Magic Smoke from the Headlights Switch!

[Spirantho]

Hi everbody,

small problem with my 'rocco ('88 1.6GT).... but first some background.

My car's speedo has always been out - 10mph all the way up. So I took the instrument cluster out to recalibrate it. I moved the needle (goodness knows why it was out in the first place) and replaced the panel. All guages work? Good.

About 4 months ago I replaced the indicators.

Now I don't do much night driving at all, but for the first time in ages it was getting darker last night as I was driving so I put the lights on - not full beam, but on. Being a Scirocco, of course, I don't know whether the lights were actually on.
It was around this point I felt like the car was down on power, maybe it was my imagination but it just felt sluggish. Don't know if it sounded off because I had The Rolling Stones on too loud to hear.

Bit further down the road and I notice pretty wisps of smoke coming from the headlight switch on the dash! "Eek!" thinks I, and immediately pulls over and switches everything off. Smoke stops. Check under bonnet - all fine. Luckily it's still not dark, just heading towards dusk, and I'm only 5m away from my destination... so I continue and get there no problem.

Now a little more investigation this morning....
* Lights on but not on full beam (middle position on switch) - nothing. No lights. Dashboard lights light up (not very bright, but it's daylight now).
* Flash lights - lights come on. Dashboard indicator for full beam doesn't light up.
* Full beam - Lights go on full. No dash indicator.
* Dipped lights - Lights dip. Still no dash indicator.

That's where I am now. I've removed the instrument panel as the speedo still is a little fast, and it looks like the little bulb for full beam has gone. Also the clock is being eaten up by blackness (typical old LCD disease).

Does anyone have any suggestions? Can the instrument panel have caused the smoke from the headlights switch? Could I have knackered something up that'd cause that? Why don't the lights work except on full beam now, and did I just imagine the loss of power, or is it shorting?

I would very much appreciate any help you can all give. Can you still get new instrument panels that'd fit? Maybe that'd solve the problem? Or is it just a coincidence and it's actually the headlights switch that's causing the problem, and all that's wrong with the panel is a blown bulb on the headlights light?

Edit: Is eBay lot #220466167417 the right part?

Thanks for any advice!

[PeteGLi]

See this FAQ for changing the instrument panel warning bulbs

http://sciroccoregisterforum.co.uk/faq/ ... /#more-206

Bearing in mind that, unless you have relayed the lights, the full electrical current runs through the switch, it is highly probable the switch may now be faulty. Take the switch out and check the contacts on the back and also the wires into the plug that goes on to the back of the switch. If any of the wires are discoloured then it is likely that the corresponding contact in the switch is faulty and causing a short.

Also check that no other parts of the lighting wiring loom are shorting out - the grey/blue wires are the instrument gauges, heater control, etc, lights.

The middle position on the lighting switch is your sidelights, so if you have no lights then you need to check those bulbs.

As to your speedo being out - are you sure that you have the correct speedo drive gear. There are three - white/cream, red and green (although I do not think the green is used much in this country) with 15, 16 and 17 teeth respectively. Your gearbox code will help tell you which is the correct drive gear for your gearbox.

[Spirantho]

Thanks for the advice! I've taken a bit of a look at the instrument panel again and really can't see how it could cause such a problem as to destroy the sidelights. In your opinion, should I try just changing the switch and see if that fixes it? What would happen if I try the sidelights with the entire instrument panel removed? If it worked then that'd tell me the problem was in the instrument panel, should it work?

Thanks again!

[james butler]

yeah my switch packed in on holiday while they were on. melted the internals permenanntly on. i got my new one from volkswagon, but at £25 a pop they are not cheap. there are 4 different kinds tho be warned with different internals. the polo uses the same looking switch for example but has completely different internals( according to volksbits on pershore road)

[Spirantho]

Right, I've got the switch out... now I need to try and find a replacement.
Some other things I've noticed - I'd completely forgotten there was a bulb in the switch, so I'd guess the bulb has probably gone. While I'm at it, I'll try and fix the cigarette lighter bulb which I've removed because that's blown too.

Where should I go to replace these parts? I've looked at GSF and they have a "93410 HEADLAMP SWITCH SC 4/81 >12/88" which may be the one, but I'm not sure. What do people recommend for replacing the bulb? And the lighter bulb is even more complicated because it's got a little terminal tacked onto the side so that it makes contact. I realise I could just get the parts from a breaking rocco but I'd rather get them as new as possible as otherwise they may be near the end of the life too.

Thanks for any help!

[Tim_R]

I went to my vw dealer to get the bulbs and holders, my original holders had never been designed have the bulbs changed, the contacts of the bulb were fused to the contacts of the holder.

[Spirantho]

If I go to my VW dealer I know what they'll say - "what's the part number?".
How do I find out? The bulbs are pretty small, not sure if they're written on - are they?

I remember there being an online exploded diagram of all the internals of the car, with part number, but now I can't find it anywhere! I thought it was vagcat.com but it's not. Anyone able to help? Had a quick look on the FAQ but didn't see it.....

Thanks!

Edit: Ah! Got it! It helped to log in to the VagCat page. Once I'd done that I found the manuals, that just returned me to the front page before, I'm sure.

Now to find some parts. :)