Date:         Wed, 17 Apr 1996 09:19:26 -0400 (EDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         John Breitenbach <bbach@cnct.com>
Subject:      Electrical weirdness on '74 bus


Hello all,

Well, put the new exhaust on the '74 Safare this weekend, but now 
need to work on the electrical system to make her street legal.  
If I can get this working by the weekend, there's an outside 
chance I could make the Pennsylvania trip!  

I've got odd things (odd by normal standards, not necessarily 
by VW standards) happening with the rear lights.  I was wondering 
if anyone's seen anything like this on their bus:

- When I started, both brake lights ok w/ headlights off
- With headlights on passenger tail and brake lights worked intermittently
- Changed tail/brake light bulb on passenger side
- Now both tail lights on all the time - headlights on or off
- Brake lights work (with tail lights on all the time)
- While checking all this, rear passenger turn signal went south
- Swapped rear passenger turn bulb w/ backup light
- Turn signals now ok, backup lights out (bad bulb)

Some other observations:  The fuse box has lots of rust on the
contacts - I plan to clean that up next.  One fuse is blown, although
I have no idea what it's for.  I tried swapping it with another 
one to see if it had any effect, but it did nothing.  

Once I get the exterior lights working, I've got to get the 
interior lights going (no dash lights).  Does anyone know where
I can get a copy of the schematics for a '74 bus?  I've given 
some thought to running a whole new harness from front to back,
anyone ever attempt this?

That's all for now, thanks in advance for any help.

John Breitenbach (bbach@cnct.com)
'74 Safare Custom Camper