Date: Mon, 9 May 2005 22:38:27 -0400
Reply-To: Dennis Haynes <dhaynes@OPTONLINE.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dennis Haynes <dhaynes@OPTONLINE.NET>
Subject: =?US-ASCII?Q?RE:_No_headlights_-_high_beam_indicator_stays_on_-_relay_upg?=
=?US-ASCII?Q?rade_installed?=
In-Reply-To: <b7a8313c050509185314487281@mail.gmail.com>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Check the headlight ground connection. It is located above the fuse box,
high, on a start adapter. It is known for loosening and burning up. The
headlights are trying to ground through the high beam indicator. A better
fix is to ground the lights directly behind each unit.
Dennis
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Preston Grimes
Sent: Monday, May 09, 2005 9:53 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: No headlights - high beam indicator stays on - relay upgrade
installed
I installed the relay upgrade kit about two years ago in my 87
Westfalia with much improved night time driving results. Recently,
however, the low beams stopped working.
After disconnecting the main battery ground and examining the fuse
block, focusing on the upgraded relays, I found that the brown
(ground) wire on the left relay holder was hanging on by a couple of
copper threads. Not sure how that happened, but at least, I thought,
this would be a relatively easy fix..
After reattaching and securing the ground wire to the connector in the
relay holder, I put everything back in place expecting some gratifying
moments of headlight testing.
"Expectations dashed" was more like it.
Now BOTH the low and high beams do not work. The blue high beam
indicator light comes on and stays on whenever I activate the
headlight switch and without regard to the position of the "dimmer"
switch on the turn signal stalk. No amount of clicking the headlight
dimmer causes the blue light to go out. The fuses are good.
As usual when I attempt to solve on of these perplexing Vanagon
issues, I checked the archives. In summary: two Vanagon owners in the
past solved the exact same problem, presumably minus the relay upgrade
since that was not specifically mentioned by either, by cleaning up
the headlight grounds. The headlight system is apparently trying to
ground itself through the circuit that causes the blue high beam
indicator light to illuminate. Ok, that sounds plausible.
Unfortunately, my attempts to clean the grounds did not work. See the
note below for the details.
I happened to have some salvaged 40 Amp VW relays with the 30/85/86/87
numbers in my tool bag, so I tried those in place of the ones that
came with the upgrade package. No change. No headlights lights; just
the blue high beam indicator light on the dash.
The next two possibilities are the headlight switch itself, though I
suppose this should not have fried with the relays in place, and
something called the "ignition switch" according to the archives.
I know that someone reading this message has a deep understanding of
the late Vanagon headlight system. What should I try next? I have a
voltmeter, so I can do some testing. Oh, by the way, I have a set of
projektwzo fog lights with a separate switch on the dash too. These
don't work either now but worked perfectly prior to the low beams
going out.
Note: to clean the grounds, I removed all the connections from the
front grounding cluster just above the fuse box, removed the cluster
itself, and used some fine sandpaper on both sides of each prong. As I
sanded, the color of the grounding prong changed from light gold to
brushed silver. In my inexpert opinion, the grounds are quite clean.
The female wire connectors I did not clean, as they did not appear
dirty. Is this right? Can anyone suggest any other methods to try?
Thanks.
