MC-Professor

I've had my '81 300D for a little over a year now, and I have gone through 3 Drivers side window switches, I've even glued the top plate in place, but they still explode on me, leaving with at least one window down, usually right before it rains.

Have any of you changed to aftermarket switches? if so which ones, and where do I get them. I do not care if it looks original or not, I just want them to work and last more than 6 months.

Plutoe

An additional question coud be----what is causing your switches to as you say--"explode" and what are you describing as "explode"

MC-Professor

If you have not had the pleasure of putting one of these back together, the way the combination window switches are constructed is like this: The lower case has the contacts, rockers, and probably springs inserted (not sure haven't seen any), the chrome cover is snapped onto the lower case holding everything together.

The problem (i believe) is that the lower case gets soft and flexible when exposed to the heat of Florida, which allows the top piece to detach. The top pops off leaving rockers and contacts on their sides. This last time I got into the car to roll up the windows due to impending rain, the chrome piece was sitting on the console looking normal, when I pressed on the rocker to raise the window the whole assemble (minus the chrome cover) moved down into the area under the console, apparently the wires were the only thing holding the switch up against the console.