Itinerant Air-Cooled

i had the key in ignition and turned to position '1'..got distracted, then about 30 seconds into this event...burning smell and smoke coming out of the turn-signal tree/stalk (whatever its called)
The turn signal switch still functions...and no fuses blew, which is the slightly odd part of the whole thing

at the very least i would remove it and check the wires.

i will say of the two switches i have seen they both looked brown/burnt in the area the wires go into switch

dingo wrote:i had the key in ignition and turned to position '1'..got distracted, then about 30 seconds into this event...burning smell and smoke coming out of the turn-signal tree/stalk (whatever its called)
The turn signal switch still functions...and no fuses blew, which is the slightly odd part of the whole thing

You can have smoke/burning under the 8 amp threshold of the fuses. As zabo pointed out, this is for you to investigate. There are wires, solder connections that veer close to grounding points. Please be careful, you can have brittle plastic, brittle wires, after a heat event.
Colin

Sounds like a bad ignition switch, I've seen them smoke like that. Probably not turn signals, or they wouldn't work.
Could also be a wire grounding out somewhere. Investigate! The power to the front of the Bus is not fused and can cause issues, at least with early Bays.

hmmm..maybe Hambone is right....
i had, concurrent with the smoking, a no-start on the starter..as in: Nada, dead quiet. Then after watching the smoke dissapate....and briefly testing the turn signals, i cranked the starter again and it fired up first shot.
So...an intermittant ignition switch ?

dingo wrote:hmmm..maybe Hambone is right....
i had, concurrent with the smoking, a no-start on the starter..as in: Nada, dead quiet. Then after watching the smoke dissapate....and briefly testing the turn signals, i cranked the starter again and it fired up first shot.
So...an intermittant ignition switch ?

Go investigate! There is nothing we can do here but speculate uselessly until you are able to bring us more information. Be careful and see if you can test without battery power. Generally, that means using an ohmmeter against ground. Any continuity between your (+) wires and ground is either a switched on circuit or a short circuit.
Colin

Anyways....
so fram what i can deduce...RED provides the power to the switch

RED/BL out to starter via position '2'

thin Black to fuse 10,11,12 via position '1'

thick BLACK to ? ? (Bentleys shows R/B to light switch unfused ???) is this via pos '1' and what purpose ?

thin brown to door buzzser

The wire to the light switch (2.5 sq mm blk/yell changing to 4.0 sq mm red/blk in my Bentley diagram, strangely enough) is the "X" circuit, which is powered along with the #15 ignition ("position 1") circuit, except that it is disconnected when the starter is energized. This is a "load reduction"
feature to limit voltage drop when starting, said voltage drop being a major cause of failure-to-start on these vehicles.

hmmm..so how does it reduce the load ? I understand the intended result, but confused as to how this is achieved
Does that voltage going to light switrch actually power anything ?? and if so, why is not fused ?

dingo wrote:hmmm..so how does it reduce the load ? I understand the intended result, but confused as to how this is achieved
Does that voltage going to light switch actually power anything ?? and if so, why is not fused ?

Fancy words, makes you think of "load reduction relays", but it is simple.

For the 1971 model year and beyond, VW ran the voltage supply for the lights and wipers and rear window defogger through the ignition switch. Big red #30 connects to "X" ( supply for the lights and wipers and rear window defogger) only when ignition is on. When you turn the key to "start", X is disconnected from 30. Totally simple.
Colin

kreemoweet wrote:The wire to the light switch (2.5 sq mm blk/yell changing to 4.0 sq mm red/blk in my Bentley diagram, strangely enough) is the "X" circuit, which is powered along with the #15 ignition ("position 1") circuit, except that it is disconnected when the starter is energized. This is a "load reduction"
feature to limit voltage drop when starting, said voltage drop being a major cause of failure-to-start on these vehicles.

Red/black is #50 to the starter solenoid.
Black/yellow from ignition switch X goes to the light switch, which should have an X as well. But many buses end up with an earlier light switch that has only a #30.
Colin

OK Thanks

My last question is a long shot....at the tee, on the thin black wire that goes to 10,11,12 (on 71 only ?)..on the ign sw side of that tee connection, there are two black wires fitted into the single female connector...one comes from the ign sw., the other dissappears behind fuse block. I dont see anything relating to this extra wire on the diagrams, so i assume aftermarket...as it is not homemade...but still where does it go ?

dingo wrote: ... not homemade. ... where does it go?

How do you know it's not homemade? There are many VW mechs who can and do make electrical connections indistinguishable from factory.
And since it's a non-stock wiring detail, how can anyone, except the installer and anyone who's actually physically traced that wire, possibly
know where it goes? You need to place yourself in the category of the tracer-outers.

Every single wire has a source and destination. Check other year's diagrams, I've often found a mix of years in 1 car. Especially if the wires are color coded and thick-Germany.

It is not homemade, it is very much factory aftermarket BrazMexChin..ok lets just call it a product of BRICS.
I have cut it loose and ill see what doesnt work, if anything. Im not in the mood to pull the whjole rats nest, cause uhhh..not the time or place