Yep! At least that function is gremlin free
Well, it IS possible the contacts in your headlight switch have become fused/soldered together.
Not too likely, but, if you have a Chinese repop switch (and a lot of us do), they are subject to overheating.
A quick check is to disconnect the wire from the terminal on the back of the switch numbered 56. (Be careful, there should also be terminals numbered 58 and 58b.)
That should turn off the lights, no matter what. If it doesn't, the switch could be toast.
When doing wiring one needs to have decent basic wiring theory along with experience with back feeding due to ground issues especially with a fiberglass body that doesn't conduct electricity hence you need to run grounds everywhere. Do one simple circuit at a time and check it before moving on to the next one, then when you have two circuits done check that one AND the previous one as gremlins, distractions happens. .Should you arrive at the electrical cross road to roll it out of the garage and set it on fire , I'm retired so fly me in ( provided your climate is warmer than here in West Virginia) and I'll have it done in a day and a half.
Alan, you itching to get your hands on something? Feeling cooped up yet?
This is all I did to it today. I just stared at her. I couldn’t let this wiring occupy my Thursday, Friday, Saturday AND Sunday!
I undid what was previously done and focused solely on the drivers headlamp. One 3-prong wire harness...one ground. No options to rewire. Plugged harness together. Bolted the ground to bare metal frame this time and the light STILL comes on when I start her up.
I told my self to let it rest and try again on my next day off, which is Wednesday.
Beaten but not broken
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You'll get it. Trace those wires back to their sources. All sympathy to you.
Done...and DONE!!!
First things first. Thanks to EVERYONE that provided information, suggestions and guidance. If it wasn’t for you guys and the wealth of knowledge on this forum keeping me straight, I would’ve succumbed to the madness long ago. So after wiring, disconnecting and re-wiring my headlights (and turn signals [on separate occasions]) more than ten times (I lost count at 2a this morning), I broke down and called my VW mechanic. He came over with an array of meters. He looked at the last wiring I did last night and said “huh, I like the headlights...your wiring looks clean to me, you can come do mine”. I walked him though my exercise of wiring. Showed him the headlights turning on without the headlight button being pulled and he immediately took a dive under my dash. I said “the ground bar is in the front”. He said “yeah, it’s not your ground. You check your fuses?” Yep...been there. After five minutes of tracing my headlight wires to the button, he disconnects the button assembly and says, “you got a spare glass fuse? This one is burned out”. I said what glass fuse, all of mine are the glo-brights. “All but the one inside the button”. I run to AutoZone, get a fuse and BAM! headlights turn on when they are supposed to turn on. He then pulls out a silver cylindrical relay out from under the dash and tests it with his meter. “Go back to AutoZone and get me two of these”. I say “why two?”. “Incase you need another on down the road.”
5 minuets later, and a new relay installed all of my turn signals, running and brake lights are working properly.
Lessons learned? Check, double check and triple check your ground wires. Label everything and take photos for reference, When in doubt, pull the mechanical elements out and check for fuses and never discount the relay. Lol
Thanks again for all the input! Time for a drive then a drink.
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Fuses, flashers and grounds Oh My ! I feel your pain, glad it was resolved !
I hope you bought your helper something really nice for Thanksgiving!
He deserves it!
Inside the button?... what?
I know! Thinking the same.
He was paid handsomely. He and another shop wants to take a black CMC Speedster (I think I mentioned it in another post) that he got from a cop to the ‘19 SEMA show with some tricked out custom aluminum work.
My headlights are turned on by pulling a lever/button on my dash. Inside that pullout lever/button mechanism there was a 30A glass fuse that was blown, keeping the headlights on when the car was running.
How do you turn on the lights of your Speedsters? Is there not a fuse in that mechanism?
Sean, on almost all of our cars, the fuses for the lights are in the fuse block. Some people add extra relays to handle the heavy current of the lights, without sending that through the headlight switch. Then, extra fuses may be added at the relays, but I've never heard of a fuse in the headlight switch.
Can you post a photo of this 'lever/button' with the fuse inside? Some of us are kind of curious just what that might be. Does the button itself light up when the lights are on?
Me, I'm still trying to figure out how your lights are wired so that an open circuit (blown fuse) makes the lights go on.
Maybe one of these?
My question is why have a fuse way up behind the dash like that... funny
Gordon! That’s it. That one looks more steampunk than mine, but that’s the configuration.
Short of taking the assembly apart to take another pic, that’s what my unit looks like.
My mechanic said he’d help me clean up the rats nest in the Spring if I’m up to it. Right now, I just want to drive this thing. I’m gonna hold off on the LED and load equalizers for now too. I did try to tap the back end of one of the bulb bases, but it didn’t budge much enough for the LED to sit right and make a good connection.
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Sean, I hope your switch is better quality than the 99-cent one in Gordon's link.
If not, I'd take your mechanic up on his offer to clean things up under there.
Even if it's a decent switch, the headlight circuit really should be controlled by relays. But if the switch is of questionable heritage, running heavy current through it for very long could leave you motoring by moonlight.
My lights (headlights only) are on with the switch off and the key on...I wonder if I have one of these too?
There is a relay for the headlight in addition to the glass fuse