Electrical: '98 V40 Headlamp issues

[D4nskii]

Recently, and for the second time in two years, the headlamp switch on my V40 as burnt out, leaving me on this occasion with no dipped beams in a dark country road in the middle of Cornwall - not pleasant!

Having been helped out of the mire by the AA (Gaw bless'em) and sent on my way with a little re-earthing to re-enable my dipped beams, but remove the ability to swicth to mains, I now need to get it fixed permanently. And so I have a couple of questions:

1. My local garage took a look at the car and confirmed the headlamp switch has burnt out again: Is this a known fault? If so, can anyone advise me what the cause may be? I'm aware of the good old CEM issue, however this unit doesn't appear to be present on my car.

2. Does anyone have a suitable replacement switch available for a '98 V40 1.8CD auto? The replacement used to rectify this last time around was new from the manufacturer and lasted just two years, almost to the day: I'd like to keep replacement costs down as far as practical, as the old girl is getting a little long-in-the-tooth for high cost repairs. The switch in question includes the right hand dash air vent, rear fog switch, and dash light & headlamp-pitch rotary switches. The offending article is pictured below for reference.



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Any help or advice you fine people can offer me woud be greatly appreciated! Apologies if I have posted in the wrong area: please feel free to move this if necessary.

Many thanks,

D4n