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Fri May 02, 2008 2:43 pm

I have an '89 GL that my parents bought new. There is a button in the area next to the striker plate for the rear hatch that looks like a trigger for the dome lights. Since the car was new in the summer of 1989, it has never done anything. I looked at the wiring diagram and found that that button isn't pictured. Today I was poking around with a volt meter and found that the wire was connected to the dome light on the passenger rear but it was connected to the wrong terminal. On the ground side of the light there are 2 sets of terminals. One set is for the grounded all the time wires. The other set is for the grounded when the door opens wires. The wire from the hatch trigger was on the grounded all the time side so it did nothing. I moved the wire to the other terminal and now the button works like it should. Looks like it was installed wrongly in Hanover!

Now, If only I hadn't broken the light in half reinstalling it.

Anybody else have a similar button that does nothing?

Sat May 03, 2008 10:51 pm

Why yes, I do. I always wondered about that. Thanks for the legwork. Mine has never worked either. But I never got around to investigating that much, because I first had gone around and fixed/replaced the switches on the other three doors, and gave up when I got to that one, mostly because the switch was good and the wires were attached.

Great job, great discovery.

Sun May 04, 2008 9:48 am

I discovered that that switch isn't depicted in the wiring diagram, too. I penciled it in on my copy. Luckily it's a simple circuit so there's not a lot to have to figure out; it works like any of the other door switches. But funny that it was connected wrong at the other dome light. I wonder how many were wired incorrectly that way.

Sun Dec 06, 2020 1:15 pm

have the same switch

but its not connected to anything and i dont find the terminal anywhere!
im desperate! hahahah

Mon Dec 07, 2020 7:21 am

Check to see if there is a rogue wire in the engine bay behind the license plate. It’s been a while since I fixed mine, but I recall the connector broken and wire tangled up in there somewhere.

Mon Dec 07, 2020 10:52 am

FWIW, there is not a plunger switch on my 1990 2WD Vanagon Westfalia...

Wed Dec 09, 2020 1:35 am

dougass wrote: Check to see if there is a rogue wire in the engine bay behind the license plate. It’s been a while since I fixed mine, but I recall the connector broken and wire tangled up in there somewhere.

what colour is it?

there are wires there that go to the rear plate ilumination.. nothing else, so strange

Wed Dec 09, 2020 1:35 am

jimf909 wrote: FWIW, there is not a plunger switch on my 1990 2WD Vanagon Westfalia...

id prefer that situation, having the switch but not finding the wire sucks haha

Wed Dec 09, 2020 3:06 am

dougass wrote: Check to see if there is a rogue wire in the engine bay behind the license plate. It’s been a while since I fixed mine, but I recall the connector broken and wire tangled up in there somewhere.

I tried this yesterday. You can not feel or see a wire for the dome thru the license plate.
Today I'll look in the engine bay for routing and get pics if I can.

Years ago I thought that I wanted to add this switch to my Westy and Allister provided great pics of it location.
Its hard to tell which way that wire routes left or right? Here is one of his pics.

Wed Dec 09, 2020 3:20 am

Timwhy wrote: dougass wrote: Check to see if there is a rogue wire in the engine bay behind the license plate. It’s been a while since I fixed mine, but I recall the connector broken and wire tangled up in there somewhere.

I tried this yesterday. You can not feel or see a wire for the dome thru the license plate.
Today I'll look in the engine bay for routing and get pics if I can.

Years ago I thought that I wanted to add this switch to my Westy and Allister provided great pics of it location.
Its hard to tell which way that wire routes left or right? Here is one of his pics.

its brown? I think I know which one it is hahah
Its the only one I found that was connected no where, without the terminal ... who knows how it ended that way, I'll try connecting it to the switch and crossfingers!

thanks for the pic!

Thu Oct 14, 2021 5:00 pm

I'm also trying to add a switch in this location. Can someone please take a picture of the bottom of the rear hatch on a van where this switch came standard? I imagine there's a bumper there that presses this switch that my van doesn't have, curious what it looks like. Here's what mine currently look like:

Fri Oct 15, 2021 5:06 am

Another of Allister's pics

Fri Oct 15, 2021 9:04 am

Remember each factory dome light can be individually switched, and each has three positions: On—Off—On with open door. In our Carat there are four door “plunger” switches, including the liftgate. Troubleshooting an issue on this circuit can be difficult. In addition, the plastic dome light fixture can be brittle and easily broken upon removal or reinstallation. Fortunately, replacements are readily available.

Fri Oct 15, 2021 10:03 am

Timwhy wrote: Another of Allister's pics

Thank you! I was wondering if those 2 holes had anything to do with it!

I'm actually doing this because I want all 4 doors to trigger the door-open alerts on my security system [not so subtle plug for Van Tracker]. When I was in SF, someone tried to force the tailgate lock.

Fortunately it still works, but it looks like exactly what you'd expect if someone cranked a big screwdriver in that lock cylinder. I'm hoping it looking like that will deter future potential thieves from trying it.

Fri Oct 15, 2021 2:09 pm

Bumping my thread for zoning the interior lights & adding 3 position switches. For the hatch, I ended up isolating that zone completely and added a on-off-door switch to the D pillar.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=676948&highlight=

Fri Oct 15, 2021 2:51 pm

Does anyone do the delayed off dome light for a mod anymore?

Fri Oct 15, 2021 4:45 pm

https://www.amazon.com/Dome-Light-Dimmer-Delay-Tim...&psc=1

Sat Oct 16, 2021 1:02 pm

I have the same tailgate switch and it doesn't work. Mice got to the wire and chewed it off near the button. With that fixed, still no light. Tracing the wire it heads left to another chew off, fixed by the PO. But, the PO wired it to the side marker light, which is wrong.

Behind the right tail light I found a 9" section of the same brown wire chewed off at both ends. I can't find the original "end". This wire appear to not be in any harnesses.

Does anyone know where the brown switch wire is routed. Again, mine goes from the switch, along the rear of the engine compartment, and ends by the right tail light.

Sat Oct 16, 2021 8:09 pm

The brown wire goes to the light. Run a new one from the light to the button switch and it will work.

Sun Oct 17, 2021 6:42 am

Thanks Duncan S. Eventually I traced out the wire. It goes from the rear hatch, along the engine compartment back lip to the right tail light, up through the channel where the snorkel is, behind and just in front of the the right air intake louver, then into the interior dome light channel though a grommet. The grommet is on the same horizontal level as the dome lights. Finally, the wire connects to the right rear dome light.

If you don't have the rear hatch dome light switch, the factory wire route may be hard to replicate unless you headliner is out.

My van, which is an 87 syncro, has a spot for a 4th dome light over the passenger seat. There is a plastic block off plate in the hole. If you are rewiring your dome lights you can easily add one over the passenger seat. My wife would find it the most useful location.

Mice had also chewed off the wire between the air intake louver and the grommet. They chewed about 2/3 of the foam from the snorkel tube while they were at it.

It was very difficult to reach the wire stump that was left behind the louver and the wire did not want to pull through the grommet. I was able to solder new wire to the chewed stump and the switch works!

Honestly, it wasn't worth the amount of effort it took to fix. I don't need the dome lights to work via the tailgate. My wife said I only fixed it for the ego trip.

I hate mice. I really hate them. Besides clipping the dome light wire in 4 places, and chewing up the snorkel foam, I found they disconnected the snorkel at the bottom elbow. Also, they gnawed large access holes through the plastic panel that has part of the air intake.