Self cancelling indicators

[FranklinLeicester]

_{A little problem has crept to the top my to-do list after 25 years! On my Marina based Roadster the self cancelling indicators have never worked properly and I’m not sure what to do about it. On coming out of a left hand bend or corner I nearly always have to cancel manually unless it’s a very tight corner but coming out of a right hander the cancellation is immediate. On a scale of car problems this is very minor but sometimes it’s annoying to notice the flashing light some time after rounding a corner. On taking the steering wheel off I notice 2 short prongs on the back of the boss. These locate in 2 gaps in a plastic bush on the column which I assume is something to do with self cancelling. That’s as far as I’ve got so far as I’m reluctant to monkey about with it before getting an expert opinion. Any experts out there?}

[TVRFan]

First thing that strikes me is that if self cancel works for small turn one way and takes much bigger turn the other, then the steering column inner is not 'centered' when wheels are straight forward. So it may just need column UJ disconnecting and reset (i.e. column turned a little).
There is a 'tab' of some kind for self cancel and this tab should point to the centre of the indicator stalk mechanism (at least on all the ones I've seen, designs vary a bit).

If you are not sure exactly how self cancel works, jack up the car just enough to take weight off front wheels (use wooden blocks, NOT just a jack!) Then watch how self cancel works when you turn the steering wheel.
That should give you info you need to sort it out.

[FranklinLeicester]

Thanks, that sounds logical, I’ll give it a try. Anything to avoid taking the stalk mechanism to pieces.

[Ye Ol Ripper]

There will be no need to take touch the internals of the stalk. I strongly recommend not doing so as tiny ball bearings that are spring loaded can fly out and disappear never to be seen again.

Due to my stalks for the wipers and indicators being faulty when I first began recommissioning my Roadster.

I researched and obtained classic mini replacements but importantly as my daily driver has the indicator on the left & wipers on the right i.e. The opposite orientation to the Marina .

I wanted to standardise that so replaced them with the same orientation as my daily . I purchased them from Minispares, as after researching I discovered some Mini's were made with the indicators on the left and wipers on the right, which matched what I required .
The plug in sockets are the same as the Marina.

https://www.minispares.com/21a2660-indicator-stalk-mk4-1984-on-l-h-s-lhd-76-to-89

&

https://www.minispares.com/37h8286-wiper-stalk-switch-r-h-side-from-84-89

As I didn't have a tiny bore micro bore bender , I then bent the 2 operating arms over my thigh . So that they missed the dash board top edge.

[FranklinLeicester]

Yes, I fear the explosion of small parts when messing with spring loaded car parts. I’ve had a look at the column/rack/uj area and I think I’ll just put up with it for the time being, but thanks for the advice.

[jon_cox]

Over the years the position of the indicator stalk moved its angle of dangle on the column. Early cars had them pointing upward and later cars had them horizontal. As these Lucas stalks were used across many different cars over the years, Lucas had a colour coding for the different centre spindles/bush that cancelled the stalk to accommodate the different fittings. It is actually a very simple mechanism. A lug on the plastic bush pushes on the stalk when in the on position ultimately "pushing" the stalk back to neutral. All you need to do is cut new slots in the plastic bush (yours is probably the white one) to align with the steering wheel pins. Take off the steering wheel and keep turning the bush clockwise and anticlockwise to cancel the stalk. You will soon find the sweet spot that positions the lug on the bush in a central position, therefore giving you the same degrees of rotation for left and right corners. Position wheel back in place (making sure wheels and steering wheel are all pointing in dead ahead position), mark where the pins hit the plastic bush, them cut new slots to align everything. Voila....

[FranklinLeicester]

Yes, my plastic bush is white and it did occur to me that the problem might be related to the pins and the slots. I’ll give this some time and see what I can do with it.