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Wed Jun 23, 2004 7:20 pm

I need to know what lights should come on when the car is not on??

Wed Jun 23, 2004 7:36 pm

Parking and head lights

Wed Jun 23, 2004 7:39 pm

Unless you have the interior light in the "on" position?? in which case that also...

Wed Jun 23, 2004 7:54 pm

I assume you mean when the ignition switch is in the off position, engine not running? And I assume you mean the parklights and headlights and taillights, and maybe backup lights? 'Cause if the switch is on w/engine not running, that changes things.

OK, if you have a 71 or later, everything but the headlights and backup lights should come one when the appropriate switch is thrown (71 and later headlights will not light with ignition switch off--unless a PO has fiddled with it). 70 down, everything but backups should light.

Oh, and the brake lights will not work with the ignition switch off. Not the turn signals, either, but you probably knew that.

Wed Jun 23, 2004 8:50 pm

Just read your earlier post. Now I have a better idea of the situation. Before you touch your car's wiring again, get a wiring diagram. Both the Haynes and Bentley manuals will have one. The Haynes is cheaper, but the Bentley is better. Your choice. Both are available from most VW parts places.

Make sure you wired your new front lights correctly. Make sure anyone else who may have messed with your car's wiring did it right also. Then do as suggested on the earlier post: check fuses and clean all contacts. Also, get yourself a test light. You can't see or feel 12 volts. Gotta have the light to where you got juice and where you don't.

Sorry, but it's just really tough to diagnose electrical problems here. We don't know exactly you've done, nor do we know what a PO may have done either. Get the diagram, study, learn exactly what your car has, and then we'll be able to help you more. If it makes you feel better, VWs are much easier to work on than most other cars, so your learning curve will be short.

Thu Jun 24, 2004 9:12 am

I have never looked at the bentely manual about the fuses until yesterday........ What i found is that the stupid guy who had this car before me put mostly red 18amp fuses where the white 8amp ones should go!!! and I failed to look and see if any where burnt out when i was messing with my lights so im going to go out there and fix what some tard did!!!! Do you think it messed anything else??

Thu Jun 24, 2004 9:18 am

Red are 16 amp.

Almost every VW I have ever purchased had too many red or blue (25 amp) fuses in it. Correcting the fuses resulted in no problems or blown fuses, even though some of the VWs had some hacked up wiring.

Sun Jun 27, 2004 1:30 pm

Quote: i found is that the stupid guy who had this car before me put mostly red 18amp fuses where the white 8amp ones should go!!!

welcome to the club. The last two cars I've owned had the same problem. The Square you thought was so nice was a serious victim of this. The messed up fuses won't kill anything else, but screwy wiring might be a problem (those of you who remember me grumbling about my old bus can attest to that :D ).