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speijder
Samba Member
Joined: December 23, 2007
Posts: 1
Location: western Pennsylvania
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 Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 4:36 pm Post subject: 1984 Vanagon fuses have no juice, electrical mess |
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| I recently bought an 84 vanagon and it had a few minor problems that seemed fixable. The blower fan and the windshield wiper weren't working, which didn't seem like a big deal, but then I discovered the radiator fan wasn't kicking on and the van would soon overheat. I realized that 6 of my 13 fuses don't have any power flowing through them. I'm not an electrical genius so I took it to a local auto electrical guy with the dash off. He took a not very thorough look and deemed it a shit-show that he wouldn't touch. The wires look fine, and the grounds seem fine. I think there's been a lot of jerry-rigging done because most components of the van seem fine. I could get by if it weren't for all the trouble I'm having with the radiator fan. What's wrong with my electrical system? Could it be my relays are bad? Can I jerry rig the fan to work easy enough? thanks |
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rubbachicken
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Joined: October 05, 2004
Posts: 3058
Location: socal
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Ahwahnee
Samba Member
Joined: June 05, 2010
Posts: 10242
Location: Mt Lemmon, AZ
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| Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 5:46 pm Post subject: |
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| rubbachicken wrote: |
| do you have the bible ? |
And before you start reading from Genesis, the book suggested is the Bentley manual.
The wiring diagrams are excellent but take some getting used to if you have not encountered the 'wiring track' approach before. Most of my experience was with literal wiring diagrams (showed all wires as lines, all on one page, more or less in the shape of a car). Those are okay for an older. simpler vehicle but the track diagrams as in the Bentley make tracing circuits if not easy at least less confusing.
Yes, you can probably jury-rig (hopefully not jerry-rig) the fan operation but first I'd try to get to the root of the problem.
Is there any evidence of an electrical fire in the dash area (one reason some wiring looms get hacked & repaired)? |
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Bntbrl
Samba Member
Joined: September 04, 2012
Posts: 436
Location: Seattle, Wa
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| Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 8:37 pm Post subject: |
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My 84 westy had melted the backlighting because it is not fused properly from the factory. As a result it melted other wires too. I luckily had bought a parts van so side by side nd wire by wire I swapped out th offending dozen or more wires.
Yours may not be the same cause, but at first I was put off by the gobs of wires. I've been a body man since the early 90s and have pulled dashes, harnesses etc but nothing like that. Break it down to one wire at a time and you'll eventually get through it.
_________________
1984 Vanagon Westfalia 1.9 wbx
www.DIYSeattle.com |
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