Heater plug problems and rear lights

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halfbakedpixels
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Heater plug problems and rear lights

Post by halfbakedpixels »

It all started with a heater plug problem last week, went to start up the camper to go off to work and she wouldn't start at all. Tried a few times waiting for the heater plug light to go out and then run the starter motor but she wouldn't fire. Battery ended up dying so i went to work in my T4 (which i haven't sold yet luckily)
Had a bit of spare time this saturday to mess about with the electrics, so i had a closer look. Was getting power to the heater plugs but they didn't seem to be heating. On a side note the previous owner had changed the fuse able link to a spade type 50 amp fuse so i replaced it with a proper link bought from my local auto leccys.
Anyway i took the birds nest wiring out and checked it all, rubbed down the spade connectors on the relay and checked all the cables. Put it back together and it still didn't work. grrrr tried again this time double checked everything, even tried to clean up the mess of wiring in the black box. Put back together, wahay it worked. Went for a run came back. Next day, went to start and nothing grrr and dammit. And now to top it off my indicators at the back are opposite and very dim and the brake light flashes as well. Also the heater plug light stays on the dash. Seems as though i may have buggered up more trying to fix it.
It all seem like an earthing problem to me but i'm lost as where to start. I assume the old crowns would be a good idea?
Help please.
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Re: Heater plug problems and rear lights

Post by Hacksawbob »

Always check the crowns if you haven't done it yourself, You cant really test much else unless they are known to be good. They are a common point of failure and you can chase yours tail for weeks deciphering wiring diagrams and replacing components when you have assumed these critical points are OK when they are not.

With indicators reversed it sounds like you have got left and right wires mixed up when putting it back together . You dont mention your engine (diesel/petrol) , there is an earth point to the left hand side of the engine bay in the diesel under the air filter which handles a few earths for the lights as well well worth checking this, I made the earth to the battery rather than under the air filter on the engine 'tinware' and the lights were noticeably brighter.
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Re: Heater plug problems and rear lights

Post by Hacksawbob »

Also check the voltage to the glow plugs while someone puts the key to first position.
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Re: Heater plug problems and rear lights

Post by halfbakedpixels »

Hacksawbob wrote:Always check the crowns if you haven't done it yourself, You cant really test much else unless they are known to be good. They are a common point of failure and you can chase yours tail for weeks deciphering wiring diagrams and replacing components when you have assumed these critical points are OK when they are not.

With indicators reversed it sounds like you have got left and right wires mixed up when putting it back together . You dont mention your engine (diesel/petrol) , there is an earth point to the left hand side of the engine bay in the diesel under the air filter which handles a few earths for the lights as well well worth checking this, I made the earth to the battery rather than under the air filter on the engine 'tinware' and the lights were noticeably brighter.

Nice one. Yeah sorry forgot to mention what flavour engine it was, an AAZ 1.9 diesel conversion in my 1987 Komet. The air filter isn't fixed down properly and i was checking it over the other day so i may have moved or knocked the earth in that area.
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Re: Heater plug problems and rear lights

Post by halfbakedpixels »

The Komet has just got back from the Auto electricians (doctors) and they've fixed all the problems. The previous owners had left us with a number of issues/problems that have decided to raise their ugly head now the weather has started to get cold.
I reckon the last owners never had working glow plugs as they only had it from June to August, they split up so sold it. And they never had it during cold weather.
And someone along the line had fitted a tow hitch but very badly and used scotch connectors in the worst possible place ever, there was also some old weathered wiring that they replaced and some dodgy connections. So all good, we have working glow plugs and now all the indicators, lights etc work as well.
It wasn't the cheapest job but i'm glad he sorted the problems and gave all the other wiring a look over and tidy up.
I'm going to take it back at some point and have some more work done, namely the black box in the engine bay is being replaced with two boxes. One to reduce the chance of fire risk and two so its not so congested in the boxes. VW seemed to try and shove so much in that black box its ridiculous.

Will post some pix when its light. :)
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Re: Heater plug problems and rear lights

Post by halfbakedpixels »

update, heater plugs did not work this morning. :( Everything else was fine though....so that was nice
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Re: Heater plug problems and rear lights

Post by halfbakedpixels »

Another update. After spending a while at the auto electricians the work is finally complete. I still have to sort out neatening up the normal black box wiring but all of the high amp leads are no housed in their own enclosure. This will reduce the chance of a fire in the normal black box and also clean it up a little bit in the process.
They also replaced all of the corroded, broken or old connections and wires. Some had become brittle and started to break so fresh new wires were put in. I also fitted a new relay from Jut Kampers as the old one had burn marks at one of the contacts (not a good sign).
I will post photos up of the work once the weather improves. :)
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Re: Heater plug problems and rear lights

Post by Roydini »

I've seen reference made to the earth crowns on a few threads now and purely out of curiosity I wondered if anyone would tell me exactly where they are, and if they are accessible with the dash still in-situ? My van is an LHD 1983 1.9 Petrol Westy btw.
LHD 1983 1.9 DG Petrol Pop-Top Westfalia Joker

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Re: Heater plug problems and rear lights

Post by halfbakedpixels »

Roydini wrote:I've seen reference made to the earth crowns on a few threads now and purely out of curiosity I wondered if anyone would tell me exactly where they are, and if they are accessible with the dash still in-situ? My van is an LHD 1983 1.9 Petrol Westy btw.

The crowns are located behind the fuse box in the glove box normally. Screwed onto the bulkhead with a self tapper screw. Mine are on the left side behind the glove box but yours will probably be the other side if its left hand drive.

Here it is in the wiki https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/VW ... bad_earths" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Fi ... _box-1.JPG" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Heater plug problems and rear lights

Post by Roydini »

Brilliant, thanks for that. Cheer! :D
LHD 1983 1.9 DG Petrol Pop-Top Westfalia Joker

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Re: Heater plug problems and rear lights

Post by halfbakedpixels »

Finally got some photos of the wiring.
The original black box wiring still needs sorting out so i can get the front on, but the pix show the new box on the right.

Image

Image

Image
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