Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2000 21:17:38 -0800
Reply-To: David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
Subject: Re: Have you worked on a headlight switch?
In-Reply-To: <20000330155546.89062.qmail@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
$0.25 says it is the headlight switch - pre 1980 Rabbit / Scirocco / Audi
Fox switches are the same. New switches are $30 CAD / $20 USD if you want
to get one from me.
At 03:55 PM 30/03/2000 GMT, Mike Finkbiner wrote:
>Volks -
>
>The headlights on my '87 Westy stopped working. I can flash the high beams
>with the stalk, but lows don't work at all. The fuses are OK. Thw switch
>feels fine
>
>I checked the archives and found that the headlight switch and ignition
>switch are the two most likely sources of the problem, so I pulled the
>headlight switch and jumped across the connections. With jumper wires in
>place, the lights work. Interestingly enough, they work even with the
>ignition off. Previously, when I turned the ignition off, the parking
>lights stayed on, but the headlights turned off. There must be something
>else going on that I'm not aware of.
>
>At any rate, on the back of the switch are six pins, four small, two large,
>like this -
>
> a E
>
>
> b c F
>
> d
>
>Looks like a and b is where power comes in, c is for the parking lights, d
>is for the rheostat, and the large pins E and F are for the headlights.
>
>With the switch off, a - c or a - E does not have continuity. With the
>switch in the middle position, a - c has continuity but not a - E. In the
>left (all on) position a - c works, and a - E is still dead. That's what I
>expected to see if the switch was defective.
>
>There were postings about fixing the switch and it looked like it had been
>taken apart before, so I pulled the back off, expecting to see problems.
>Everything looks good! One of the headlight contacts was a bit dirty, so I
>cleaned it and reassembled, but still had the same results.
>
>Am I overlooking something? Should I just spend the $50 and buy a new
>switch?
>
>- Mike Finkbiner
>'87 Westy
>Moscow, ID
>______________________________________________________
>Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
>
>
-- David Marshall - - Quesnel, BC, Canada --
-- 78 VW Rabbit, 80 VW Caddy, 84 VW Westie, 85 VW Cabriolet --
-- 87 Audi 5000 Quattro, 88 2.0L VW Syncro Double Cab --
-- David's Volkswagen Home Page http://www.volkswagen.org --
-- Fast Forward Autobahn Sport Tuning http://www.fastforward.ca --
-- david@volkswagen.org (pmail) or vanagon@volkswagen.org (list) --
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