Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

Is anyone rebuilding or reproducing power window switches for 1941 Seniors? One of mine is very selective on when it wants to work.

Probably the contacts fatiguing. If you can disassemble it, just tweak them in slightly and wipe some 00 grease on. Reassemble and test for proper operation. If too sticky, then you tweaked them in too far.

I have a video on this for the V8 cars.

The prewar switches are unique in looks, construction, and operation -- electrically quite unlike the later switches because the prewar pumps reversed so ran in both up and down direction. From photos I have, do believe the switches can be taken apart in a similar manner as many of the other Packard switches by unbending the tabs and removing the back to expose and clean the contacts but haven't seen mentions of anyone rebuilding them. Unless another larger car brand also used the same switch doubt they will be reproduced due to the fairly small volume that could be sold.

While there may be people who advertise as willing to attempt a rebuild, do your due diligence before sending off something so rare. With the early Tenite products not being very stable, I suspect the plastic on some of the switch toggle pieces could also be quite delicate. If you or someone else does take them apart be careful of that piece. There have been a few lucky ebay finds on switches and the word of mouth in finding someone with a parts car with so much else missing there is no hope for a restoration is always a possibility to get a good used one.

Unfortunate for your car but on a brighter note for others, Dwight Heinmuller is now carrying repro postwar switches. He lists both single and quad switches as being available for the 55-56 and 51-4 models. The 51-4 switches would also work electrically in 48-50 cars but the styling would be quite different so changing just one switch would seriously stand out. As has been found out with the 55-6 switches, there were different vendors and even if the switches look the same, guts could be different and not interchangeable for trying an internal parts only swap to repair a switch.

This photo is of one of those lucky ebay finds that appeared several years ago.