Mk1 no tail lights with new switch

[alex17young]

Hey folks, here's the deal. My headlights quit working with my original headlight switch. I bought a switch from napa for a mopar or AMC, same plug, direct fit, yada yada. A co worker told me the other morning I didn't have any tail lights. It had parking lights with the switch pulled to the first position, when it is pulled out to turn the headlights on the tail lights go off! I tried a second Napa switch today, same thing. With the original switch my tail lights work perfectly fine just no headlights. Any ideas what to try next? Guess the mopar part isn't exactly the same after all!

[ORCoaster]

Take it back.  Obviously not a compatible one so why buy it.  Sounds like it is set up to drop the voltage off those connections in favor of headlights.  I know my headlights don't come on if the switch is all the way out and the engine is not on.  But the parking lights are on all the time.  Key or no key, running or not. 

Dangerous to not have so go shopping online for the right one.

[fatmobile]

That's why people relay the headlights.
 I'd suggest a good used switch and headlight relays.

[ORCoaster]

I found some very nice relays for 5 a peice a while back and bought like 5 of them.  Still have a couple spares if you care to go that route.  I did notice brighter lights afterwards so I know I wasn't getting good voltage at the bulbs the way is was set up stock.  May have been an engineering mistake or the fact that headlights jumped in wattage after the fact.

PM for relays. 

[alex17young]

I've searched high and low using the VW part number with no luck. I did notice brighter headlights with the new switch. I need a link for this relaying, I'm a terrible electrician. Maybe I can splice my harness up to get something to work.

[damac]

You are going to have to get dirty and trace your leads out from you fusebox.

Crazy things can happen all of a sudden on these old chasis, especially if you have had one leak water through windshield onto the fusebox.  I had a jetta that was so bad the relays filled up with water and corroded.  Car decided when to work the lights, etc.   When I pulled the relays out they were rust buckets and crumbled in my hands.

You never know what some old owner might have hacked into the wiring harness as well.  Lost count of how many damn times I see wires cut to put in a stereo.

I would trace your issues first.  I do the headlight relay to all my cars because it helps.  You can make a standalone harness without cuts in the original harness.  Just keep track of how you will route conduit and how long wires should be, leave some extra.  When time comes its easy to lay piece out on ground in front of car before soldering leads up.

[fatmobile]

 I'm not sure you can get a new switch.
 That's why I suggested a used one.

[alex17young]

The new switch is impossible to find. I decided to take out all my relays out of my fuse box and stick them back in, then my headlights started working with my original switch! Only one or two had a little surface rust on the prongs, so I stuck some di electric on everything and its been working good. I'd still like to research this relaying the headlights though, no idea what that means still.

[ORCoaster]

Relaying the headlights is a way to substitute the heavy draw of the head lights them selves on the switch to a relay that is really built to handle it.  You are wiring in a way for the big current draw to go through another switching method that is properly built for the job.

If you have a relay you are wiring in a positive source of voltage from the battery through a fuse to one side of the relay.  There is the ground there to complete the circuit.  You take the wire that is normally feeding positive voltage to the headlamp and wire that to the low power side of the relay. 

That pulls in on a set of contacts that closes the circuit that passes voltage from the battery to the headlights.  There is no big current draw now like before, and the bonus is that going from the battery to the light is cleaner so you are not loosing any power to the light.  Thus it burns a little brighter. 

That means you can now wear shades at night as you have already trained you eyes to see well enough to drive with 8 volts going to the headlamps instead of 12.  Actually it isn't that much, but I noticed a difference and I drive some really dark roads around here. 

[RustyCaddy]

Here is something of a DYI for upgrading the headlights using a relay:

http://www.4crawler.com/Diesel/CheapTricks/Headlights.shtml#OnLineOrdering

He sells the parts if you don't want to put the assembly together yourself.

i upgraded with a home made harness...now the low beam is really bright (the high beam is amazingly bright)

[southernman]

Alex, can't confirm the similarity of the headlight switch between Mopar and VW, but I just bought my new headlight switch from Rockauto.

Try this link if you're still looking, or simply google "headlight switch + your year, make and model". Took me right to RA parts and there are two "grades" to select from.

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php?carcode=1367771&parttype=4472

The other place is http://www.partsplaceinc.com/products/search-results.aspx?page=11 and, though it may not be listed, Jack carries huge inventory. It would be worth a call if RA is OOS.

Also, according to my diagram, the tail lamps are the only lights controlled by the headlight switch. Terminal 6 on the headlamp switch feeds tail and running light ONLY.

The brake lights are fed from a separate circuit where brake lights and emergency flashers share a 15 amp fuse according to my diagram... If your flashers aren't working either, I'd check the fuse panel first... The wiring diagram shows the brake lights/flashers fed from 30-1, and all 30 circuits are fed directly from the battery, which is why brake lights and E-flashers work with the IGN switch OFF...

S

[alex17young]

Thanks for the all advice guys. I've been having the same problems lately. I have a new switch in the mail and will be relaying this time.