Lights issue

[RadioRental]

My headlights will not come on. Turning on the switch to both parked and low beams will turn on rear & side lights. Only pulling back on the high beam stick (and holding it back) will turn on both low & high beams, blue dash light also comes on as expected.

I've cleaned the ground stars behind the fuse box.

Before I go pulling everything apart - what else can cause this common issue? The light switch itself? or is it 99% certain a ground issue.

Thanks /pauric
_________________
__________________________________

'87 2.1. 125K 4spd Not rebuilt "Red Dwarf"

[crazyvwvanman]

When the headlights are turned on but not lighting, do the wipers and dash heater fan work?

Mark

[thurst]

Check your wipers and your heater/AC fans for operation. If they are not working I'd guess it is your ignition switch. A new one is around $5.00 online and $25.00 at AutoZone.

Ben has a good thread on replacement.
_________________
1986 2.1 Liter Automatic Vanagon Westfalia Weekender

[RadioRental]

Yup, everything else is working in the van (although the engine is a little underpowered and AC doesn't work (o

So, I'm guessing that is me back at square 1 - bad grounds.

Thanks!
_________________
__________________________________

'87 2.1. 125K 4spd Not rebuilt "Red Dwarf"

[thatvwbusguy]

Bad grounds, or bad hi/low dimmer switch would be my guess. Check all of the wiring at both ends first, it can't possibly be a bad idea to know the condition of all of your headlight wiring and costs you nothing but time.

The switch on the steering column to toggle between high and low beams goes bad on occasion. Here is an older post with the same symptoms you are dealing with.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=390883&highlight=headlight+relay

Hope that helps,
_________________
Jay Brown
'85 Zetec Westfalia
Newmarket, NH


If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

[Summers420us]

I had the same issue this weekend. Turned out that the headlight switch melted a little because of a poor connection. This prevented one of the spring loaded connection points from working properly.

I took the switch apart in the field and cut away some of the melted plastic, cleaned up the connection points and put it all back together to get myself home.

In my case, 22 years of service out of a headlight switch that carries all the current for the headlights is not bad.

I will be replacing switch and installing the Van Cafe relay kit to reduce the power flowing through the switch itself.

Now... if someone could remind me which VW model has the direct replacement switch that lights up, then I will be all set.

[crazyvwvanman]

Since the headlights light up when you hold up the highbeam/lowbeam switch lever, the grounds for the headlight are working.

You almost certainly have a bad headlight switch.

Power for the headlights comes into the switch on the largest yellow/black wire. It leaves that switch and heads for the hi/lo switch on the largest white/back wire. I would use a voltmeter to test that power is or isn't on those wires. One way to do this is to use the point of a safety pin to push into the middle of the wire, through the insulation. Then put the meter probe on the pin.

Mark

[Volksaholic]

Okay... maybe this is too obvious, but are you sure you don't have two burned out low beams? The bulbs that have the lows also have high beam filaments. When you turn on the highs you should have a total of 4 lights up front, but none of them are using the low beam filaments. Before you get too involved in tearing apart the electrical system I'd verify that the bulbs are good.

If they're good and the heater fan works, I agree that it's likely the hi/low switch. When I got my '85 the low beams didn't work, then the high beams became intermittent. I tore down that switch and cleaned all the contacts... they're tiny for the amount of current stock headlights draw. That resolved the immediate problem, then I put in the commonly discussed head light relays to keep the problem from recurring. I have relays for the '88 but haven't had time to put them in. I think they're relatively cheap insurance, especially if there's a chance you'll go to brighter/higher current bulbs.

Paul
_________________
1988 Wolfsburg Edition, 2001 Subaru EJ251

[RadioRental]

Awesome guys!! I really appreciate the pointers... wish I had time to fart around troubleshooting the problem myself. I'll check the switch out in the next few days but wanted to answer a few questions/suggestions.

Volksaholic: "maybe this is too obvious, but are you sure you don't have two burned out low beams?"

Yeah, it's kinda hard to tell which bulbs are working but a more fundamental issue points to the problem being further upstream. I can't switch on the high beams and leave them on. Only through forcing the lever back and keeping it back can I get any light on.


Crazyvwvanman: "Since the headlights light up when you hold up the highbeam/lowbeam switch lever, the grounds for the headlight are working. "

Thanks, I wasn't 100% sure this was the case as I pulled the fuses for all the lights and the lever would still turn on the beams which told me that leaver was on a different circuit and maybe had a different ground.


Sounds like it might be the headlight switch, I'll report back in a couple of days - thanks again! /pauric
_________________
__________________________________

'87 2.1. 125K 4spd Not rebuilt "Red Dwarf"

[[email protected]]

Did you check your fuses? Mine go once in awhile, low beams they are down towards the end on the right.. 10 amps I think. I for each bulb..

90 GL 2.1 auto A/C
_________________
2001 eurovn weekender 207k fresh batteries

[GMByers]

[RadioRental]

[akyrie]

I have had the same problem where my light switch has melted, either to the point that I can't move the switch back and forth or it just stops connecting. I would take it out and make sure that it is actually making the connection. The light switch isn't hard to figure out on your own, just takes a little time and thinking to get it to work again. good luck.

[syncrodoka]

If you look under the fuses in the fuse block they are numbered and they corrrespond with those listed on the back of the cover. Low beams are to the far right.

[RadioRental]

[RadioRental]

Follow up and mini repair report. It was the light switch - thanks to everyone for the pointers

I pulled the light switch and checked with a multi meter. The two larger terminals were always open circuit.

Opened the switch by prying at the clips with a sharp knife. Make sure you keep the rocker side of the switch pointed down at all times or you're lose a ton of little parts.

Once open I noticed a tiny amount of melted plastic around the face of one of the large terminal contact face.

Cleaned the plastic off. Cleaned all terminal faces by scratching with a screwdriver.

The terminal that had slightly melted had also sunk in to the plastic housing slightly. I edged a thin small screwdriver blade under the terminal contact face and bent it back up.

Everything clips back together pretty easily, just make sure the rocker bearing ball is in the right slot - if the switch is all the way to the right the ball is in the left most slot.

Thanks again /pauric
_________________
__________________________________

'87 2.1. 125K 4spd Not rebuilt "Red Dwarf"