Date:         Sat, 4 Dec 2010 12:07:04 -0500
Reply-To:     David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Subject:      Re: No brake lights
Comments: To: David M <covrambles@YAHOO.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <552165.11162.qm@web33604.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

At 10:30 PM 12/3/2010, David M wrote:
>I have no brake lights. I checked the fuse and the bulbs. Both good.
>What next? I looked in my Haynes and Bentley and no information on
>how the brake lights work other than a wiring diagram showing a 'switch'.

Get your test light or voltmeter and a twelve-year-old.

Start by seeing if your backup lights work both sides.  If so then
the grounds from the light assemblies to chassis are ok.

Move to the front and check at the switches on the brake master
cylinder, if they're reachable -- pretty sure they are.  You should
have constant voltage on the red/yellow side of each switch, and
voltage on the red/black side when your assistant stands on the brakes.

Or you can make the same check at connector T2g, double, under the
dash if it's reachable.  Either way if good there, go to the wiring
box on the forward engine-room bulkhead and locate the black/red wire
on pin three of a seven-pin connector.  If voltage is good both sides
of that, check at the 54 terminal (double black/red wire, don't know
how it's marked) of the leftside taillight assy.

If you have good voltage to that point and no lights, then you're
pretty much left with bad bulbs or bad contact, probably between the
bayonet pins on the bulb shell and the steel socket.  The fact of
both being bad, though, suggests a problem farther up the line.

If you follow along what I've done on the diagram on 97.114 tracks
125-129 and on 94.6, 97.4-5 and 97.103 you'll be able to do the same
for similar problems without assistance next time.

Yours,
David