Thats funny that you mention the rap on the top of the shroud. I read about that in a thread somewhere but I don't remember where. For me, I had to do it a couple times and so far mine seems to have cured itself as well. The new switch was already shipped to my sister in law (long story) and I will take a look at it Saturday night with my FIL. If it turns out it is a loose connection, I will just hang on to the new switch in case it goes bad later. Otherwise if everything looks connected, I will probably swap out the switches. I will keep this thread updated after I learn more...

 

yeah LOL all the way,
It's like knock knock wake the F up and start working already
there should be a sticker on the upper column cover
"ATTENTION in case of wiper switch malfunction knock on the column to wake the fracker up !!!"

 

Careful! With my neon, the connection only started to go bad once the switch was frying. When I replaced it the last time ( I think I did it three times) I had to cobble together the connector with some plastic and heat-shrink. There was smoke coming out of the column as the previous switch failed. Repeated "re-connecting" with the knock-knock method may lead to short-circuiting.

 

Hey first time poster here.

A while ago my mom's '09 Dakota SXT V8 90000 kms had a signal switch issue. I could not get all wiper speeds and left signal would signal right. I would mess around with the brights and everything would work again temporarily (The guy in front of me thought I was signaling him and he did not seem to friendly. I explained to him what was going on and he understood. It was an interesting ride for my mom because it was raining hard and I could only get up to the 3rd speed.)

I got the switch (aftermarket) and to my surprise, I had no choice but to remove the steering wheel. Here was what I did.

- center the steering wheel as best as you can. Holding it is not necessary
- disconnect battery negative
- disconnect yellow SRS cable under the dash (driver side only)
- had a cigarette
- remove the airbag. put it in the shed or somewhere. not on the ground. The bed might be okay but avoid at most costs.
- remove the steering column plastic (T27 screwdriver. Good one Dodge. It has to be a normal screwdriver as the multi-bit diameter is too wide and they are somewhat deep in there)
- remove the steering wheel nut( I used a 1/2" drive)
- remove the steering wheel with a steering wheel puller (Got a decent one for $30)
- there was something with the tilt lever that I removed although check to see if it is 100% necessary. It was not difficult.
- remove the clock spring (DON'T MESS AROUND WITH IT as you may have to remove the steering wheel again because you might not get full steering turns)
- disconnect multi-function wiper and signal switch
- remove screws that hold the multi-function switch
- ****Remember to keep all screws organised. get some margarine containers, masking tape and a marker. Don't leave them on the floor like I did.
- re-assembly is nearly the reverse of dis-assembly if not the exactly the reverse
- to put the steering wheel back on, just push hard when you have the master spline aligned. Don't do it like an idiot. DO NOT overtorque the nut. It's not the time for that.
- MAKE SURE steering wheel is centered and multi-function switch is in the NORMAL position. You can be sure the ridge on the column will hit the signal de-activater as it should.
- DON'T MESS around with the airbag. You don't need a ground strap. right before removal, touch some metal on the truck. DO NOT touch the seat and hold the air bag as far away as possible with the "bomb" facing down away from you. I felt like an idiot but at least I was not going to take a cannon ball to the gut.
- REMEMBER to re-plug everything so you don't have to dig in there again for something stupid

A new switch fixed this issue and my mother has had no problems since.

 

Good info - especially the airbag and clockspring notes. The ones I have done before, on other vehicles, were two-piece, screwed together around the steering column, so they didn't need steering wheel removal. The one I got at the U-Pull yard was easy to remove - I just banged the hell out of the steering wheel after removing the airbag until it came off - the battery was long gone from the donor truck, so I didn't worry about the bag being energized.