Indicator electric mystery

[lmaoufle]

Hi

I have a 71 us wsety and I am in the process of refreshing the dashboard and so the electric spaghetti
I have fitted a new turn signal retro, an alarm, and change some cable and so on.
Everything was working great until it wasn't!

Now on ignition the left indicator is on (not blinking) but no dash light. If I use the switch to the left it work then I cancel and it is still on.

I have +12v on the black/white cable (so left indicator) coming from the emergency switch. I have 0v for the black/green cable (so right) on the emergency switch.

So I don't understand should I have 12v for both or 0v for both?

Thanks for your help!
Ben

[busdaddy]

Try unplugging the black/white from the emergency switch and see if the power is coming from the terminal, or feeding to it from elsewhere.

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[lmaoufle]

Good idea!

I removed the black/white from the emergency switch and the indicator is still light up.

I am lost! How can it get a 12v ???

[busdaddy]

If it's a new replacement signal switch I'd suspect that, they are terrible quality and often have flaws. It's really the only other place that black/white wire goes.
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[kreemoweet]

As the diagram below shows, the black/white wire should not have any voltage on it if the emerg flasher switch isn't pulled out, and the T/S switch is in the neutral position. Seems like you have some sort of short in your new T/S switch. You would have +12V at the blk/purple, blk/red, and blk/yellow when the brake pedal is pressed.

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[lmaoufle]

Thanks for the input but I don't think it is a faulty switch as I have disconnected the exit of the turn signal switch so VL on the diagram and still have power on B/L wire at the connection block.

I must have connected this B/L wire to a power source but from the wiring it looks impossible

[busdaddy]

Mysterious!, I guess the next step is to trace the wire and check for it getting pinched in with something else.
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[lmaoufle]

Oh after a bit of a fight with my brain I believe I found the culprit.

Can you confirm me that connector T2 is a simple connection between 2 cables because mine connect the 4 wires!
So if you have power to a side the three others have power. I don't think it should be this way?

Can we buy this connector new somewhere?

[W1K1]

[busdaddy]

There's two different version of that terminal block, one is separate circuits, and the other combines them all together, sounds like you have the wrong one.

One of each in the classifieds:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/search.php...ton=Search
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[Everpress]

I don’t want to hijack a thread, but I don’t want to start a new one for similar problems. If this isn’t “welcome” here, let me know and I’ll post elsewhere:

I have a 69 bay that I am putting back together after having it apart for about 2 years. I’m pretty sure the passenger rear indicator didn’t work when I bought it, but it’s been so long.

Problem: All lights work as intended except the passenger light (no brake, no running, no signal).

What I have checked/how and result from check:

1) Standard/normal fuses (all fuses in the fuse box are intact)
2) Inline fuses from the previous owner (all are intact, even though none touch the lights, I still didn’t want to rule out magical electric stuff)
3) Rear wiring integrity (this is where I am a little confused?)
* Test light on positive leads for brake/running lights; negative ground on the battery negative post = no light/no power
* Test light on positive lead for turn indicator; negative ground on battery negative post = flashing test light but no light function with the light assembly
4) Turn signal “box” on steering post; only a visual inspection- dust and debris, cleared with air and a tiny screwdriver = no change in light function

Any ideas/check list of other things/ways to check?

I do have my trusty test light and a voltmeter that I do not know how to use. I’m not afraid to do anything, really, since I also didn’t know how to remove/replace window seals, cut/weld, remove/disassemble/clean/reassemble the engine, etc. Since it is running strong, I at least did something reasonably ok.
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1969 Bay Camper
Work in progress…

[busdaddy]

Just because the fuses are "intact" doesn't mean the ends are shiny where they make contact with the tabs in the box, remove each one and clean the ends as well as the tabs around the holes.
I'm confused about your test, you say brake/running in one test and signal in another, is this a Euro bus, has it been converted to Euro tail lights?

Either way if you were getting an indication of power on the signal but no light it's most likely a bad ground on that fixture, or corrosion in the sockets, or a bad bulb.
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[Everpress]

I don’t think it was a euro/euro conversion.
I know it was delivered to Oregon in 1969 and the dealership did the camper conversion.

