Vanagon tail light issue

[Bikechunk]

I have a problem with my right side tail light. The lights all seem pretty dim on that side and when I turn on my running lights, backup lights all separately every light will come on. Also when turning on the right turn signal most of the lights light up and flash. Any idea what the issue could be? I’m assuming it’s ground related and went through the trees but the issue didn’t change. Thanks!

[shagginwagon83]

Honestly I would just pull the pins from the connector and replace the open barrel connectors. This really needs to be done anyway. I think that would be a good place to start.

Also I believe the rear harness might get its ground through one of the engine ground wires (on the driver side wall of engine bay)
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"Jo Ann" - '83.5 Westfalia EJ22e w/Peloquin
Instagram: @joannthevan

[jlrftype7]

What year vehicle?. There is a Sticky thread in FAQ for the Ground locations of 1.9 and the later 2.1 vehicles. Good place to start if you don't have a wiring diagram in front of you. Better if you have the Bentley Manual to work through this.
It's at the bottom of the sticky....
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6288276#6288276
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'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[Jan Steinman]

[Howesight]

The symptoms sound like ground problems and resistance problems.

The solution is to replace all affected portions of wiring and the associated terminals. Note that the wiring in the engine compartment is open to water and road salt and this combination can corrode wires from the exposed copper strands at the terminal ends and migrate quite far up the wire. The corroded copper stands look dirty brown instead of bright copper colour. The corrosion causes enough resistance to cause the symptoms you describe.
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'86 Syncro Westy SVX

[RolandD]

Be careful making assumptions on where the rear tail light grounds. From memory, mine grounds up front behind the fuse block.

Roland

[Bikechunk]

It’s an 85. All my lights come on when I turn on the running lights now… It’s a Vanagon though so what did I expect.

[4Gears4Tires]

Add a second ground from the ground wire in the harness to the chassis. I was chasing all sorts of weird issues that kept changing as I figured them out.

Added a second ground wire, everything is good to go. Who knows what mouse chewed on the ground where somewhere along the chassis harness.
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'87 Syncro Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition
'85 Westy Sciuridae Domus Edition

[Bikechunk]

“Added a second ground wire, everything is good to go. Who knows what mouse chewed on the ground were somewhere along the chassis harness.”

Should I run it to the lights and keep the old one or just replace the whole thing?

[Wildthings]

Your ground is bad causing voltage to appear on the ground side of one of the bulbs, this causes current to flow backwards through the other filaments which use the same ground. Figure out the ground path and fix any problems in it, including the grounds between the bulbs and their sockets.

[Franklinstower]

I would also be checking all the connector pins for corrosion and ground wires, check the bulb holders for corrosion and clean them up. Also check the voltage at each bulb holder.
I just replaced all my rear bulbs and found slight corrosion at each bulb holder, and a slight voltage drop. Cleaning them up helped
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'89 Westy - EJ25/22 Frank 4.44 5mt
'75 Miami Blue Sunroof FI Standard Bug
YITB

[PDXWesty]

[Socal Vip]

Had the same problem with my front corner. Then I saw this and i didn’t bother thinking about it and just replaced it. My tail light had some corrosion but I was able to clean it and replaced some of the connectors.

[Bikechunk]

Thanks for the help! Before I leave, I was getting resistance from all of the pins to the ground/engine. I thought this was weird and tested my other van and it only had a few with resistance to the engine.