'78 80 (Fox): battery light stays on

[Tom Nas]

Hi all,

I've spent last Saturday cleaning and fixing the '78 80 GLS I bought last 
week. It turned out pretty nicely, the dents were easily pushed out and the 
little patches of surface rust were easily tidied up. After charging the 
nearly-new Varta battery that came with the car, it now starts first time 
and runs great. 74,775 km in 23 years, that's some 3,600 km p/annum. 
Registration papers say I'm the third owner, first was a gent in 
Duesseldorf (himself being built in 1911) who bought it new 3/78 and who 
sold it to someone else in 10/97.
A couple of strange things though- when you connect the battery, the 
battery light on the dash comes on and stays on until you turn the key in 
the ignition to start it. It charges fine, so does anyone know what could 
cause this?
Also, the turn signals are dead (but hazard warning lights work fine) and 
the heater blower doesn't. I've examined and cleaned the old-style ceramic 
fuses and the fusebox, no dice. Anyone able to help?
It doesn't help that the car didn't come with an owner's manual and the 
oldest workshop manual I have access to deals with the next generation 80 
which came out in 1979. I'll be scouring the swapmeet later this month, but 
I'm pretty sure it will be hard to find a manual.
The final comment might make the car a parts car only (which is what it was 
intended to be, but it seems a shame to tear into a rust-free rare car with 
such a low mileage)- the autobox works great but it howls like mad. Sounds 
like it's low on oil, but there might be another explanation.

Any (former) Fox/type 82 80 owners care to comment?

TIA!

Regards, Tom
1987 90q type 89, 180k km
1987 80 type 89, 264k km
1978 80 GLS aut type 82, 74k km (no turbo, no quattro, glad it's got 
two-speed wipers and H4 lights!)
:-)
all with pics in the Audifans Registry, more pics available for the perverse