Date:         Sat, 15 Jul 2000 11:48:50 -0700
Reply-To:     Brent Christensen <brent@vanagon.com>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Brent Christensen <brent@vanagon.com>
Subject:      One headlight goes out with high beams - SOLVED!
Comments: cc: David Beierl <dbeierl@ibm.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Well, another Electrical Problem Guru award goes out to Listmember David
Beierl...

Last weekend I had a weird problem with a low beam headlight that would go
out when the high beams were switched on (in addition to the high beam on
that side not lighting).  After spending about an hour tracing wires,
checking grounds, and poring over the Bentley's wiring diagrams, I posted
the quandary to the List.

I received a bunch of great responses that varied from replacing the
ignition switch to faulty connections to the fuse box.  Well, with nothing
more than a brief description of the problem, David gave me a concise list
of potential problems, along with an analysis of why each could be a
problem.

#1 - Bad ground to the headlight assembly.  This was mentioned by several
other list members, too and was my personal suspicion of the problem.  A bit
more time-consuming to check, so I skipped it and went to #2 on David's
list, which was easier to check.

#2 - Bad S10 (fuse)

Guess what - IT WAS A BAD FUSE!!!   :-)

Funny thing, though - I could look at the fuse (OEM VW "open" fuse) with a
loupe, and not see *any* problem with it.  However, this time I tested it
with an ohmmeter, and guess what - open!

I replaced the s10 fuse and Voila!  the lights now work again.

Another crisis averted through genius.

Thanks David!!

Brent Christensen
'89 GL Syncro Westy "Klaus"
Santa Barbara, CA