Itinerant Air-Cooled

It's been a few years since I've posted. Our '69 Kombi went into dry storage when my son left for college. The bus is his to drive & mine to work on. He just graduated and we've made the tough decision to sell. The bus is fine to drive, but he really has no interest in the hobby of keeping this bus running and staying ahead of the aging parts.

So... after successfully restarting and getting the bus home, we have a few gremlins to cure. The first being the lack of brake lights (and the left rear turn signal).

Checked fuses first. All okay. Checked bulb on the left side. Both filaments look intact. Checked wiring behind both bulb sockets (left and right). All the spade terminals are connected. Grounds are connected. Checked brake switches. Filed terminals a bit until they were bright.

Next up, with help from son who will be home, I'll check for voltage at the sockets.
Before I spend actual money on a pair of new brake switches, what other checks?

I'd start with getting a multi meter or test light and insure you have 12 volts at the brake switches. Then, hit the brake pedal and see if it lights up the other terminal. I then track the problem from there. It seems odd that both brake switches would fail at the same time but I guess it's possible.

anotherbluebus wrote:Checked fuses first. All okay.

Before I spend actual money on a pair of new brake switches, what other checks?

How did you check the fuses? I have found (more than once) that the fuse "cone" contact to the fuse block tab can corrode and trick you into having electrical issues. A quick fix is rotating the fuse in place to "clean" the contact surfaces. Some kind of mechanical cleaning and maybe a tiny helping of dielectric grease might be best in the long run.

The good 3-pring switches are now available from ATE or FTE. A few years ago they were only available from Euromax, and many people reported those blowing out quickly.

Robbie

Thanks for the replies. "Start cheap" has always been my motto for diagnosis and repair. I took each of the fuses out and scuffed them with a piece of sandpaper. We now have brake lights!

Next up: fuel gauge.

Nice. Clean all the fuse box contact tabs too!

wcfvw69 wrote:It seems odd that both brake switches would fail at the same time but I guess it's possible.

That was actually the line that indicated the problem was not with the bulbs, housings, grounds, or even switches. On an early bay, pretty much everything about the brake lights are two separate circuits. I suppose both bulbs, switches, or housings COULD fail at the same time, but the possibility is insanely unlikely.

For the fuel gauge, does it work? Work poorly? Do nothing?

Robbie

asiab3 wrote: For the fuel gauge, does it work? Work poorly? Do nothing?

Nothing. We parked it with the tank close to empty (after agonizing about full-stabilized fuel vs empty). I honestly didn't think we'd park it as long as we did. I thought it would get used in the summer, but - life. Anyhow.... at this point, we drained the tank of the gallon or so that was left & then put a fresh gallon in. Then stopped on the way home and put another 4 gallons or so in. My guess (since the fuse cleaning didn't make it jump to life) is that it's stuck after sitting for 3 years. Probably go over and fill the tank and see if that prompts the float to, uh.... float.

anotherbluebus wrote: My guess (since the fuse cleaning didn't make it jump to life) is that it's stuck after sitting for 3 years. Probably go over and fill the tank and see if that prompts the float to, uh.... float.

Stuck after three years? Mine is stuck after sitting eleven minutes! Seriously, after a fill up with my new sender I either wait about five minutes for it to climb gradually, or shoot for a nice second gear speed bump to hustle it up. My OG sender showed empty under half a tank, and the new Blank-Box Fingers-Crossed Crap-Sender shows empty when the tank is just under 1/4 full.

Keeping the tank over half full is a kindness to most cars. Electric fuel pumps last longer by not occasionally cavitating, fuel senders last longer when submerged, and you won't run out of gas and be another Volkswagen stuck on the side of the road propagating stereotypes!

Perhaps fill 'er up and then begin the multimeter readings.

My thoughts, always with a grain of salt,
Robbie

Re: modern fuel pumps. I know from personal experience that they do last longer when the tank is kept full. Some rely on the fuel to dissipate heat. Hauling a '69 AMX back to Portland from Idaho, the Suburban we were driving was suffering from a dying fuel pump. If we kept the tank more than half full it stayed cool enough to keep us moving. Fortunately I-84 has lots of fuel stops.