Tobin,

at the risk of stating the "bleeding obvious" have you checked that you are
getting power from the headlight switch? The wire from the cluster to the
switch may have come adrift, or the switch itself is buggered.

It is easy to check with a multimeter whether the foil is broken, i.e.
continuity form the connector to the light socket contact. If you are
careful you can solder the foil (scrape through to the copper, clean with
alcohol, use a bit of wire to jump the break, be quick with the iron).

Foils are quite cheap from the wrecker.

And so are seat belts. I got a rear shoulder and lap set for $25.

Make sure all of your connections are good to the foil circuit board. This
might make your gas gauge work a bit better.

alistair

on 24/2/00 12:18 pm, Tobin Copley at tobin.copley@UBC.CA wrote:

> I've been losing instrument panel illumination lights (speedo and middle
> panel now), and figured it was just burned out bulbs.  Tried replacing the
> bulbs, but no go.  Switched a working socket unit to a socket location that
> had been burned out, and no go.  So I figure the foil has got a break (or
> breaks) in it someplace.  Anybody disagree with that logic?
>
> This is a dealer-only part apparently, and I was quoted $116.00 plus taxes
> from the dealer.  That's a lot of money for me.  (Other dealer humour: in
> the same phone call I asked for a price on a set of rear seat lap
> belts--that's just one belt pair, male and female sides.  $201.20 plus
> taxes!!).
>
> The foil is apparently the same for all 81-83 vanagons, regardless of
> powerplant or CA, US, or Canadian spec.
>
> Are these things repairable?  Easily?  I'm totally a klutz when it comes to
> soldering, so I'm not optimistic on this.
>
> Any other diagnostics anyone can suggest?
>
> What would I expect to pay for this foil from a wrecker?  Anybody have a
> line on one they'd be interested in selling?
>
> My fuel guage also does not work.  It reads full when full, but then
> quickly drops down to empty and stays there after only about 25 miles.  I
> suspect it's the sender, but heck, maybe I'm getting fixated on that foil...
>