as the 2016 Chevy Impala. There are starter switches for other popular GM models, as well as other makes including Hyundai, Toyota, and Nissan.
  
  
• Steering Wheel Audio Control Switches - Standard Motor Products makes a wide range of replacement audio switches for controlling functions such as volume, seek, mute and even voice command. The catalog has steering wheel mounted audio switches for numerous models built from 1998-2015, including the most problem prone and/or popular vehicles such as the 2006 Chevy Silverado.
  
  
• Driver Information Display Switches - These buttons control a wide range of settings such as the way mileage is displayed. RockAuto has Dorman, Airtex/Wells, ACDelco and Standard Motor Products driver info display switches for late-model Ford and GM vehicles, such as the 2007 GMC Sierra.
  

RockAuto is constantly adding switches and relays to repair the ever-evolving technologies in the new vehicles and to broaden the selection of switches and relays available for older cars. Whether you're in the market for a starter switch for a 1967 Pontiac Firebird or a 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe, find switches and relays in our "Electrical-Switch & Relay" category.

New Rebates

New rebates are available from Monroe and Walker (through October 31st)!

• Monroe - Buy four for the price of three! Purchase a combination of four qualifying Monroe or Rancho products and get a Visa prepaid card by mail equal to the lowest cost unit.
• Walker - Get a $50 Visa prepaid card with the purchase of a qualifying Walker Direct-Fit Catalytic Converter or a Walker CalCat Direct-Fit Catalytic Converter.

Fram filter rebates expiring this month!

• Buy any FRAM High Mileage Oil Filter and receive $2 off by mail-in rebate.
• Buy any FRAM Extra Guard or Tough Guard Air Filter and receive $2 off by mail-in rebate.
• Buy a FRAM Fresh Breeze Cabin Air Filter and receive $3 off by mail-in rebate.

To see the details for these rebates or to view additional rebates currently being offered by ACDelco and Cardone go to the Promotions and Rebates page. While shopping, watch for the yellow "Promotion/Rebate" star next to the part names to help you save even more on RockAuto’s reliably low prices!

Forum of the Month

Sixthsphere is a community of Saturn enthusiasts. Members' knowledge ranges from how to keep your grocery getter on the road, to how to put down 500+ HP with a car often known for little more than its good fuel economy. Our members have fabricated as well as adapted parts from MANY other makes/models/manufacturers to suit our needs and desires, including doing things that Saturn designers never intended.

A recent featured ride contest displays our diversity in goals but also highlights our ability to work together. Stop by and check us out. You will be surprised by what we have to offer.


If you are the administrator or member of a forum and you would like to see your website featured in an upcoming newsletter and receive a discount code to share with your members, contact flamur@rockauto.com.

Repair Mistakes & Blunders

I'm a jack of all trades, but I didn't grow up a motor head. My car knowledge is built while I'm working on my car or my fiancee's car. Here is my biggest blunder. One that sure had me frustrated!

Living in the Northeast, the winter salt and snow love to rust everything. After years of rust, along with abuse from impact wrench happy techs at shops, the wheel studs and lug nuts on my 2001 Corolla were pretty rough. It got to the point that to remove the lug nuts, I'd have use my breaker bar to get them on and off, while the rust mightily screeched with every turn.

It was time to clean them up! I got a wire brush and some new enclosed lug nuts to help keep the rust away from the studs underneath. After cleaning the rust off all the studs, I rotated the wheels and started putting them back on. As I put them on, I found that they were not going on very easily, about as hard as before with the rust, but if I backed the lugs off and then proceeded again, they were as smooth as butter. Okay, clearly the studs were just in rough shape and the new nuts were smoothing them out as they were going on.

With the last lug nut, I started to put it on and it started fighting me, a lot. I backed it off to look, and the threads were trashed. I needed my car to get to work the next day, so it had to work. I would just torque the nut on and replace it later. Naturally, the stud sheared off before I seated it or my breaker bar broke.

So, I'm sitting there with the broken stud in my hand and my ears probably turning nice and red. I looked at the old lug nut vs. the new one. My Corolla uses 12mm x 1.5 threaded nuts. The new ones were 12mm X 1.25 thread pitch. Oh my... I just cross threaded every single one of my wheel studs. Boy did I feel dumb!

My drive to work the next day was the most harrowing drive of my life. With only three studs on one wheel and with every other one cross threaded, I was paranoid at every turn and bump in the road, especially the six railroad tracks that I crossed going each way!

As soon as I got home from work that Monday night, I sat down and ordered new studs, the correct lug nuts, the Lisle Stud tool, and a new tensioner pulley and belt that I also needed from RockAuto. The rest of the week I borrowed my fiancee's car, as she usually walks to school, and that weekend, I spent about six hours replacing every single wheel stud on my car.

