Went to start the car today, and the battery was totally dead. Hooked up the charger and the 4-way flashers started. Having owned a bunch of these cars, I recognized the problem: the emergency flasher switch had given up the ghost. Oh well, at least it happened in my driveway - I remember leaving my old Bavaria at ANZA park at SF airport back in the 90's and having the switch decide to go into flasher mode.
I know you can unscrew the red lens to wedge the button into the "non emergency" position. Or spray WD-40 in there to make it latch a little longer. My worry is that one of those fixes will work for awhile, but eventually will fail again.
Here's what I did do: spent a few minutes with my ohm meter to determine which terminals interconnect with the switch in normal and emergency mode. Turns out, by making a simple jumper and connecting it across terminals 15 and 49 on the connector (and of course, leaving the connector off the switch) I was able to restore turn signal functionality. Yea, my emergency flashers don't work, but I love these quickee fixes that cost pennies.
Of course, I could spend $$$ for a new switch. Anyone have a good source for the early style, 6 terminal switches? Better yet, anyone have a fix that can be implemented with a DPDT switch, a couple of diodes, and a few connectors?