Please help: Electrical Gremlins?

[Surfwagon]

Hi everyone,

My 89 Westy has a weird set of components that aren’t working and after removing half the dash and checking fuses look like they should. Maybe someone can see a pattern that I’m missing.

Not working:

Driver speaker (switched with the one on passenger side and the speaker is fine just no sound, also checked wires up to radio and all fine)

Electrical side mirrors (for both sides)

Speedometer and odometer (I saw them both fail at the same time after running the car 15 hours non-stop on a long road trip very recently) they are connected and should be working by the looks of it

Fresh air fan ( the switch makes a terrible clicking noises when moving back from any position, but after disassembling the sound is considerably less. Live wire and grounds all good)

All the lights that go behind the fan, rear heater, a/c

Also it feels like the AC is only blowing from the vents on the driver side of the head banger and not the half that would be on the passenger side of it. ( could there be a blockage? ) I shined a light and looked fine but very odd.

Any other bugs I find I’ll post them as replies.

Let me know if you need any pictures.
Thanks in advance!

[dhaavers]

Good mornin! I'm still pre-coffee but Ill try to put some thoughts together...

Speaker & windows are very likely due to broken wiring at the door hinge.
Open up the rubber boot/protector there & see what you find.

Speedometer/odometer are driven by a cable from the DS front wheel. End of the
cable must be fit snugly into the square hole in the center of the wheel grease
cup. Along the way, under the van the first part of the cable drives the mileage
counter for the O2 dash light, then there's another cable from there to the
speedo head in the dash. All these connections must be snug & obviously the
cables must be good. There is also a known issue with gearing in the speedo
head in the dash...a search will lead you to threads on this issue.

So, your fan is working but the switch is hard to operate? Time to try a new
switch...they're cheap, but spend a little more for a good one.

Dash lights all feed from a single circuit so if there's a problem with only some
of them it's a wiring issue to the bad branch...time for some detective work.

AC: I don't have the same plenum as your later model but sounds like more
disassembly/detective work.

Get on it & let us know what you find...welcum me to the department!

- Dave
_________________
86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>

[VicVan]

Hi

Different issues going on here. At least you're going to get to know your van pretty well!

dhaavers covered it. Also, just in case: check your fuses, and clean your grounds.
_________________
'90 Little Blue Truck, 2WD auto, FAS GenV 2.0 NA (AVH)

[dhaavers]

[Surfwagon]

[dhaavers]

Also, if/when you get to the A/C...many members have reported better performance
with the plastic plenum removed entirely. Search "plenumectomy" for threads/posts...

- Dave

PS: Found the link to Kam's awesome write-up... http://www.oldbluesblog.com/files/RemovingthePlenum.pdf
_________________
86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>

[MarkWard]

For the AC, if you look in the very back closet, there should be a cover held with 2 Philips screws. You need to lift the shelf out as well. There you find the electrical and hoses to the evaporator.

There should be 2 spade fuses on brown wires. From memory, VW fused the ground legs for the blower motors. I'm wondering if one of the 2 blowers has stopped working. Remove one fuse and turn the AC on. Listen for the blower. Turn the AC off and install the removed fuse and remove the adjacent fuse. AC on again and listen for the other blower. Easy test without removing.

I just redid my AC, and getting to the blower motors is not an easy task even after the plenum is removed. Figure out if both fans work before proceeding. I vacillated on whether to remove the plenum permanently or not. With everything cleaned out and everything sealed. I'm very satisfied with the AC output from the original plenum and it maintains its factory look.