Headlight switch sparks and smokes

Hey. I've recently been working on my Kombi (1976 1800cc), tarting up
the bodywork, getting the engine tuned and at the moment im just
putting everything back in. All was going great,

however,

I noticed that my left hand headlight wasnt lighting up, unless the
high beam was on, in which case it was fine. On inspection i believed
that the problem lay in the connection between the contacts of the
small bulb and the copper strip on the retainer. i gave it a quick
adjustment and tried to turn the lights on. What happened next is a
little confusing. There was a spark from the switch and i could smell
smoke, so i quickly turned it off as I heard the electricity
crackling. I gave it a couple of minutes before giving it another go
and the same thing happened and now neither headlight works.
The sparking has happened before; when i was re-wiring everything
after replacing the dashboard. however, i concluded it was down to
incorrect wiring after i checked the wiring diagram i got off this
site. I put everything where it should have been and the problem
stopped.

But now its back. With a grudge.

Anyway; Is this fault common? Could it be incorrect wiring or is the
switch just knackered? I don't know much about cars (this is my first)
or how to fix them, but ive been doing everything by the book and now
i'm stumped. Hopefully someone can shed some light on the matter ...
(pardon the pun)

Thanks, Chris

wrote:

> Hey. I've recently been working on my Kombi (1976 1800cc), tarting up
> the bodywork, getting the engine tuned and at the moment im just
> putting everything back in. All was going great,
>
> however,
>
> I noticed that my left hand headlight wasnt lighting up, unless the
> high beam was on, in which case it was fine. On inspection i believed
> that the problem lay in the connection between the contacts of the
> small bulb and the copper strip on the retainer. i gave it a quick
> adjustment and tried to turn the lights on. What happened next is a
> little confusing. There was a spark from the switch and i could smell
> smoke, so i quickly turned it off as I heard the electricity
> crackling. I gave it a couple of minutes before giving it another go
> and the same thing happened and now neither headlight works.
> The sparking has happened before; when i was re-wiring everything
> after replacing the dashboard. however, i concluded it was down to
> incorrect wiring after i checked the wiring diagram i got off this
> site. I put everything where it should have been and the problem
> stopped.
>
> But now its back. With a grudge.
>
> Anyway; Is this fault common? Could it be incorrect wiring or is the
> switch just knackered? I don't know much about cars (this is my first)
> or how to fix them, but ive been doing everything by the book and now
> i'm stumped. Hopefully someone can shed some light on the matter ...
> (pardon the pun)
>
> Thanks, Chris
>

I'm trying to think of some relatively easy test
to perform.

Try this:
Take a short length of wire and bridge from the
thick Wh/Blk wire (this wire goes from Headlight sw
to the Dimmer relay) to the thick Red/Wh wire (this
is the battery feed to the fuse strip.

If the Headlights come on, you know that they and
their wiring is OK. That would leave the headlight
switch as the problem.

(Wear protective eyewear when doing this test.)

Speedy Jim
http://www.nls.net/mp/volks/

"I have no use for a car which has more spark plugs than a cow has teats!"
Henry Ford, when advised that Chevrolet was introducing a 6-cylinder engine.

Tried it and it worked. Thanks for that Jim, time to go to the VW
shop