[Vwdiesel] headlight switch

[Scott Alexander]

Well, I've finally been in town long enough to swap the old vacuum pump into my Rabbit.  With that, the oil pressure is fine.  Now that it's not in the parking lot at work, I plan to get a friend to help with doing some swaps and some pressure readings to characterize that a bit more closely.

In the meanwhile, I've had a problem recently where the dash lights are finicky.  While driving home today, I got the smell of something electrical cooking.  After a bit, I noticed a glow coming from the back of the headlight switch.  (My dashboard is only partially assembled, so I can see the back side of the headlight switch.)  Turning the switch as though I was dimming the dash lights caused the glow to go away, but it was back by the time I was home.

Is this something likely to be repairable?  If not, is there a workaround that allows me to have headlights without stray electrons warming the back of the dash?

In a quick search of my usual places, I didn't see headlight switches available.  Any suggestions for a source before I start scouring ebay?  Does someone have a spare that they would be willing to sell?

Thanks,
Scott Alexander
Warren, NJ 
'82 Rabbit Diesel