Like the song goes, “One Headlight”…

[Jonah_fiddler]

So, I’ve been dealing with lighting issues and my passenger headlight has not been working since I got the car. Also, 1 turn signal and 1 brake light is not working, so I’ve got to tackle that.

This post is specifically for the headlight. I bought 2 new headlights thinking that one was just bad, but the drivers side works and the passenger side doesn’t.

I checked the ground and both wires running to the panel and they are connected. So then I thought maybe the harness was bad so j ordered a new one, still no luck. I’ve connected the original headlight to the new headlight plug and it still doesn’t work.

Any ideas?

I replaced all fuses in the fuse box also.

[jeffrey8164]

Headlight switch itself is my guess.
Time to get out the meter and see.
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Volkswagen!
Turning owners into mechanics since 1938.

“Let he that is without oil throw the first rod”
(Compression 8.7:1)

[slayer61]

[slayer61]

This wiring diagram says the front headlights are on different circuits.

Hell. It even says the Hi & Lo are on different fuses!
you just need to "connect the dots"
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[Jonah_fiddler]

I did check the positive and it was showing up to 13 volts. Anything else I should check?

[sb001]

NOTE: The following is assuming that your wiring is factory correct!!!

First off, you need to be looking at the correct diagram. Apparently you have a 1970 convertible beetle? If so this is the diagram you need to be looking at:

Both of your headlights receive power from the headlight switch (E1) through the dimmer relay (J). When you turn the headlight switch on, power flows out from the switch to the dimmer relay through the white/ black stripe wire coming off terminal 56 of the headlight switch to terminal 56 on the dimmer relay. From there it flows out to the input side of either fuse #5 via the yellow wire coming off terminal 56a of the dimmer relay (for brights), or fuse #7 via the white wire coming off terminal F of the dimmer relay (for dims), depending on what you have the dimmer switch set on. From that point power flows through either fuse 5 (brights) or 7 (dims) out to your left hand headlight, BUT it ALSO branches off (on the input side of the fuse box) via metal bridges to fuses 6 and 8, which handle the RIGHT side headlight brights and dims respectively.
Since power for BOTH headlights travels on the same circuit up to the point of the fuse box, and your left side headlight works fine, you can essentially eliminate anything in the circuit path up to the fuse box as being the problem. That basically leaves the yellow and white wires running off fuses 6 and 8 respectively to your passenger side headlight, and since you apparently replaced both of those and the right headlight is still not coming on, you can pretty much eliminate that also. That leaves the headlight itself and the ground wire coming off of it (which should connect to a metal tab on the inside of the trunk.)
You also said you checked for power at the headlight, but which wire did you check? The yellow (for bright filament) or the white (for dim filament?)
Check the right side ground tab carefully and the brown headlight ground wire that connects to it. Make sure that wire is not loose at that connection. You can always disconnect that brown ground wire from that tab and run a jumper from the wire to a known good ground like the left side tab, see if the headlight comes on then. If it doesn't I would suspect the brown ground wire connection at the headlight itself (connection 31 on the right side headlight L2 in the diagram above.)
_________________
I'm the humblest guy on this board.

1969 autostick sedan, family owned since new
1600 SP engine
Solex 30 PICT 3 carburetor
Bosch 113905205AE autostick distributor

[Jonah_fiddler]

[sb001]

First let me correct a couple of errors I made in my previous post (not looking at the diagram closely enough, or at the owner's manual):

The #3 fuse on your fuse block is where the white wire for the BRIGHT lights comes into the fuse block from the dimmer relay for the left side headlight, and splits over to #4 fuse for the right side headlight.
The #5 fuse is where the yellow wire for the DIM lights comes into the fuse block for the left side headlight, and splits over to fuse #6 for the right side headlight.

So, white wire = BRIGHT lights, not dim as I said earlier, and yellow wire = DIM lights, not bright.

So if you followed my previous post that said fuses #7 & 8 were the white wires to the headlights, sorry I was wrong about that. If that led you to check the white wire coming off fuse #8, it was the wrong wire

If you are getting brights on the right side headlight it means your #4 fuse, & the white wire coming off of it, are good. Please check the YELLOW wire off fuse #6 for voltage (this will be the wire for the right side dim lights) and see what you get.
_________________
I'm the humblest guy on this board.

1969 autostick sedan, family owned since new
1600 SP engine
Solex 30 PICT 3 carburetor
Bosch 113905205AE autostick distributor

[rosevillain]

A lot of times with weird lighting issues, I'll have a bad connection from the socket to the fuse. Twisting the fuses around a bit can help find this, sometimes.

[KTPhil]

Wrongly wired headlamp socket?

[ashman40]

[Jonah_fiddler]

So, I thought I'd update everyone on the final fix as i haven't had a chance to get back out to the garage in a few days.

I checked all of the connections and made sure that the new wiring harness was wired correctly. Still nothing.

So I went back through the fuse box and re-seated all of the fuses and voila! Seems I have all turn signals, lights, running lights, and brights working properly now.

Man, these fuse box connections can be finicky if they're not seated in there just right.

Thanks for all of the help guys, especially sb001!

[slayer61]

So Jonah,
How much money did you spend in replacement parts, before you discovered a bad connection on a fuse?
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[Jonah_fiddler]

We’ll, I bought 2 new headlights, probably needed anyway, but who knows. That was about $25 each. The new wiring harness was $4, and I already had everything else.

I won’t count the $.25 fuse since it fixed the problem!!!

[baldessariclan]

[sb001]

[raydog]

If it is the song I am thinking of, isn't it "One Taillight"?
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Come on, It's not rocket science. KISS

[Jonah_fiddler]

[Jonah_fiddler]

[sb001]