Front light failure

[shrig1969]

Got into my bus yesterday morning to go to work but the front lights did not work and the full beam warning light on the dash was on? Indicators and rear lights worked ok. I managed to find a thread on here "head lights intermittent failure" that had the same problem so I took on board the advice given and this is what I found......
Below is one of the earth crowns that I removed. You will see it looks in a bad way. I lightly sanded the corrosion away and re-attached it back to the body.

There were 2 earth crimps, that both had 2 brown wires going into a single crimp. Would these be from my headlights? They looked in the worse condition and needed tidying up.

Everything is working correctly now but before putting it all back I took a couple more photos...
Is this as tidy as it gets in there?

And any ideas if this should be connected to anything?

Hopefully this might be of help to someone

[kevtherev]

Certainly is how it is.
You can unplug it all and straighten it all out if you want.
Then shovel it all back and cover it up.

[shrig1969]

Well,as a wise man from Wolverhampton once said

"If it ain't broke........."

Any idea about the spare wire?

[Aidan]

it's a live feed for some aux option your van doesn't have like front fog lights; if you trace back to the multiplug and find out which pin on which plug it's from then you can look it up on the circuit diagram in Bentley, but I wouldn't worry about it, shrouded female connector and fused so not likely to cause a fire; most vans have it

[shrig1969]

Thanks Aidan,Makes sense.
Next time I'm in there I will trace it back and see where it go's.

[shrig1969]

Ok, it would seem there is more to this than I first thought.
Noticed a steady drip from under the glove compartment tonight during the steady downpour of rain. On closer inspection with a torch light (between passenger door and glove compartment)I could see a few drops on the earth crown I had cleaned up earlier as well as a small puddle on the carpet below.
This is pointing to the windscreen rubber which is showing rust spots on both bottom corners outside.
I cannot physically see problems inside because the rubber overlaps the plastic dash.
Having read Cov kids thread(wiki:body glass and footwell leaks) I believe I am in the same boat. Changing a windscreen seal is a challenge I would look forward to. Finding serious rust damage is something that scares the hell out of me.
Looking for recommendations on welders around Northampton.
Would travel further if needs must......

[CovKid]

Yup, windscreen lip rot. You just need someone that can weld reasonably well. Must be plenty in Northampton even amongst the back street variety - word of mouth generally best route.

[shrig1969]

Following on.......
Today me and my trusty mechanic attacked the leaking windscreen seals and this is what we uncovered.

Both photos show rust (and holes) at each corner, as stated in the Wiki.
These photos show them after some tidying up..

My guy proceeded to build up the damage to both corners with his arc welder..

End result.....

Finally with the new seal and windscreen back in place...

What started out initially as an electrical fault ended up with the above work needing to be done.
The seal from VW emporium was a perfect fit (again recommended on the wiki).
Thanks to the wiki this problem has now been sorted

[kevtherev]

Imagine just owning a vehicle.
Washing it
Driving it
Washing it
Fueling it
Driving it
Washing it

VW has been turning owners into mechanics for 60 years.
Happy days!

[shrig1969]

I'll let the rain be the judge of that