headlight switch

-vertigo- · Post by **-vertigo-** » Thu May 26, 2005 9:09 am

amazing that i still learn new things about my car three years into ownership.

the bulb for my headlight switch was blown and i finally got around to replacing it yesterday. luckily it's one of the few that are press-in and not soldered so it came out very easily. popped a new one in there and i flicked the lights on. nothing happened. weird... but then i noticed that the positive wire for the bulb is yellow/black - switched power.

so then i turned on the ignition. et voila! the headlight switch illuminates whenever the ignition is on, which is i guess to help locate the switch on dusky evenings. finally, i thought, wiring that VW actually got right.

to fix this you need a VDO type D peanut bulb (number 600-809) and these are available at parts stores. to convert the switch to red illumination is easy, too, just order red bulbs and scrape the green filter off the back of the switch's toggle.

Post by **Calimus** » Thu May 26, 2005 10:15 am

I replaced my bulb (which never worked anyway) and I didn't get anything even with the ignition on. I've been meaning to go back in and have a much better look, but I keep forgetting to. Might be time to see about shoving an LED in there.

sixsracing · Post by **sixsracing** » Thu May 26, 2005 3:19 pm

Make sure you have the correct switch in the car also. A lot of the VW switches appear to be the same and some of the funtionality is there but the plug configuration is different. I have run into this with Vanagons a number of times.

VWnoob · Post by **VWnoob** » Thu May 26, 2005 6:58 pm

Calimus wrote:Might be time to see about shoving an LED in there.

For cheap LED's I found this guy on Ebay!

http://stores.ebay.com/Chi-Wing-LED-pro ... esstQQtZkm

Also, I was experimenting with an super white LED in my car and placed it behind the AC/Fan Control panel. It looks great!

But when you decide to do LEDs, make sure you get 470 ohm resistors and dont make the mistake like I did and buy 470k ohm resistors.

I did that, and couldnt figure out why the LED wouldnt light up. So I removed the resistor and plugged it directly in to test the LED.....Well needless to say, that LED superbright was short lived. LOL!!!!!

Sorry about the thread hijack.

Jim

kamzcab86 · Post by **kamzcab86** » Thu May 26, 2005 7:10 pm

Wasn't until I had the dash apart at the end of last year that I discovered the same thing. Saw the bulb was blown so I replaced it. Went for a drive (with the dash still apart; no switches installed) and saw the light on. Wasn't until I posted on Vortex that someone clued me in that my '86 Cab's switch is just like my '00 Jetta's switch in that it lights up to find it in the dark. Only took me, oooooh, 15 years to learn this little tidbit

dubchickshubby · Post by **dubchickshubby** » Sat May 28, 2005 9:56 pm

The headlight switch is LIGHTED?!?!!

I've got three Dubs and ya think just ONE of them would've worked to me off, ya know?