Back to the experts (electrical)

[fdnyguy]

Ok, the latest scoop is the guy is having trouble with wiring on the 89. He is meticulous, but I haven't seen the wiring (and wouldn't understand it anyway), it seems that when the blower switch goes on, it is blowing a fuse. Seems at times the reverse lights are blowing fuses as well. Might be related, I will edit this later on today when I get into work and show my Boss. He can then relay (no pun intended)the info to the guy at his shop where he works p/t.

I don't doubt this guy's abilities, and he does have the Bentley book I bought, but any shortcuts/ suggestions to make it easier? He will hopefully be installing the LED's in the dash as well. As usual, very much appreciated.

As of 01/09/12 it is blowing fuses for the A/C AND reverse lights....

[vanbcguy]

9 times out of 10 fuses blowing is a result of damage to the harness somewhere.  It is possible for it to be related to water getting in to the fuse panel though 12V doesn't really have the juice to pull enough current to short things out to that degree.

Sometimes a short will burn the insulation off a wire plus take out a few of its neighbours.  Then you get all kinds of weird problems like my truck, where one speaker would stop working whenever you opened the passenger door.  Otherwise unrelated circuits blowing fuses is often caused by something like this.  Other possibilities is the wiring harness rubbing against a sharp metal edge somewhere (though factory routing usually takes care of this), or PO hack and slash wiring techniques.

I _HATE_ wiring harness problems.  On a lot of vehicles a new harness is a few hundred dollars, haven't looked for VW.  If I ever had a troublesome harness and already had the vehicle mostly apart I'd probably start over but that's totally not necessary in most cases unless the damage is really bad.  Quite often there are a few spare wires in the harness (especially with VW) though you really do need to know what you're doing before you start messing around too much that way.

[fdnyguy]

Hey, thanks for the reply.Hopefully it won't be a nightmare, but we all know about VW's and their electrical issues.

Do you know of any websites to find new hiring harnesses? I'll look for the VW stock. While both these guys are competent mechanics, I always figure why not ask guys that live and breathe VW and VW diesels, and more than likely know them inside and out? Even though sometimes what I asked about was not the problem, the knowledge on this site with the VW diesel engine still abounds me to this day. A toast to you all 

Thanks, I printed your reply and hope I dont insult him......

Styay safe, stay well. Jimmy.