Re: [EVDL] O.T.: VW Rabbit relay plate problem vis-a-vis headlights
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chuck Hursch" <[email protected]>
To: "EVDL post" <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2007 3:58 AM
Subject: [EVDL] O.T.: VW Rabbit relay plate problem vis-a-vis headlights
>I consider this an off-thread issue, eventhough it has to do with
> my electric Rabbit. I thought maybe some of the Rabbit gurus
> would have dealt with the relay plate under the dash - that box
> that has the fuses in the front. I've had my headlight scene
> working fairly well for the last year or so now, once I found the
> mis-wired connector that was going over to the pass-side
> headlight and causing a number of strange behaviors since the
> conversion in '94. However, when I returned to my evening job a
> few weeks ago after vacation, at the end of the shift I flipped
> on the headlights and got only one low beam. Bah, humbug! I
> thought burnt-out headlamp, although only 1.25 years old.
> Driver's side. Drive on the high-beams, which are fine. Screwed
> around with this about a week ago - headlight is ok. After
> studying the wiring diagram in the Bentley manual, pin E10 in the
> relay plate Ys to both low-beam fuses, and one leg of the Y was
> at infinite resistance (the left one). As I couldn't readily fix
> that problem, I put the relay plate back on its hooks (which
> requires a fair amount of push with the wiring harness and air
> vent hose fighting me). Then I think I had both headlights back
> once I put the fuses in. Removed fuses to check the E10 Y and
> fell into a random problem of losing headlights. The gremlin has
> moved to the connections at the bottom (or outbound downstream)
> side of the fuses. My E10 Y legs are now both good, according to
> the ohmmeter. But it is my pass-side headlight low beam that is
> out now :-( . Almost certainly, I would find an infinite
> resistance in the relay plate. BUT, putting it back up on the
> hooks might change things...
>
> The flipped connector mentioned above may have caused a greater
> than normal current to run on some of these circuits. A symptom
> that I had before I found the flipped connector was the pass-side
> headlight would sometimes take up to ten or fifteen minutes to
> pop on. I believe a welding operation may have been going on in
> the relay plate down through the years.
>
> I can drive high-beam for now, I suppose. The lights aren't all
> that bright, and we have all these glaring XID headlights
> nowadays. Rigging a bypass is not all that hard, although I
> really didn't want to do anymore headlight work till I did my
> long-term project of running full 14V voltage via large-gauge
> wires to better white-light headlamps as Neon John had once
> described. (I'd like to do that to my truck too, where I could
> really use all the light I can get for being up in the mountains
> with those deer and other beasties floating around.)
>
> So anybody been inside one of these relay plates? Are these Ys
> little welded together legs, or what does it look like in there?
> Reliable replacement plates hard to come by? That looks like a
> big wiring job that I could get myself into deep do-do with.
>
> Please reply off-list unless you think maybe the other Rabbit
> conversion owners out there might find this useful. Heck,
> running Rabbits as EVs - they've got lots of issues. (Bob Rice
> comes to mind...
)
>
> Thanks,
> Chuck
>
> Hi Chuck;
The Rabbit wiring gets the above virus, I struggled with the corrosion
issue you described. I would like to have a word with the Krout engineers
who put that godamn fuze setup where it is; You hafta be a contortunist to
get at the damn thing, in the first place, and it is right in the line of
fire, drip wise, when the windshield leaks! ALL Rabbits leak, as do ALL the
damn VW's! Rabbits ,Beatles, Jettas, Us that live where there is weather,
find our VW rides disolving into a dismaying blight of rust and corrosion
inabout 10 years. Back in the bad old daze in CT when you took a VW infor
safety inspection, they would put the car on a lift and the Inspecter would
go under with you and poke holes in your new jewel with a screwdriver!Fender
wells, floor, all the points ya had to weld up, no cheating with Bondo, he
had a magnet to check that!Alota V-Dubs went cheep, around here!But the damn
fuze strip croded out, seems first. Not much help here as I'm going through
Musical Headlites in my 89 Jetta, too. The dims are REALLY dim, only the
left side brights light. You go over a bump and the RS turn signals won't
work awile. I have been told that this is a ground issue? I pulled a
ratsnest of wires out this weakend, got rid of the brain? box, up in the
cowl, drivers' side, trying to sanitize the whole thing. So godamn MUCH
wiring in cars nowadaze! In my pruning I killed the horn, somehow and the
Radio USED to work BEFORE I started in the conversion. The issues I have had
with the car ISN'T my stuff, the stuff I put in the car WORKS well, it's the
damn Jetta electrical disease, AND the out of adjustment SHIFTER setup. I'm
about to admit defeat and drive it down to Jokeswagen and let THEM fix that!
I would love to get the speedo to work, too. Never had an issue with THAT
with any other V-Dub iI have EVer had. cable and head are good, ya chuck the
cable in a drill and run it up and it works. Do the internal drive speedo
gears go bad on VW's?It would be a tranny teardown to fix that? Phooey!Other
than all that the Jetta makes a decent conversion, can sit 4 people as VW
intended, WITH my new coil springs from Coil Spring Specialties, of St
Mary's KS. Ride and height good STOCK VW springs up front. That was
easy!Replaced the blown out struts, had 'er aligned anew, drives fine for a
Led Sled!
Just a few Jokes Wagen Thoughts.
