Okay, I know. I'm an idiot.
But I did figure out something that could have dragged on for DAYS in a matter of two minutes -- and I wanted to brag about my newfound genius status before it evaporates.
My electrical system is centered around redundant pairs of wires and positive-position switches on the dash, with a key master switch, a giant "kill" switch and a couple of buttons; horn and starter.
I have power to the first switch, fuel on the second switch, headlights, tail lights and the tach light on the third switch and just the fog lights on the fourth switch.
The other day, I couldn't shut off the fog lights while the car was running. I had the headlights on, the fuel pump on, the power switch on, the keyed ignition on and was driving with the fog switch off, but they were on. I turned the switch on, and they got brighter.
Hmmm.
"Self, WTF, O?" I figured it was a gremlin, since they went off with the first major bump. Driving into work a couple days ago, they came on again. It was foggy, so they were helpful. Last night, while staring at my little FrankenPicasso, I decided to tackle the problem (with no test equipment available to me).
First things first. Start with "EASY."
I opened the eight-fuse VW fuse box. There was a pretty little row of six, eight-amp fuses in there, and one little -- very obvious -- culprit. A screw from an unused slot had come out and jumped across the connections between the headlights and the fog lights. It had gotten stuck in there, with enough wiggle room to be intermittent, but enough contact potential to be the root of the problem.
I removed the screw put it back in its Bakelite hole. I turned the key, flipped the switches and mashed the button. I am pleased to say that that little adventure made me feel like the King of the World.
Everything worked as advertised.
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