[Vwdiesel] headlight switch

Wed Mar 20 10:45:52 PDT 2013

Yes.  Relays. Very important.
Couldn't possibly stress that enough.  Imagine this...  rather spiritedly
driving a winding mountain road in winter on the way to go skiing in an 82
Jetta na at 1 am, 2 hours from destination, late as usual.  Headlight switch
starts to pour smoke just as the headlights go out.  Okay, spirited driving,
and 82 na jetta don't really go together in the same sentence, but there was
some downhill involved, and it was pitch black, you could be going 25mph at
night in the mountains it's spirited when the lights turn off.   good thing
the park lights are strong.  
Anyway, the problem is the connections to everything get poor, especially on
the back of the fuse panel where the big main harness jacks plug in the
back, and worse if you have the water leaky windshield gasket.  To save
melting not just your switch because of the increased load associated with
voltage drop from poor connections at the fuse panel, but to keep the whole
damn fuse panel from going foof, relays at the headlights are critical in an
A1, or A2.  You can use silicone and build a dam to keep water from running
over the sheetmetal and running directly onto the fuse panel, avoiding the
virtual guarantee that the glow plug relay will get filled with water, among
others, and oxidize the spade plug-ins.  If you already know you have a
leak, check and clean, and dielectric grease the higher load plugs on the
rear of the fuse/relay panel.  don't forget to disconnect the battery first
before pulling the fuse panel outward in case a wire snaps or bares a
brittle wire.

If you do not understand relays and circuits to build your own, Roger builds
a fine plug and play relay harness kit for a very reasonable price out of
quality pieces, and is a good avenue to take. You will be astounded how much
brighter your headlights will be too, and you can then up the high beam
wattage.  I can attest that a 90 amp alternator will handle 600watts of
headlights over a long service life, and you get to miss out on the hitting
the deer part after that... the heat drives them away maybe.

I've seen one glowing red dash light rheostat in a scirocco.  The owner had
meticulously organized the underdash wiring so very neatly, including a dead
short where the dash backlight circuit wire had gotten pushed between the
two posts of a ground point to keep it neat, and the spade connectors rubbed
it through.  Didn't draw enough current to pop the over-rated fuse that had
been put in place after the previous one burned out from some mysterious
reason (heh), but enough to turn the rheostat into a hot plate element. THAT
was weird, I would have expected to see the fuse fail more easily.  I've
used a lot of circuit breakers since, as they have a low threshold for dead
shorts, less so than a fuse it seems.
-james

-----Original Message-----
From: vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com [mailto:vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com] On
Behalf Of Erik Lane
Sent: March-18-13 10:58 PM
To: Scott Alexander
Cc: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] headlight switch

Yeah, I've had pretty good luck with both Autozone stocked parts as well as
the prices. They have a pretty good return policy, too, at least where I
live.

The suggestion about putting in some relays to run your headlights off of is
also a good one. I did that and noticed a large improvement in how bright my
headlights are. It would also reduce the wear on your switch. I had a small
issue with my switch, but a larger one with my fuse panel. I liked getting
the high draw out of that area completely. (I have a small water leak from
the windshield area that doesn't help things.)

Erik

On Mon, Mar 18, 2013 at 8:45 PM, Scott Alexander <salex at dsalex.org> wrote:

> Thanks.  I'll need to add Autozone to my usual list of places to check.
>  Not only did they have the headlight switch, but they also have the 
> wiper pump that I'd given up on finding.  It looks like I should have 
> the switch in a week or so.
>
> Thanks,
> Scott
>
> On Mar 18, 2013, at 10:13 PM, Erik Lane <eriklane at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> It looks like Autozone has one:
>
>
> http://www.autozone.com/autozone/parts/1982-Volkswagen-Rabbit/Headligh
> t-Switch/_/N-ilfdtZ9ciaj
>
> On Mon, Mar 18, 2013 at 7:02 PM, Bryan Belman
<dieselwesty at yahoo.com>wrote:
>
>> I have a good used A2 headlight switch, but I think you need a rabbit 
>> switch or A1.  Maybe a vanagon switch would work.  should be easy to 
>> find one on e-bay or thesamba.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Bryan Belman, Pt. Pleasant, NJ
>> 04 Jetta Wagon TDI PD, 100hp, 5sp -- running :<)
>> 04 Golf TDI PD, 100hp, 5sp Tiptronic Auto -- running :<)
>> 82 Diesel Westy 1.9NA -- running :<)
>> 70 Type 1 stock Elm Green Beetle -- Under Restoration :-)
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
>>  From: Scott Alexander <salex at dsalex.org>
>> To: "vwdiesel at vwfans.com" <vwdiesel at vwfans.com>
>> Sent: Monday, March 18, 2013 9:17 PM
>> Subject: [Vwdiesel] headlight switch
>>
>> 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
>>
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>
>
>
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