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Sat Nov 15, 2008 10:52 am

Hi there. Last night i bought a 57 oval. As i was driving home My wife told me that my driver side park light was not working And while i steped on the brake there was no change in the passenger side brightness. When lights are turned off brake lights work great. Its like drivers side lose,s ground somewhere. Any help would be great.

Sat Nov 15, 2008 3:58 pm

The light is grounded thru the housing. Is the car 6v or 12v? If it is 6v check and clean all the grounds. If that dosen't fix it, check the bulb housing and keep going deeper if not.

Sat Nov 15, 2008 4:43 pm

Be sure to use star washers on all the light asy, so the ground is better.
There should be star washers under your bullet asy, behing the license plate light the taillights etc...the washers "dig" into the metal and give a solid ground. Hope that helps

Sat Nov 15, 2008 7:10 pm

As i was going though my checks. I found my driver side rear park lamp will only work when the blinker is turned down to make a left turn. If i remove the right rear light housing with the park light off and touch bulb holer to light bracket it will blow fuse. Where are all the ground points. 12 volt system.And when all of this isworking i step on the brakes and lights will not get brighter no change

Wed Nov 26, 2008 5:36 am

It may be that the rear bulbs are the wrong one. Was wiring mine up a couple of months ago and troubled-shooted all the wiring and gounds and it turned out to be the wrong bulbs. I believe the rear bulbs have two prongs on them.

Wed Nov 26, 2008 6:08 am

Hi,

I'm guessing you haven't yet found the Technical section of Samba?

Here is where to find your wiring diagram....

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/wiringt1.php

The Black arrows indicate ground and are most often by the mounting screws themselves but not always. depending upon the item it may have a wire to ground.
On lights on the fenders make sure that the fender is grounded to the body. The bolts can get rusty and no longer make good contact which will give you difficult to find issues. Just take off one or two and clean them up and reinstall. (don't break them off, move to the next bolt that is willing to be removed easily)

Dave