Date: Thu, 7 Sep 2006 10:15:50 -0400
Reply-To: Helmut Blong <helmut.blong@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Helmut Blong <helmut.blong@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Fwd: [VANAGON] algebra-impaired
In-Reply-To: <015b01c6d235$520bc300$8a5e9904@gpa207joel>
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now, the trick is the other end of that ground!!
yes, it is a trick. I can't figure out what the ground is for this circuit.
I think it is 30 but it is not crystal clear to me.
on the always-on ground, the brown wire (german cars ALWAYS use brown
as the ground wire. they call it "earth" like the british do, or
Erdung. and that one usually works ok. might get dirty, but that means
the light does NOT work sometimes.
the other one is ground by a little dippy really cheap crappy "switch"
in the front door jams, and also on the front pillar of the sliding
door. i mean, these are REALLY cheap crappy switches. there's another
one at the rear hatch (bottom ledge of the opening) and they also use
it under the parking brake handle to turn on/off the brake warning
light.
anyway, what happens over the years is that the switch gets bent.
literally. it'll smush sideways kinda and will not let off ... stays
always connected. and when it does, you've got TWO always-on grounds
from the light.
so first thing, go around and find each switch and remove the little
phillips screw, and check the condition of the switch. at least one of
them is smushed. :(
Are you saying that all of the interior lights are on the same circuit and
that one faulty switch could be causing the condition? I thought I noted
that the front and rear lights are on different circuits...BTW, with the
criver door, I did manage to get the light to switch off momentarily. In
fact, I thought I had cured it just my pressing down connections on the back
of the fuse panel. It was momentary though and I could not replicate it. I
also noticed that witht the door closed, if I rocked the van, it would
momentarily switch off, a fact that leads me to believe that it is just a
loose or broken wire or connection. I cannot replicate that condition now
however.
I put the seatbelt warning unit back in and it had no effect nor did it
sound a warning, FWIW.
> have the LCD clock malfunction relative to the ignition switch. Does
> this
> seem logical? Am I missing something? If your opinion is that it is
> ignition
> sw. related, do you suspect that it is a broken or loose connection
> in the
> switch or a switch/circuit ground issue? Is it possible that the
> seatbelt
> warning unit is interrupting this circuit?
the clock, i think is a separate issue. if the previous owner was
dorking around with the fuse box, it's highly likely that he moved
something he should not. the clock has a visible-face power circuit
(different from the keeping-time power circuit), and if that circuit
is getting non-switched power (from a terminal on the backside of the
fuse box), it'll stay on no matter what. so you may want to trace the
actual wire from the clock and see where it goes, then with a volt-ohm
meter check if that terminal is always 12 volts or 12 volts only when
the ignition key is on. the backside of the fuse box has both ... and
some are empty. useful for wiring up radios and such.
Good tips, thanks. It is quite a snarl behind the fuse panel. I am reluctant
to pull the thing out too much for fear of disconnecting something. I did
locate three gang-ground fixtures up behind the fuse panel. All seem secure
to the body and all spade-type terminals are secure as well. So, I am
disinclined to think it's related to those grounds.
With regard to ground straps, is there a good reason that braided copper is
used rather than solid copper, insulated wire? The ground strap from my left
cylinder head is secure but covered in a light verdegris. I do intend to
renew all the grounds (if I can find them) but I wonder if corrosion on the
bare copper straps is of more or less concern than the quality of
connections to bare metal.
As far as the overhead lights go, a bad ground usually means the light will
not come on in one of the switch positions. The door switches interupt the
ground, thus turning off the lights, so it sounds like those grounds have
been bypassed.
Dave
Thanks, Dave and Joel. Solid info providing a bit more clarity.