Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 00:13:23 -0600
Reply-To: Scott Hall <ictalurus@WESTAL.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Hall <ictalurus@WESTAL.NET>
Subject: FW: In the dark
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
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From: Scott Hall[SMTP:ictalurus@westal.net]
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 1999 11:51 PM
To: 'WLafrades@AOL.COM'
Subject: RE: In the dark
Willie
I have had problems with the lights on my '86 Westy. They tend to heat up if the high beams are used for very long. I have replaced some of the wiring that looked like it had been degraded by heat. I am currently looking for a bad connection to ground in the system. This problem has ruined 2 headlight switches. I recently repaired one. It seems the heat caused the contacts to melt in the switch. I carefully dismantled the old switch. It has 3 seperate circuits in it. The headlight circuit had melted the plastic just a tad.
This prevented the spring loaded contact from pushing against the contacts for the wires running to the headlights. I little scraping of plastic and WD-40 cured the ill. The switch works.
The guts of the switch are thus:
Prying open the back you will find a plastic "slider" that moves when you flick the switch. This slider rides atop a steel BB sized bearing. The slider has 3 spring loaded contacts. These slide over and complete the circuits for headlights and running lights and/or tail lights. The variable resistor inside the switch is nothing more than a spool of wire that a contact slides across to dim the panel lights. On dim, the panel light fader contact is over to one side, forcing the current to travel farther to reach the contact. I guess this degrades the current and dims the lights.
Please forgive the lack of proper technical terms. I know this sounds confusing. But the point is the light switches are repairable to a degree. At the least, a new switch might fix it all. However, something has caused the "burning smell." This was probably the wires burning up. You have got to find the cause or it will melt your new switch. A similar problem left me with no headlights on a dark country road, recently. I popped off the dashboard instruments cover and pulled out the light switch, still plugged to the wires. I used some extra wire to bridge the gap between the wires for headlights. On my '86, the are the larger wires and are black/yellow and black/white. I kept the lights on dim and made it home.
Good Luck,
Dan Hall
'86Westy
Alabama
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From: Willie T. Lafrades[SMTP:WLafrades@AOL.COM]
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 1999 10:44 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: In the dark
Hi all,
Went to start the van the other day and smelled something electrical burning.
Once started I noticed that I had no dashlights so I figured I had blown a
fuse. I checked the fuses once I got home and found none bad. All dash
lights are out (speedo, tach, heater controls and lighter).
I recently had shoulder surgery so I haven't been able to troubleshoot the
problem but I'm guessing it could be the dimmer pot or light switch. Any
suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Willie
90 GL
BTW all other lights (interior and exterior) work fine.
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