[Vwdiesel] alt light not working/stoplight problem

[Erik Lane]

see below - 
--- Hayden Chasteen <dieseltdi at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Now that the truck is actually working, I am working
> out all of the 
> various small bugs that you always find...oil leaks,
> coolant leaks, 
> etc.  Anyway, I have noticed that I get NO alt light
> at all.  I thought 
> at first that it was a bad instrument "light" so I
> bought some new ones 
> at the dealer and replaced all of them.  Still no
> light.  I removed the 
> plug and carefully sanded and cleaned the three
> female plugs, put it 
> back together, still no light. BTW it is a new
> alternator and the 
> battery is charging like normal.  So, what do I look
> for?  I have 
> considered just running it like it is but with out a
> warning light, I 
> could throw a belt and not know it.  I also have a
> weird problem with 
> the passenger side stop/running light.  Each works
> independently but if 
> the running lights are on and then you step on the
> brake then the 
> running light goes out and you get no light at all. 
> I plan on pulling 
> the socket and see if there is a cross short between
> the two wires some 
> how.  Any ideas would be helpful here also.  Hayden


that sounds like you have a bad ground. when only one
of the filaments has power it can use the other
filament as a substitute for the real ground. (seems
these light circuits are either connected to power or
ground, not just disconnected from everything. so the
one that isn't turned on is actually providing the
return path for the electric current.) so it might be
kinda dim cause there's the dual resistance of both
elements. but if there is positive being supplied to
both of the elements on the inputs and no ground then
there's no return path for the electricity - no
current = no light. try cleaning everything very well,
but sometimes the bulb is not salvageable, i don't
really know why.

good luck!
erik

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