dimmer relay.

Discuss with fans and owners of the most luxurious aircooled sedan/wagon that VW ever made, the VW 411/412. Official forum of Tom's Type 4 Corner.
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bradey bunch
Posts: 189
Joined: Tue Aug 04, 2009 9:13 pm

dimmer relay.

Post by bradey bunch »

Hi again. I got my fuel gauge working (thanks Bill K.), and I am now on to one of my last car problems. The headlights are not working, and I think its the dimmer relay. In the link below, it is shown on track 76, letter J. (by the way, it is a 73.5)

http://www.vintagebus.com/wiring/Type_4 ... 1973-3.jpg

heres a pic (I think... I have a spare from the parts car that looks like this)

http://www.carpartsdiscount.com/auto/pa ... 3593=60344

I replaced both the highbeam/lowbeam/turn signal switch (which wasnt working) and the light switch on dash ( I had a spare).

All I need to know is where it is on the car. I traced the wires from the headlights back to both switches but could not find the relay. I looked hard around the fuel pump relay, but the closest thing I found was under the rear seat (with all the inline fuses), but it was attached.

On a side note, what is the maximum compression ratio for these cars? I understand that one does not want to go too high in the buses, but there is not much info about the 412s. What can be done to the cooling system to boost cooling? (A higher CR raises temps... right?).

Thanks for your time,

Braden
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raygreenwood
Posts: 11907
Joined: Wed Jan 22, 2003 12:01 am

Re: dimmer relay.

Post by raygreenwood »

The dimmer relay is on the relay rack underneath the fuse block. The fuse block has three tabs on each side....positioned vertically like this:

I
I
I

The metal of the fenderwell liner slides up vertically between those three tabs. So...carefully remove the package shelf near your left knee and unhook you battery cable for this until you get the hang of it....and slide teh entire fuse block up veryically until the last tap clears the firewall. Then lightly pull it outward toward you. The wires can be stiff. Make sure no wires pull loose or out of the fuse block. Undeneath on teh bottom is a row of relays.

The common problem is that leaks from the windshield and fender well fill the relays up with water because they are upside down. I grind of one corner of each relay to make an emergency drain hole...and then I seal the topside around all of the pins with high temp silicone. The correct thing to do...and I did...is fix the leaks. But this is a good safety....in case your weatherstripping strats leaking anmd you do not know it. Ray
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bradey bunch
Posts: 189
Joined: Tue Aug 04, 2009 9:13 pm

Re: dimmer relay.

Post by bradey bunch »

Wow thanks Ray. I never would have thought to look there!
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