Bob
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> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
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> 11:03 AM
>
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Chuck Hursch" <[email protected]>
To: "EVDL post" <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2007 3:58 AM
Subject: [EVDL] O.T.: VW Rabbit relay plate problem vis-a-vis headlights
>I consider this an off-thread issue, eventhough it has to do with
> my electric Rabbit. I thought maybe some of the Rabbit gurus
> would have dealt with the relay plate under the dash - that box
> that has the fuses in the front. I've had my headlight scene
> working fairly well for the last year or so now, once I found the
> mis-wired connector that was going over to the pass-side
> headlight and causing a number of strange behaviors since the
> conversion in '94. However, when I returned to my evening job a
> few weeks ago after vacation, at the end of the shift I flipped
> on the headlights and got only one low beam. Bah, humbug! I
> thought burnt-out headlamp, although only 1.25 years old.
> Driver's side. Drive on the high-beams, which are fine. Screwed
> around with this about a week ago - headlight is ok. After
> studying the wiring diagram in the Bentley manual, pin E10 in the
> relay plate Ys to both low-beam fuses, and one leg of the Y was
> at infinite resistance (the left one). As I couldn't readily fix
> that problem, I put the relay plate back on its hooks (which
> requires a fair amount of push with the wiring harness and air
> vent hose fighting me). Then I think I had both headlights back
> once I put the fuses in. Removed fuses to check the E10 Y and
> fell into a random problem of losing headlights. The gremlin has
> moved to the connections at the bottom (or outbound downstream)
> side of the fuses. My E10 Y legs are now both good, according to
> the ohmmeter. But it is my pass-side headlight low beam that is
> out now :-( . Almost certainly, I would find an infinite
> resistance in the relay plate. BUT, putting it back up on the
> hooks might change things...
>
> The flipped connector mentioned above may have caused a greater
> than normal current to run on some of these circuits. A symptom
> that I had before I found the flipped connector was the pass-side
> headlight would sometimes take up to ten or fifteen minutes to
> pop on. I believe a welding operation may have been going on in
> the relay plate down through the years.
>
> I can drive high-beam for now, I suppose. The lights aren't all
> that bright, and we have all these glaring XID headlights
> nowadays. Rigging a bypass is not all that hard, although I
> really didn't want to do anymore headlight work till I did my
> long-term project of running full 14V voltage via large-gauge
> wires to better white-light headlamps as Neon John had once
> described. (I'd like to do that to my truck too, where I could
> really use all the light I can get for being up in the mountains
> with those deer and other beasties floating around.)
>
> So anybody been inside one of these relay plates? Are these Ys
> little welded together legs, or what does it look like in there?
> Reliable replacement plates hard to come by? That looks like a
> big wiring job that I could get myself into deep do-do with.
>
> Please reply off-list unless you think maybe the other Rabbit
> conversion owners out there might find this useful. Heck,
> running Rabbits as EVs - they've got lots of issues. (Bob Rice
> comes to mind...
)>
> Thanks,
> Chuck
>
> Hi Chuck;
The Rabbit wiring gets the above virus, I struggled with the corrosion
issue you described. I would like to have a word with the Krout engineers
who put that godamn fuze setup where it is; You hafta be a contortunist to
get at the damn thing, in the first place, and it is right in the line of
fire, drip wise, when the windshield leaks! ALL Rabbits leak, as do ALL the
damn VW's! Rabbits ,Beatles, Jettas, Us that live where there is weather,
find our VW rides disolving into a dismaying blight of rust and corrosion
inabout 10 years. Back in the bad old daze in CT when you took a VW infor
safety inspection, they would put the car on a lift and the Inspecter would
go under with you and poke holes in your new jewel with a screwdriver!Fender
wells, floor, all the points ya had to weld up, no cheating with Bondo, he
had a magnet to check that!Alota V-Dubs went cheep, around here!But the damn
fuze strip croded out, seems first. Not much help here as I'm going through
Musical Headlites in my 89 Jetta, too. The dims are REALLY dim, only the
left side brights light. You go over a bump and the RS turn signals won't
work awile. I have been told that this is a ground issue? I pulled a
ratsnest of wires out this weakend, got rid of the brain? box, up in the
cowl, drivers' side, trying to sanitize the whole thing. So godamn MUCH
wiring in cars nowadaze! In my pruning I killed the horn, somehow and the
Radio USED to work BEFORE I started in the conversion. The issues I have had
with the car ISN'T my stuff, the stuff I put in the car WORKS well, it's the
damn Jetta electrical disease, AND the out of adjustment SHIFTER setup. I'm
about to admit defeat and drive it down to Jokeswagen and let THEM fix that!
I would love to get the speedo to work, too. Never had an issue with THAT
with any other V-Dub iI have EVer had. cable and head are good, ya chuck the
cable in a drill and run it up and it works. Do the internal drive speedo
gears go bad on VW's?It would be a tranny teardown to fix that? Phooey!Other
than all that the Jetta makes a decent conversion, can sit 4 people as VW
intended, WITH my new coil springs from Coil Spring Specialties, of St
Mary's KS. Ride and height good STOCK VW springs up front. That was
easy!Replaced the blown out struts, had 'er aligned anew, drives fine for a
Led Sled!
Just a few Jokes Wagen Thoughts.
Bob
> _______________________________________________
> For subscription options, see
> http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev
>
>
> --
> Internal Virus Database is out-of-date.
> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.11.15/949 - Release Date: 8/12/2007
> 11:03 AM
>
>
_______________________________________________
For subscription options, see
http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev
