T25 dashboard dimmer switch

[MandyJ]

Hello, first post, apologies for not knowing technical names for things.

My dad owns a T25 1985 Caravelle that he has maintained for over 20 years. Sadly he is starting to get dementia and can no longer remember what to do with certain things so I’m trying to help him get it ready to sell.

There is a rocker switch with some sort of dimmer dial on the dashboard that seems to control the dashboard lighting amongst other things. I though I had found a replacement for this but my dad says it has too many flat metal ‘pins’ on the back for it to fit - the original only had six, and the replacement I found has 8. Does anyone know where I can get the correct part from?

I have taken pictures of both old and new but can’t see how to attach them to this post, sorry. The new part I ordered was Topran 103 329 Headlight switch, I cannot see a similar item with the correct number of pins.

Finally, if anyone knows of a travelling T25 electrics specialist in Yorkshire please can you point me in their direction; I’m not sure even when I can get the right part that my dad will have the capacity to get everything hooked back onto it again.

Thanks for your time

[Mocki]

Firstly ,


Secondly the headlight switch is age related , but you should be able to get the part number off the back of it .
Try www.brickwerks.co.uk or vw heritage

[MandyJ]

Ahhh thankyou! Ok I will take a look at that; here are the pics in the meantime in case anyone has anything else useful to add. Front and rear view, A is old one B is new one next to the box it came in.

[Mocki]

Part number circled . The one you got new is for a t4 or a golf i think

[syncroandy]

The T3 had a number of different lighting circuit configurations, as different countries had differing requirements for things like daytime running lights which GB and Scandiwegia had (but in different forms) but other places didn't. There may be pre/post '85 differences also.

Therefore there are different versions of the main lighting switch. The aftermarket switches available now are 'generic', so a bit of understanding and ingenuity may be needed to make use of them.

In the pics, the new switch has two extra pins for the 58L and 58R circuits, these are for the 'parking lights' feature where the L&R parking lights can be switched on independently using the indicator stalk.

The old switch does not have these pins so presumably that van is missing the parking lights feature. As the switches are otherwise interchangable, I'd suggest just snipping off those pins close to the switch body.

The old switch is also missing the GB-only '56D' terminal used for our 'dim-dip' feature which was a regulatory requirement at the time. It is also missing from the new switch, as Topran clearly did not think it was worth the bother to include that as most markets never had it.

The T3 wiring diagrams and DIN terminal meanings are all well-documented elsewhere.
 

[MandyJ]

Thanks so much to both of you, I now have the correct part on its way to me. The suggestion of snipping the unnecessary pins off was great too, would have tried this if unable to find one. Now to find someone that can help us with fitting it, although I’ll give it my best shot helping him first. Thanks again!

[Mocki]

Honestly its “plug and play” you already have the old one out , plug it in and plush the switch into the hole .