Any tricks to finding bad ground to interior light?

[rwjacks2]

The light above my stove quit working and I thought is was just my bulb. Turns out I have a bad ground there. When I move the ground to the switched side of the interior door light the stove light works great (as long as the door is open). I believe the ground should be on one of those ground pods behind the fuse box but I do not see one loose. Any tricks to finding a loose ground for the interior lights?

[Terry Kay]

That light should ground to the body.

Is it ?
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T.K.

[Vanagon Nut]

The wires to that light on my 81 pass along the area above driver side dome light. Since kitchen light is switched at light itself, the brown ground wire is not switched at the dome isn't. I can't recall if the dome light switch serves as a junction for that wire or if it's a straight run from the ground star above fuse box. There is also a connector or two along area above spice rack but I doubt that's the source of the ground issue. You could run the kitchen light ground to a spot nearer the light. This is what I'd did but that ground point also serves as a ground for cig lighter I installed above the spice rake and a couple LEDs I installed in kitchen area.

Neil
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1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA

1988 West DIY 50º ABA

VE7TBN

[djkeev]

You give us precious little information to help you but from the headlights I presume 85 or older?

The rear interior lights , circuit path # 86 are grounded by a brown wire that runs to the ground tree under the dash above the fuse panel. It does pass by and join with the front interior light and then to ground.

Bentley 97.40

Dave
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Stop Dead Photo Links how to post photos

Ghia
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392473

Vanagon
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

Beetle
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert

[dhaavers]

Why not outsmart the krauts and ground locally near the light fixture? Sure
beats fishing wire half the length of the van & upside down under the dash...



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

[Terry Kay]

I would take this path too.
Ground it right behind the lamp eliminating that long run to the porcupine set up under the dash.
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T.K.

[Vanagon Nut]

[rwjacks2]

Yes, makes sense!! Thanks.

[Vanagon Nut]

I would be curious why the kitchen light ground is not right.

To be clear, I moved the ground for different reasons.

Neil.
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1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA

1988 West DIY 50º ABA

VE7TBN

[rwjacks2]

I am planning on digging in a bit deeper this weekend.

When I look behind the fuse panel I do not see any loose brown/ground wires. But it is hard to see all. My guess is that I have to pull the instrument panel out to really get a better view. It would be nice to just find the loose wire and plug it back into the ground pod on the chassis. The previous owner did an aux battery installation and moved interior light to it.

[rwjacks2]

Sorry for late response. I ended up grounding near light behind headliner above the stove. Easy to do, works fine.

Only minor detail is that the door light is not grounded when switch is set to turn light on when door is closed. I am living with that for now.

[Terry Kay]

Flashlight, drop cord pointed up into the corner of the van above the fuse panel will reveal the ground lugs.

They will not just pop out and be visual real easy, you have to dig for tgem visually..
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T.K.