The past week in Car repair

[gull]

Had a fun one a couple nights ago I still need to figure out. Wife came in and said, "the car won't start. I think the battery's dead." I went out there and, sure enough, dead as a doornail. Connected up the jumper cables...and the rear window defogger light came on. WTF? The switch was on, but the ignition was off. Once I turned the switch off, I couldn't reproduce the problem by turning it back on. The only thing I can think of is a stuck load reduction relay, or maybe a sneak path through some other circuit. Anyone seen this before?

[Briano1234]

No, but I am with you on the stuck induction relay (even ignition switch is suspect), or a back feed. I would pull each fuse one by one and make sure that they are all good.

[sixsracing]

My daughter's 96 Golf lights up it's rear deforoster light when the brakes are applied. I have chased down every circuit multiple times. No idea whatsoever. Previous owner was an incredible genius, would love to sit down and talk to that gentleman sometime. Yikes!

[gull]

Heh heh. Reminds me of a guy who bought a used rally car, and had to call the previous owner a week later to ask why the ABS light came on every time he hit the rear defogger switch. Turned out the previous owner had rewired it as an ABS defeat switch. (Some rally production classes prohibit extra switches, so this actually made some kind of sense.)

[sixsracing]

Perfectly understandable, however, given enough time I could find where the bypass was. I can't figure out what happened with my daughter's car. Back in Ma. I had a friend who raced at a track that offered the winner's car up for sale at the end of every race for $500. Kept people from putting expensive parts in their cars. We would rewire the engine bay using only black wire. Somebody did buy his car one season. He managed to cut a few key wires before they came for the car. Never did see that car race again.

[Briano1234]

My daughter's 96 Golf lights up it's rear deforoster light when the brakes are applied. I have chased down every circuit multiple times. No idea whatsoever. Previous owner was an incredible genius, would love to sit down and talk to that gentleman sometime. Yikes!

Check the rear Passenger side Brake plate. It only meets the wires in the back.

[sixsracing]

"rear passenger side brake plate" Not sure what you are referring to. The actual backing plate for the brake shoes doesn't seem relevant. All of the bulb holders in both driver's and passenger's tail light assemblies have been triple checked. No wires from the defroster have been spliced into the harness at the gate. I can remove the fuse from the defroster and still make it work with the brake pedal. Maybe type slower and use smaller words. I appear much more intelligent online than I actually are.

[Briano1234]

The rear plate that the light bulbs go in to is usually the grounding point for the rear window defroster.

I have also seen the wires for the rear defroster get plugged in to the rear light bulb circuit for the 3rd brake light.

[sixsracing]

Yeah the bulb holders are notorious on the 3rd gen. Golfs and Jettas. Tried all that. Used the wiring diagrams and all wires and connectors are where they are supposed to be. I manufactured a ground on both sides to the body as I do on all of these as a matter of fact. Cuts down on the complaints down the road.

[Briano1234]

Then the only other thing I can think of is that you are back feeding the circuit either for the brakes or the defroster....

Check all your fuses pull them out one at a time and measure them with a meter.

I think that the brakes are getting the back feed from the defroster.... and it is co-inky dental that you are seeing the defroster coming on when you apply the brakes. I think it is the brake circuit that is getting a faulty ground, and using the defroster to get there. That is why the defroster lights up as it is giving the ground via the lamp to the brakes.

Pull the Defroster switch and see if you still have brake lights. Those brake light switches on the golfs/jetta's are notoriously crap. I had to change one out in a parking garage for a friend because he couldn't shift the auto out of park.

What I did was to beat the hell out of the switch with a screwdriver handle to get the car to move from park to drive... Funny thing was that the switch was fine after that. But we replaced it anyways.

[kamzcab86]

So, the Westy's suspension is actually still in good shape (phew!). And the "Westy lean" has been corrected with a DIY 1/2" spacer. Let's just say, it's a good thing I have a pile of leftover project wood laying around.

Happy New Year everyone!

[Briano1234]

Well, as of tonight I haven't worked on a car all week, and frankly I am over working on Cabriolets till some time next year.




Happy New Year.............. Have a Cabtastic one.

[Calimus]

Man, wish I could say the same. Replaced the spark plugs in the Beetle the day after Christmas while it was snowing. Then spend, Tuesday - Thursday replacing the steering rack in the Audi (what a bitch) and I also did an oil & air filter change on a friends motorcycle in the middle of all that as well. I think I've worked more during my vacation then I did the 2 weeks prior at work.

Also, Happy New Year to all of you

[sixsracing]

Hey, Bri....I have checked the grounds at the brake lights, all good and no dimness whatsoever. I have pulled the fuse for the brake lights and they still work, so does the defroster. So I put the brake lights fuse back in and pulled the defroster fuse, defroster inop. until I apply the brakes. Figure that out. Pull both the brake light fuse and the defroster fuse and then have no brake lights or defroster. Yay!

What does that mean? Darned if I know. 'Cept now I can't see out the rear window until somebody plows into me from behind cause they didn't know I had stopped.

[gull]

Time to dig out the wiring diagram and see what those circuits have in common.

BTW, you mentioned checking the brake light grounds...did you check the defroster ground, too?