TheSamba.com :: View topic - Can only get 'highbeams' out of driverside

Sun Jan 12, 2020 11:57 am

Hi Everyone,

I have looked through the forums and can't quite find my answer, so if you could point me in the right direction it would be great.

I have a 1960 Single Cab, converted to 12V.

When I turn on the lights the high beams work fine, but when I hit the dimmer switch the driver side just goes off. I get no power there when I check with the meter.

The fuse box diagram refers to a high beam left and a high beam right fuse, but I'm not sure if those are the only fuses for the headlights.

Does this sound like a dimmer switch issue? A fuse issue?

Anything else I should look for?

Thanks!

Sun Jan 12, 2020 12:54 pm

Did you check the fuses? There is one fuse per side for high beams and on per side for the low beams.

The dimmer switch only has on set of contacts, this means it is OK, since one side is working. Your problem is either the fuse, the fuse box or the wire from the fuse box to the headlight.

Sun Jan 12, 2020 12:57 pm

Which fuse is it? The only one I see in the owner's manual is the one for high beams.

Sun Jan 12, 2020 1:14 pm

Do you have 8 or 8 fuses? It looks like thy changed from 6 to 8 in 1960.

If the fuse box has 8 fuses, the fuse 5 - 8 (the four to the left) are the headlight fuses.

On earlier buses with 6 fuses you don't have a fuse for the low beams. The wire is routed directly from the dimmer switch to the left low beam and then from there to the right low beam. In this case you need the wire from the fuse box to the left headlight and then the connection from the left headlight to the right headlight (assuming you have a LHD bus).

Sun Jan 12, 2020 1:17 pm

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/wiring/bus_59_USA.jpg

The US version uses a connector (T1) to route the power to the two headlights you will need to check that too.

Sun Jan 12, 2020 2:54 pm

Check voltage at bulb socket, maybe bad headlight

Mon Jan 13, 2020 9:56 am

Thank you all so much.

So I do have the 8 fuse fuse-box and after some tracing found where the various lights went into it. It seemed the wire was loose and after some tightening worked (I did the ole tighten, hop around in the seat, retest, repeat, button-up, and retest).

Thanks again for your help. If it reoccurs I know where I can re-check.