I sure was in a stormy mood that day when I realized what I had done, but I must say, it is nice that I can now turn the lug nuts on by hand! Thanks for helping me out of my own dumb mistake RockAuto!

Charlie in Pennsylvania

Tell us about your most infamous auto repair blunder or unconventional fix. Use your woe to help others avoid similar mistakes or share off-the-wall solutions that worked (at least for a while!). Please e-mail your story to flamur@rockauto.com. Include your mailing address and if you would like a RockAuto T-Shirt (please let us know your shirt size) or Hat if we publish your story. See the T-Shirts and Hats under Tools & Universal Parts in the catalog. The story will be credited using only your first name and your vague geographic location (state, province, country, continent, etc.) so you can remain semi-anonymous!

Automotive Trivia

Fuel cell cars have electric motors powered by electricity created from hydrogen. Where does most hydrogen for fuel cell cars come from?

A. ambient air
B. natural gas
C. seawater


Answer below

The Needle Would Start Its Crazy Dance

The fuel gauge in my 1992 Dodge B250 van should have been reading about ¾ full, but instead the needle was swinging wildly to different spots between the ¾ and empty marks. Every few seconds, the needle would start its crazy dance. The needle was moving even when the van was sitting still at stoplights. It was hard to concentrate on driving while the big gauge in the center of the dash needed an exorcist.

It is an older vehicle and the problem came on suddenly. My first assumption was that the fuel gauge sending unit in the fuel tank had worn out. The sending unit is an arm with a float on one end and a variable resistor on the other. When the fuel tank is full, the float rises up and moves the variable resistor to its low resistance (impedance) end. Low resistance means more electrical current gets back to the gauge in the dash and the needle moves up to the full mark. As the fuel level falls in the tank, the float moves the variable resistor towards the high resistance end, less current makes it to the gauge and the needle moves towards the empty mark. An electromechanical system that is bound to wear out eventually.

The sending unit is an arm with a float on one end and a variable resistor(circled)on the other

Luckily, I remembered an old Goss’ Garage segment from an episode of MotorWeek (RockAuto is a sponsor of MotorWeek). Pat Goss said sulfur could become too concentrated in old gasoline as more volatile chemicals evaporate away. Sulfur tarnishes the silver-based contacts on the variable resistor, creating random spots of high resistance that lead to random movements of the fuel gauge needle. The recommended solution was to pour a bottle of fuel system cleaner in the gas tank. The right cleaner in the tank would remove the corrosion and the fuel gauge would start working again.

I am skeptical of potions, but nothing is easier than pouring a little bottle into the fuel tank, so I gave it a try. A typical grocery/variety store has a dizzying selection of bottles labeled “Fuel System Cleaner.” I chose the first bottle I found that had printed on the label, “Removes deposits from the fuel sending unit, which can cause erratic fuel gauge readings.” The top ingredient listed on the label was kerosene.

The bottle of fuel system cleaner worked! There was an almost immediate reduction in the crazy swinging, but it took a couple of weeks before movement of the fuel gauge needle was back to normal. I avoided replacing the fuel pump/sending unit module (found under Fuel/Air in the RockAuto catalog) unnecessarily and perhaps inadvertently installing new parts in a fuel tank still full of bad gasoline.

Tom Taylor,
RockAuto.com

To read more of Tom's articles, click this link and choose from story titles on the Newsletter Archives page.

I’ve been a RockAuto customer for about five years, always finding deals on parts for cars I’ve maintained. When I no longer needed my ’95 Taurus SHO (didn’t have to cart kids around all the time), I thought it was time for a replacement from the Ford stable. I have a lot of experience working on Fords, and my father-in-law built them for 30 years. I looked for something with front wheel drive (50 miles per day commute in sometimes white-out conditions) yet sporty and responsive. I eventually honed in on an unusual car most people have trouble identifying without seeing the name badge, a 1991 Mercury Capri XR2. These cars were designed by Ghia and Italdesign, sourced with Japanese (Mazda) drivetrains, built in Australia, and sold in North America by Mercury. No wonder people are confused!

I chose it because in addition to the decent mileage, it was fun to drive (intercooled turbo), had a manual transmission, and as a bonus, included an optional removable hardtop (fun in summer, needed in winter). I bought mine with just under 100,000 miles on it and started a restoration project once I had room in the garage.

I straightened out numerous dents and dings, welded in two small rust cavity fillings, and gave it three coats of base coat followed by three coats of clear coat. I also installed a pair of BMW heated seats and a ’99 Dodge Neon rear spoiler. Then I added larger wheels and a low pressure exhaust system. RockAuto has provided me with great pricing on many tune up parts, sensors and gaskets. Thanks to RockAuto, I can afford to keep my Capri in good running order.

Ron in Michigan

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