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Wildthings
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Joined: March 13, 2005
Posts: 19967
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 Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 8:03 pm Post subject: Headlight Switch Interchange |
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The dash light circuit has died on my late '72 411 headlight switch. Wondering if anyone knows of a good interchange for the original headlight switch.
Thanks. |
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vonkr
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Joined: December 11, 2007
Posts: 54
Location: The Netherlands
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| Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 1:27 am Post subject: |
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| you mean only the switch? they are, as far as I know, the same as in the beetle, karmann, etc. |
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raygreenwood
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Joined: November 24, 2008
Posts: 4940
Location: Des moines Iowa
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| Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 6:21 am Post subject: |
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| The connections are the same....or not far off...but the nose on the type 4 switch is longer to fit into the recess in the dash. The outer aluminum screw/bezel will not reach through for a type 1 switch....and this is going off of memory. Let me see what I have in my spares pile. It might take me a day or two. Ray |
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Wildthings
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Joined: March 13, 2005
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| Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 11:19 pm Post subject: |
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| raygreenwood wrote: | | The connections are the same....or not far off...but the nose on the type 4 switch is longer to fit into the recess in the dash. The outer aluminum screw/bezel will not reach through for a type 1 switch....and this is going off of memory. Let me see what I have in my spares pile. It might take me a day or two. Ray |
Ray that would be great if you could come up with one. I tried a bus one and the nose was too short, not really sure what the difference in the dash actually is. |
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raygreenwood
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Joined: November 24, 2008
Posts: 4940
Location: Des moines Iowa
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 8:20 am Post subject: |
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| Wildthings wrote: | | raygreenwood wrote: | | The connections are the same....or not far off...but the nose on the type 4 switch is longer to fit into the recess in the dash. The outer aluminum screw/bezel will not reach through for a type 1 switch....and this is going off of memory. Let me see what I have in my spares pile. It might take me a day or two. Ray |
Ray that would be great if you could come up with one. I tried a bus one and the nose was too short, not really sure what the difference in the dash actually is. |
If you ever have the dash out...or are limber enough to get your head and a flashlight underneath it...the difference in the dash that requires this odd longer nose switch will jump right out at you.
You can feel it up under the dash with your hands but its hard to visualize.
In the steel part of the dash where the hole is for the switch....its recessed. If you try to install a type 1 or 3 switch....it will fit fine but hot terminals will then come up against the grounded metal under the dash pad...causing sparks! 
There is already this problem slightly with the existing stock switch. It has short wires to it ...and...you will notice that it has a notch in the aluminum threaded barrel of the switch. This is to orient the switch and wires in a certain position under the dash. There is a "dent" or knob stamped into the dash that fits into the notch on the switch body. If you do not get the switch aligned properly when installing....it can turn sideways and the hot wire will "occasionally"....make contact with metal...causing an instant short that blows the main 16 amp fuse in the fuse block......killing EVERYTHING....including your emergency flashers
Yes...one fine saturday morning I came near to dying in my 412...in a dark tunnel/underpass in the industrial section of Robinson avenue in Oklahoma city....when that fuse mysteriously blew....and now with no flashers...Ray is sitting still...in a dark tunnel in the middle of the road...with no lights of any kind   ......I got a spare fuse in and starter turning just as a truck crested the hill behind me.
The fuse used to blow at odd tiems about every 3-5 weeks. I thought I was just pulling lots of load and it made the fuse run hot and weakened it. I put in glass safety 20 amp fuses...blew those too.
I evetually traced it to the switch when I had to replace it. Big burned spot on the corner hot wire.
It was only when I had a dash panel out in a local junkyard...that I realized there was a specific position and orientation for the switch to keep this from happening. Let me look tonight. I should have one.
It is possible to make a threaded extension to use type 1 and 3 switches. It might be worth looking into with the potential of our switches getting hard to find. Ray |
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