My car is a Sapphire 1989 2wd Cosworth with the standard Ford 3-spoke wheel. I have noticed in the last week that the indicators aren't cancelling ( left or right ) when I turn a corner and straighten up. I haven't take the wheel off ( can't find a big socket ) to have a look but am I right in thinking that there are some lugs which normally do this and which may have snapped off? Are they part of the wheel or something else? Anyone know what part I might need?

Thanks for any help

Mike

 

You'd most probably need a new indicator stalk assembly...scrap yard should have one in some where chap.

 

Mike have a stalk ifyour stuck

cheeRS stu

 

More likely to be the plastic self cancellor on the shaft of the column, under the steering wheel, if the lug has bust off this it will not hit the button/foot on the stalk to self cancel.
Take off the wheel and you will soon see how it works it is dead easy.
tabetha

 

I've had the same thing as this on my old 3 door.
The cause was the little plastic self canceler thing behind the steering wheel, be careful you line it up properly if you do fit a new one, other wise it could break again!
I think the steering wheelf fixing nut is a 22mm and that all self cancelors are the same through out the sierra range.

 

Yep the thing under the steering wheel is a bit of a cunt sometimes.

 

Thanks for all the replies chap. The plastic indicator cam that tabetha mentions is making sense to me. I'll get my 22mm socket back tomorrow and checkout what has happened. I seem to remember there being a plastic lug fitting into a recess on one side that cancels the indicators. Thanks for the offers of parts availability as well Stu - I may well be in touch

many cheers

 

Afaik they are all the same across the sierra range, and the same as a lot of other fords, they engage in a gap on the underside of the wheel, if lined up correctly otherwise as said they do break.
tabetha

 

Hmm, had a look today and the little plastic cam that slides onto the steering shaft looks OK - the lug still seems to engage with the cutout in the steering wheel and also turns as you turn the wheel



You can see when the indicators are used that the white plastic bit slides out onto the cam but it doesn't seem to cancel as you return the wheel to straight ahead



I'm guessing that it must be the indicator stalk assembly itself as I can't see any thing obvious broken?

 

Try puttin the stalk down to indicate one side, then rotate the plastic self cancellor, the leading edge of it forces the white plastic foot back in, if it doesn't the stalk is buggered.
tabetha
ps very good piccies by the way.

 

Ah cheers - I'm getting another indicator stalk switch to try - must be something, as you say, about the cam setting the white plastic foot back in properly. When you put the indicator on you can see the little white plastic foot shoot out and touch the cam. As the cam rotates round though the little white plastic foot doesn't come out any further so I guess that's the problem. As the cam lobe comes back round ( wheel in straight ahead position ) it doesn't contact the white foot so obviously has no effect on whatever the indicator is doing.
I'm guessing the white foot should come out even further once it "falls off" the edge of the cam lobe i.e as the wheel is turned to take the corner.

 

When you indicate, that white plastic foot should move inwards, if it don't then it's broke.

 

Cheers, it does indeed move in......trouble is it only moves until it butts up against the indicator cam lobe ( assuming you are going straight ahead when you switch them on ).
I'm making the assumption though, that when you turn the steering wheel and hence the cam lobe the white plastic bit should move further out towards the steering shaft so that when you centre the wheel the cam lobe comes back and pushes the plastic foot back in thereby cancelling the indicator. Mine just stays where it is so that when you centre the wheel again the plastic foot is butting up against the lobe still ( and hence the indicator remains flashing ).

 

Mike1 you are spot on with how it works, at least the indicator stalk is not cossie specific, other wise breakers would charge cossie tax!!
tabetha

 

Cheers, that was all I could imagine. I like to know how things work so I'll take the old switch apart when I get the new one installed and working and see if a spring or something has failed/gone lazy i.e the part that pushes the white foot out

 

Good luck they are bloody fiddly sometimes!!
tabetha

 

 

Just like to say ( as it annoys me when you don't hear whether the problem in question was ever resolved ) that a new stalk fixed the problem. The plastic tongue on the previous stalk had died of plastic fatigue!

Thanks for all the advice peeps