With sunrise coming later these days, I find myself starting out on those early morning runs with my lights on pretty often. With our nearly invisible cars, showing lights is a good idea if you're on a road that puts you in and out of the shadows a lot at dawn or dusk.
Friday, with the sun well up after an hour of driving, I stopped for breakfast and left my lights on for the 472nd time since I've owned this car.
But it won't happen again. Not ever. No, really.
I've just spent two hours upside down with my head up behind the steering wheel and most of the tools I needed just out of reach, back on the workbench. I finally put in that dumb relay that I should have installed four years ago.
In a commendable effort to keep our cars authentic, VS purposely wires the headlights (and running lights) straight to the headlight switch. No wussy cutout here, when you turn off the key. They do this just to remind us how life on the open road was back in the 1950's, when men were men and cars made you prove it. I mean, what other reason could VS possibly have for doing this?
Okay, no wisecracks please, consider that last question a rhetorical literary device.
But, as it turns out, adding the ignition key cutout for the lights is pretty easy on the VS. There's one fat, red wire from the fusebox to the headlight switch (12 gauge, for you technical types). Interrupt that wire with a five-dollar relay and you're halfway home. Control the relay with a wire to the accessory tab on the ignition switch and you're done. Well okay, you've got to ground the relay, too, but honest, that's it.
No check engine lights will flash, your warranty won't be voided, and you won't drop into limp-home mode.
If this is Greek to you, I'll add more details, but this is about as simple a fix as it gets on these cars.