I should have mentioned that I did change bulbs hoping it was that simple, but no dice.

I was out of town for the night and have some things around the house to take care of, but if I get a chance, I’ll just go ahead and put in a new ground wire (the old one is old with an old connector anyway).

Just to be as transparent as possible (it helps when asking for help!), the wiring diagram has three leads running to it: one is isolated- the blinker, according to my test light; the other two are terminated to one female connector. It is this connection that I get zero power from. I’m thinking, if the ground is not the issue, I should separate those two wires and test them individually. Does that make sense or is there a different/better place to start?

Thanks in advance; this community has been my guardian bus angel!
_________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1969 Bay Camper
Work in progress…

[busdaddy]

A 1971 North American system has one single bulb in the tail light fixture, the bulb has 2 filaments, one does the running light, the other does signals or brakes. The 3 wires to the fixture should only be 2 colors, two grey/red or grey/black and one black/red or black/yellow, the grey one is running lights and pigtails off to the side marker light. Each side's running/parking/side light circuit is on a separate fuse.


https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/wiring/baybus_71_fixed.jpg
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[Everpress]

So, I don't have a side marker light and have been using this from my Haynes:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/wiring/baybus_6869a.jpg

The basics are still there for the brake light, I guess.

I am going to run out and try and see if the ground is bad (as I said, I'll rewire it anyway since it's just a short lead to the body and the old one is old...).

Then I'll reinspect the fuse box and clean up the connections. I will say that I did notice the fuses are... old. Like, "original"-old, but they are also intact and I don't see any evidence of scorching or damaged wires that would lead me to think there was a short or anything... But my electrical knowledge is that of a child - I know that if I touch this while touching that, it probably won't feel good.

I hope it's simple; simple I can do.
_________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1969 Bay Camper
Work in progress…

[kreemoweet]

[Everpress]

Well, I don’t think my bus’s old wiring is different or modified here. I think maybe I haven’t been clear and a picture is worth a thousand or more of my words.

In the picture, the top wire is black with a red stripe.

The bottom is a grey with a red stripe and a red/grey candy-cane like wire.
It does f*ck all at this point besides piss me off.
_________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1969 Bay Camper
Work in progress…

[busdaddy]

Looks just like the diagram, but why aren't they plugged on to the terminals on the fixture?, or do you have one of those shitty India made tail lights with the red and green pigtails and rust on the trim ring right out of the box?

While you have the camera out take a picture of the fuses all removed from the fuse box and the cleaning work you've done, or haven't you done that yet?
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[Everpress]

It's not plugged in because in my adventures, I started blowing fuses and ran out. (8 amp, 4th from the right).

I ordered 100 crappy ones from Amazon that got here a couple of minutes ago. But I was putting a fresh coat of fiberglass on the camper top - before running out of that too.

Also, it is an original tail light. It is in absolutely terrible shape, but it is better than a cheap copy... or it will be once I figure out where I am missing power.

While I was looking at the diagram, I saw that the lower (in the picture) connected wires go to the license plate light, which also wasn't working. The PO used self-tapping screws that rusted tight. So I drilled those out and found the light had been disconnected and a small LED strip was connected instead. After cleaning the original light's terminals I put an LED light in and tried it out. No dice. I tried my test light setup and no juice. And no juice at the tail light.

So I guess somewhere upstream is messed up... I guess while I am spending time blowing fuses tomorrow, I might as well add "clean the fuse box" to the list!

So tomorrow is "grab more fiberglass and blow a bunch of fuses until I can track down why" day.

As far as cleaning the fuse box, I started that job and that's when I noticed the blown fuse and proceeded to blow a couple more.

The thing is, I have done a ton so far and I am making progress and am happy with what all has gone right. I feel like I am at the point where it is smaller stuff and work that I am making for myself.
_________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1969 Bay Camper
Work in progress…

[busdaddy]

Well fuse #7 is the one for that light as well as the liscence plate, if it blows with everything disconnected the issue must be further upstream, or could that janky liscense light be the problem?

Telford suggests a sealed beam headlight bulb for fuse gobbling shorts, connect it in series with the fuse terminals and start fiddling, if the lamp lights the fuse would have blown, if it remains dark and the tail light works you win!
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