Taillights, Running Lights, and Plate Lights out on '87 Vanagon

[cmaltbie]

Hello everyone! Despite being a long-time lurker on these forums (and buying my Vanagon from the classifieds a few years ago), this is my first actual post. Things have clearly gotten desperate.

Here's what I've got going on: when I was getting ready to put the van away for the winter last year, I noticed that the taillights and running lights had all gone out. The instrument panel lights were also out - but they had been finicky from the day I bought it, so it's a toss-up as to whether they just died around the same time or were done in by the same electrical issue.

I had noticed the running lights being out when I was working on the reverse lights (which had also not worked from Day 1) - but those turned out to be a completely separate issue (corroded wire and bad switch).

I've been intermittently tinkering with the issue - but now that I'm ready for some overnight trips, I (legally) need to get things fixed. I'm crossing fingers that one of the geniuses here may have some ideas - otherwise, I'll have no choice but to turn to the dreaded "P" word. A professional.

A few of the things I've tried so far:
- Checking and swapping the appropriate fuses. Actually, all of the fuses in the main fusebox, just in case my van differed from the reference diagram I had for a '87 Vanagon
- Swapping all of the bulbs
- Checking for power at the lights (spoiler: there was none)
- Replacing the headlight/dimmer switch on the dash (I had high hopes...they were dashed. Pun intended)
- Checking the grounds in the engine compartment (at least, what I think are the right grounds). They looked okay - and I believe are shared with the other rear lights, which all work fine.

Other general info:
- The headlights, brake lights, turn signals, and emergency lights are all working
- The PO had a GW Auxiliary Battery Kit installed; I know that theoretically shouldn't impact the running/tail/license plate lights, but I know it involves futzing around in the fusebox and snipping some wires.
- The lights definitely did work when I purchased the van in 2018 and, to my knowledge, up until about November of last year
- I tracked down one rogue brown wire in the engine compartment that appears to run from near the license plate light assembly to the passenger side of the van (following the same path as the two wires running to the passenger side running lights). I can't tell if it corroded and snapped or was intentionally cut at some point, but I wasn't able to figure out what it previously ran to.

That's all I've got - but hopefully it sparks a thought with this crowd. Thanks in advance!
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'87 Vanagon GL w/ Bostig Conversion & Northwesty Pop-Top

[Wildthings]

Power comes in to the headlight switch on a R/Y wire attached to terminal #30 and goes out to the fuses for the tail lights on a GY wire attached to terminal #58.

[campism]

Welcome! Check wires to your ground star behind the fuse box under the dash. Clean up all those connections and that of the star to the body. I found access there to be very tight. Good luck!
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'87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic

[cmaltbie]

Holy Cow, that was fast - thanks guys!

Those grounding stars are no joke; I got in to them, but I'm going to wait until I'm finished with the van on Sunday afternoon before I work them out, lest I dig myself in too deep. I'll let you know how that goes. It would be a real treat if that fixed things.

As I feverishly order a Bentley for some light reading - I have another dimwitted question. Is that R/Y wire coming into the headlight switch carrying power for all associated electronics governed by the switch (i.e. the headlights in addition to the runners/tail lights) - or are the headlights powered separately?

I wouldn't say that I'm afraid of my multimeter, but the less I fiddle with it, the less likely I am to poke myself in the eye. If my logic tracks - if the R/Y wire is providing power to the headlights and they're running, power into the switch should be fine, and the next stop is testing for power along the GY wire as you mentioned before it hits the fusebox, is that correct?
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'87 Vanagon GL w/ Bostig Conversion & Northwesty Pop-Top

[Wildthings]

The R/Y wire feeds power into the headlight switch and should be hot at all times. The headlights are supplied via the ignition switch and are totally separate from the tail lights.

[cmaltbie]

Fascinating. It seems that there's no power coming into Terminal 30; just into Terminal 56 on a BK/Y wire.

I don't know if it's standard (as standard as things get on VWs), but in following that R/Y wire back, it was attached via a blade connector to a blue wire (pictured). I was praying that it was just a bad connection there, but there's no power on the blue wire either.

This will be my first opportunity to chase power backwards from the dash to the battery; could you tell me the standard routing of those wires? I wasn't sure if they ran across the dash and down the passenger side to the main battery or down past the driver seat.
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'87 Vanagon GL w/ Bostig Conversion & Northwesty Pop-Top

[Wildthings]

Your connection is not stock, so look for an added switch or some other component somewhere.

[cmaltbie]

Well, first of all - thank you guys a million times over. The intel on that switch and pointing out that the connections weren't stock turned out to be the ticket. I didn't have to dig down too far to find where the connections had been spliced in/out.

This has led me to one final question - born 50% out of curiosity and 50% out of fear that in rerouting power the way I think it was meant to be may lead to my beloved Vanagon exploding.

Here is what I found when I followed those wires back:
- The R/Y wire at Terminal 30 was rerouted to the pictured Relay (#53) on a blue wire

-Showing the back of that relay, the blue wire ran to Terminal 30 on the headlight switch (circled in red); the red wire connected back to the original R/Y wire that was meant for Terminal 30 (circled in pink); the white wire was spliced into a BK/Y wire running back to Terminal 56 on the headlight switch (circled in yellow)

-Supplemental photo of that splice (circled in yellow is the BK/Y wire coming from source and the white wire coming from the relay; circled in red is the BK/Y heading back to Terminal 56).

Unless I just undid something as it was meant to be - any guesses as to why it was rigged up this way? When I simply connected the blade connectors on the two halves of the R/Y wire, all of the running lights/dash lights came back on.

My woefully uneducated guess was that this was intended to turn all of the exterior lights off when the key was out of the ignition, even if the headlight switch was on. I vaguely remember them working that way before the lights conked out on me originally; now, they stay on with/without key unless the headlight switch is turned completely off.
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'87 Vanagon GL w/ Bostig Conversion & Northwesty Pop-Top