Freshwater fun... levels

[emccann86]

Hello all from sunny San Diego
Long time vw owner first time with a westy
1981 air cooled westy CA smog

This is my first post to

That out the way let's get down to the nitty gritty.
I've been trying to get the water flowing in the sink
So I filled the tank(w/ side sensors)
Looked at monitor

Lights flickered when moved so I started following the wires
Found first mystery

This white wire was spliced/twisted around the red on the 6 pin connector. So I followed it out the back up the b pillar through the tin above the sink to find it tapped into the lamp power

Ok so I says to myself "self, this is wrong. Let's check the fuse under the driver's butt"

Wtf........ Isn't there supposed to be a relay here???
Ok so that's a problem discovered.....for another day
I jump the red to the other red and viola

Same lights...... Still no water flow......

So I test continuity for each of the "sensors" on the tank to ground and they're good

Questions
1 where do I buy the missing relay?
2 how do I test the level sender box to confirm the display works via the bently procedure?

[your_reel_friend]

Hi there Neighbor,

I have a 1980's model, and it seems that there was no relay under the drivers seat in these early years. That red wire is how it should be.

As far as your fresh water problems. I had the same issue, and needed to bypass the resister that is present on these early level boards. The circuit panel with the leds should have a wire (yellow on mine) that needed to be moved to the other side of the resister (dime sized piece of metal) on the back of the board.

The twisted wire you have coming from your overhead light was probably an attempt to bypass this resister.

And as you may know, the resister is in place in these early years to prevent the water pump from running when the levels in the tank get too low.

[WestfaliaMike]

The relay should be located behind the refrigerator on these early models. Mines a 81, And thats where mine is located. Real bear to get to. You should be able to see it by looking through the left side air vent of the frig..
_________________
1981 Vanagon Westfalia
1983 Vanagon Passanger (Parts Vehicle)
2016 Passat TSI

[emccann86]

Ok so I assume you mean this mj3000 transistor

So I want to bypass it, or replace it?
And what about testing the two ic chips, could those be the source of my problem?

[crazyvwvanman]

The job of the transistor is to disable the pump when the panel logic thinks the water tank is empty. Since the bottom red led is on, the panel thinks the tank is empty.

Mark

[emccann86]

Found an appropriate lm324 integrated circuit at my local Fry's electronics for a buck and change, I set it on top of the suspect chip at the bottom of the picture and the green light lot up, with the red simultaneously, so I desoldered the old one and put in the new one now it functions like oem