Blinkers on the blink again

While driving the Z today my left blinker began acting erratically and ultimately stopped working.  If you've kept up with my rambling on this blog you'll know that I've been battling issues with these blinkers since I brought the car home.

I once again pulled the stalks off the steering column.  This time, my intent was to disassemble the turn signal switch itself.  My inspiration for this came from the following post:  https://fiddlingwithzcars.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/turn-signal-repair/

After removing the switches from the assembly, I pried the tabs back on the turn signal switch and removed the components.  I found that the electrical contacts were completely covered with some type of black gunk.

I wiped off the loose gunk from the board then used a wire brush on a Dremel to clean the contacts to a nice shine.

I then reassembled the switch, which was a bit tricky since the little steel ball had to be balanced on a spring before mating the housing with the board and contacts.  I ended up putting a dab of dielectric grease on the spring to keep the ball in place during assembly.  It still took a few tries, but I finally got things back together.  I found that the position of the tabs made it critical to bend them "just right" to ensure the board was centered properly.  After returning the stalks to the steering column I gave the turn signals a garage test which was successful.  Next weekend will put the repaired switch through a day of real-world testing.