It would be great if someone sold just the affected stalk for DIY repair (vs an entire switch assembly for many $$$). The plastic business-end of the stalk (the part inside the switch body) has complicated geometry and features, though perhaps it would be a 3D printing candidate?
The nylon slider thing is a second Achilles heel, shown here dangling into the hole for the steering column by its pair of springs. It must be involved with self-cancellation. It wears to a point that self-cancellation no longer works (mine doesn't).
Edit: In retrospect, my turn signals stopped self-cancelling only after the first time I "fixed" the little wings. I think the tension spring being positioned improperly created my self-cancellation problem.
I remember seeing in the last six-ish months a YouTube ad (of all things) for a European company that sells a repair kit for that nylon bit, but I have no further knowledge about that kit. I imagine it is more easily modeled for 3D printing purposes.
Edit: I think this is the product. The video on the product page is the one I remember seeing previously. The kit comes with some interesting locking clamp things that hold the stalks in position during disassembly, a handy thing to have.
I'll do a full "What's Inside This" style post in the future. In the mean time, this is mine with the insides exposed. Turn signal stalk is in the foreground.
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As you can see, one of the little wings was completely broken. I found it lodged inside the main body of the switch. The other was cracked and broke off when I looked at it funny.
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I crazy-glued the broken wings, then encased them in my favorite plastic repair product, described in This Post about the Snowflake Switch. However, the plastic used in the stalk is one of the types that remains chemically unaffected by that repair product. Thus my built up material is NOT integrated into the original plastic and would be easily broken free. Not ideal.
Edit: The following four photos show the main tension spring aligned wrong. The legs of the tension spring belong outside the little wings, not inside. This is addressed Further Below in the current thread.
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This repair "works", with a caveat. Whenever I activate the left turn signal, I also end up activating the high beams. Joy. Didn't realize this until I drove the car at night on the Interstate. Whenever I'd change lanes, there were my high beams. Not in a deliberate "flash to pass" sense, but in a "dammit, I've gotta fix my repair" sense.
The clearances inside the switch body are minimal. When the signal stalk is in the left turn position, the built-up material on the upper most wing bumps into one of the spring loaded contact bars, I believe it's the one responsible for flash-to-pass, ironically. I can remove some of the material, of course, which will ultimately weaken the repair.
I know I can buy the entire column switch assembly from the usual places. It seems, though, that only the stoopid wings are the problem.
Has anyone successfully sourced just the turn signal stalk by itself?
Or has anyone developed a printable model of the plastic end of the stalk (the part permanently inside the main body of the switch)? The stalk itself seems to pass through the majority of that plastic part, which is pinned to the stalk at the point the stalk pivots for high beams and flash-to-pass. I imagine the plastic part could be replaced.