This is my GHIA but I need some help

There is a BOX, this one under the front hood near the Speedometer. You see where the wires are sticking out? I just filled up at a gas station and was on my way home when smoke started pouring out of the front. I opened the trunk and the interior carpet was on FIRE. I blew it out and drove home with one wire out.

Question? What is this thing. The Voltage regulator is in the back. Is this a 6V to 12 V box for something. What do I need to do to make sure this never happens again?

my guess , is a headlight relay !


Gclarke

Looks like a flasher relay doesn't it?

Did you install a different horn on the car lately?

No same horn. That BIG thing in the front. I thought was some sort of motor turns out to be a horn.

And no the flasher relay is OK, it's round on my Ghia and only has 2 wires.

There were some hot wires when I moved this box. THICK ones like they were supposed to be higher voltage. I needed to disconnect the battery to play with it. You think it's a light relay? There is this WHITE, spotted BLACK wire going to it....

Just going through my Chilton book. Could it be the dimmer relay? I guess if it is , it caught fire since it touched the frame. Needs to be held in place?

Mike:

It kinda looks like the headlight dimmer relay I'm using, but there should be 5 wires going to it - one in each corner and one about in the middle. If it's the same, the relay case should be OK to ground, but the terminals could be hot AND they're not insulated so if the terminals are hot AND they touch a ground point......well, you've already seen the result.

Figure out where that relay should be mounted and get it secure so it's not flopping around and touching what it's not supposed to and you should be all set. I doubt that the relay itself has been damaged (the terminals shorted out, not the relay), but it would make sense to figure out what it does and check out that function, too.

Thanks Gordon, yep, 5 wires, one in the middle. One post kinda blew off. I will see if I can find one at UAP or CDN Tire tomorrow. %$#@! Good thing Jos

Mike,

Did you install something other than standard headlights, maybe halogens?

No nothing new. I was fiddling with the wiper switch today and must have moved the relay enough to have it ground when I hit a bump. Let that be a lesson to everyone that has one on their car. Make sure it's attached to something so it cannot move. Thanks for your help all, even though it's a Ghia. But you gotta see this car.......next to Fern :)

Mike:

When I pulled mine from the donor car, it was attached with a thin metal clip that went around the relay to secure it. I moved that clip to the Speedster (it was handy).

That is a "special" VW relay (of course, since it destroyed itself) that "toggles" between hi and lo beam when you pulse, or pull once, the dimmer lever. Inside, there is a little cam that is rotated when you pull the dimmer lever and pushes the relay lever, or wiper, from one side to the other. You should make sure you get the same VW P/N or equivalent for it (it handles 30 amps).

Just as a BTW, I wired another headlight relay in parallel with the dimmer one but attached to the dimmer lever circuit to close whenever the dimmer is pulled. The output of that relay was attached to hi beam such that I can now "flash" hi beam when I want - a nice to have feature.

gn

Mike, KG's are as cool and beautiful as Speedsters...I kind of look at them as blood sisters.