Sarm

Newbie here. I know this is an old topic, but thanks to your posts I have been able to fix the light switch on my 2006 Yaris, saving $350! I had to take out two screws from behind the steering wheel (by turning the steering wheel 90 deg. clockwise & anticlockwise from centre) but was then able to gently prise off the top cover from the steering wheel housing. No easy way to take off the bottom cover so I left it in place while I gained access to the light switch connections and gently sandpapered them.

Thank you, particularly to the following members:

On 20 April 2014 at 8:54 PM, tw586 said:

I have had the same issue with my daughters Yaris, the fix is very easy, The contact in the stalk have pitting and electrical arc burn on the contact face ,if you remove the steering shrouds you will see a clear plastic cover over a line of contacts on the back face of the indicator/headlight assy. disconnect the battery for 5 min gently pry off the cover and slide 1200 wet and dry paper over the contacts while switching to parkers and headlight to force the contacts closed, make shore you do both. refit cover and shroud and reconnect battery and test. I would only recommend you do this if you have good mechanical skills, I am a retired mechanic so I was fine with this, otherwise you are up for a combo switch

On 23 May 2014 at 8:49 AM, Kenp said:

Hi tw586

You said:

I have had the same issue with my daughters Yaris, the fix is very easy,
The contact in the stalk have pitting and electrical arc burn on the
contact face ,if you remove the steering shrouds you will see a clear
plastic cover over a line of contacts on the back face of the
indicator/headlight assy. disconnect the battery for 5 min gently pry
off the cover and slide 1200 wet and dry paper over the contacts while
switching to parkers and headlight to force the contacts closed, make
shore you do both. refit cover and shroud and reconnect battery and
test.

That worked very well with my Corolla Hatchback ZRE152. I have little mechanical knowledge but was able to fix the light switch using fine sandpaper. I would add: Gently remove top & bottom plastic shrouds over the indicator and wiper stalk switches on the steering. No screws, just pull or work off gently. The back of the stalk switch is barely visible even if you lean over to the dash as far as you can go, however you will see a clear plastic cover. Ease off the clear plastic, you will then get a side view (but only just) of the contacts. You will know these are the contacts when you switch on park lights/headlamp because you will see them move inwards. No need to disconnect battery, just remove wire connector from socket under to isolate this switch . Now you can insert the wet and dry paper between contacts, twist switch on to bring contacts together and rub. Reverse whole procedure, test to see that lights now working, and replace plastic shrouds, they should click back on. No screwdriver required, just the abrasive paper.

Many thanks, Tony. That would have saved me a hundred or two.

On 3 September 2015 at 6:59 PM, Travis Yates said:

Hi all,

Thanks for the tips everyone. I had this issue. The dashboard light's on my wife's Toyota Corolla Levin 2008 were intermittently going out. Sometimes you turn the lights off and on and they would come back.

I recently realised that the tail lights were also not working.

The sandpaper trick worked a treat. For those not technically minded you can find a youtube video on how to do it.

Just remember it's american so everything is backwards.

It's probably dangerous to say this on a toyota fanboys website but this sort of problem is becoming far too frequent. I've always owned Mazda's in the past and never had these kind of problems and recall issues. I'll be going back to Mazda they are much more reliable.

Thanks again for the tips.