Reply to "Emergency flasher switch"

The e-flasher is a sensitive device that has virtually every light in the car running through it. It's also pretty expensive to fix, once it fails. Mine went our at a restaurant parking lot without a soul around, and this's what it took to fix it:
First, while laying on your back under the steering wheel, make a color coded diagram of all the wires and how they hook onto your switch- some Panteras are a little different.
Second, disconnect all the wires from the back of the switch.
Third, unscrew the bezel nut and pull the switch thru the dash. Once out, carefully unbend the tangs in back holding the switch halves together. Inside the switch, you'll find the case wall has a twisty groove machined in it. A metal tip rides in the groove, which acts like a cam, switching electrical circuits around. Old age etc causes the plastic sides of the switch to bow outward, allowing the metal tip to escape from the cam-groove. I cut up a business card and used little pieces to shim the metal tip back into the groove in the switch, reassembled the switch, reinstalled the switch and its worked fine ever since. But I don't play with it, either! Another owner finagled a screw-type hose clamp around the body without removing wires or the switch, and by playing with the button and the hose clamp tension to squeeze the switch body inward, he finally got a combination that worked again, and this fix also lasted. Finally, if all else fails and you just can't afford a new unit, some old Alfas have a very similar switch. If you're a puzzle fan, figuring out the correct combination of Pantera wires for your junkyard switch should give you plenty to do during this cold weather.