Date:         Fri, 21 Dec 2001 18:21:45 -0800
Reply-To:     developtrust <developtrust@HOME.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         developtrust <developtrust@HOME.COM>
Subject:      Mystery wiring problems
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

After I had my automatic power antenna installed by Tweeters a few weeks ago
I discovered that my one million candle lights did not work when I showed
them to a friend a couple of weeks later.

The technician worked with me to discover the problem. First the LED light
on the switch did not come on. A ground wire was not hooked up & was
apparently not screwed back in. He lengthened the ground wire to make it
more manageable and grounded it to one of the fuse box mounting screws.
Lights would still not work.

Next we checked the fuse box. Not related to the problem but the technician
did not like the jury rigged wires stuck between the fuses so he permanently
rewired them to the back of the fuse box to appropriate wires with easy
on/off connectors.

Next checked the 1-mil candlelights relay. Seemed to work but corroded so he
replaced it to determine the problem via process of elimination. Lights
still did not work.

Next checked the lights themselves. The ground via being hooked up to the
bumper did not ground out. So the technician ran a new ground from both
lights up behind the lower grill to a ground screw to the body.

Having the lights on for over 20 minutes while problem solving the battery
was dead. We hooked up a jumper, started the van up, and all lights worked
great. Problem solved and seemed to be merely a faulty ground wire at the
bumper.

A week earlier I took those lights apart to paint the black housing with new
paint. Perhaps between me and the corrosion over the years the ground was
broken. Such a simple thing to cause a light system to not work at all.

The biggest mystery of all and after over one hour of tracking that problem
down, a new relay new wire connections, (and even though I may have
inadvertently caused the ground to become faulty by repainting my light
housing) there was no charge for all that work.

My hat is off to Tweeters technician in Encinitas.

William Polowniak
Vanagon site http://members.home.net/holisticdream/vanagon1989.htm