Talk:VW Electrics bad earths

Having had a recent problem I thought I'd add this.

1.9 DG auto.

Suddenly, and for no reason she lost the following:

1) Heater blower fan controls 2) Wipers 3) Main beam lights

Sidelights still worked, as did full beam (ie flashing people)

The wipers and heater blower only worked if the headlamp rocker switch was at position 2 (ie main beam) and the indicator lever was pulled to activate full beam, but all stopped working when lever was released.

All the Wiki info here (and Haynes) pointed to it being due to bad earths, so I stripped and cleaned all earth points, checked all fuses etc. Having done all this there was no fix to the fault so I gave up and took to VW garage. They diagnosed the problem as a faulty ignition switch. Replacement of ignition switch (a £8 part from JK) and a 90 minute job stripping the steering column to access and replace the switch fixed the problem.

Probably worth trying this if cleaning earths doesn't cure fault.