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Tue Dec 16, 2003 9:44 pm

:( My low beams are very dim, but the high beams look fine. I replaced both headlights, wiring pigtails, and put in a new ground wires, but this did not help. Could it be the dimmer relay? How could I check it out? Any suggestions on what to look at next?

Wed Dec 17, 2003 6:57 am

How clean are the contact wires? Check all the connections from the switch to the light. :wink:

Wed Dec 17, 2003 12:30 pm

I've been studying a wiring diagram and think that since both high beams work OK, and both low beams are dim, the problem may be in the dimmer relay or at the connection on the front side of the fuse box (I've already replaced the connectors at the lights). I'll check and see if I can find any problems with the connectors. What is the best way to clean up the electrical connection? Should I cut off the old ones and crimp on new ones?

Wed Dec 17, 2003 5:06 pm

Bandress

It's always been my opinion (for what it's worth), if you have the ability to solder the wires to the NEW connectors it's far better than crimping.

You will never get a crimp as good as the factory, and take the chance of having a wire separate from the connector. Which is not fun to troubleshoot in the dark when you lose your lights completely.

If you don't have it, spend the money and get a soldering GUN, and light gage, low temp resin core solder. Color matched heat shrink looks great covering-up you soldered connection if you're trying to clean things up.

Spent six years in the electronics field in the Navy. So crappy looking wiring is a pet peave.

Wed Dec 17, 2003 5:11 pm

The most common mistake is to have one side (high or low) not grounded correctly. Most common is to have the dim side (lowbeam) grounded to the high beam side and not the ground. My bet is that this is your problem but I was wrong once ;-) Let us know what you find out. Vic http://www.1800vw.bizhosting.com/buggywiring.htm

Thu Dec 18, 2003 7:54 am

How can the dim side (lowbeam) be grounded through the high beam side? When I replaced the headlights I used a new single ground wire for each assembly. The low beams have always been dim for as long as I can remember and I thought the new plug and wires would fix it.

Thu Dec 18, 2003 8:45 am

Most asume that the center of the three contacts is the ground, but not so. Easy enough to check, just switch the ground to one of the side terminals and then the outher. You can see in most seal beam bulbs and most wiring diagrams show the side terminal not the center as ground. Give it a try and let us know. If the wires are conected to the wrong terminal no harm will be done to the headlight bulb. Vic

Thu Dec 18, 2003 9:17 am

I hooked the wiring up exactly as it was removed, but since I've always had dim low beams it may have been done incorrectly before I got it. I'll give it a try and see what happens.

Fri Dec 26, 2003 12:50 am

Dim headlights is almost always caused by a poor ground. On any car, not just veewees. But if the rest of the wiring is wired correctly a poor ground will affect both high and low beams. Definitely check your wiring, wiring diagrams are available from

http://vintagebus.com/wiring/

Yes, he has bug diagrams too.

Fri Dec 26, 2003 1:16 am

This should be correct headlight wiring ....

http://www.nls.net/mp/volks/schem/headlite.gif