Vanagon EuroVan
Previous messageNext messagePrevious in topicNext in topicPrevious by same authorNext by same authorPrevious page (September 2006, week 1)Back to main VANAGON pageJoin or leave VANAGON (or change settings)ReplyPost a new messageSearchProportional fontNon-proportional font
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>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

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.


Back to: Top of message | Previous page | Main VANAGON page

Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!


Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com


The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.

Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.