For the last couple of years I've had periodic problems with the menu button on the indicator stalk of my ten year old Brera. I would imagine this will become quite common place now many more 159 derivatives are reaching that age.
The first couple of times I cured the problem by applying copious amounts of contact cleaner but last week this did not do the trick.
The symptoms on my car were not just non operation of the button but also a flashing of different screens on the panel between the two main dials, a very annoying and distracting situation.
I started to think of a replacement set of stalks costing in excess of £400, all the used ones on ebay are for 159s and not only are they different, there's no guarantee they are any good.
Thought I'd have a quick look at the internal workings of the menu button and found that the stalk itself prizes apart quite readily. Inside, there is little more than a small circuit board with very little to go wrong on it, a rotary switch for the lights and three micro switches for the menu.
It seemed that the centre one of these three had seized up, probably caused by the contact cleaner drying the switch out, Fortunately, a squirt of TF3 lubricating spray and a little manipulation freed up the switch and now everything is tickety- boo.
What was obvious is that this circuit board and micro switches would be a fraction of the cost of a set of column switched and would be quite straightforward to solder into place, if they were available and there must be a bin full of them somewhere. :irked:
The first couple of times I cured the problem by applying copious amounts of contact cleaner but last week this did not do the trick.
The symptoms on my car were not just non operation of the button but also a flashing of different screens on the panel between the two main dials, a very annoying and distracting situation.
I started to think of a replacement set of stalks costing in excess of £400, all the used ones on ebay are for 159s and not only are they different, there's no guarantee they are any good.
Thought I'd have a quick look at the internal workings of the menu button and found that the stalk itself prizes apart quite readily. Inside, there is little more than a small circuit board with very little to go wrong on it, a rotary switch for the lights and three micro switches for the menu.
It seemed that the centre one of these three had seized up, probably caused by the contact cleaner drying the switch out, Fortunately, a squirt of TF3 lubricating spray and a little manipulation freed up the switch and now everything is tickety- boo.
What was obvious is that this circuit board and micro switches would be a fraction of the cost of a set of column switched and would be quite straightforward to solder into place, if they were available and there must be a bin full of them somewhere. :irked:
