I've been inside one of these.  It looks like your doing brain
surgery.     What was VW thinking?   My Jetta is the same way.
My vanagon fuse box had an open  in the head light high beam
circuit.   I found it easier to wire around the box with an external
fuse.

"The inside of the 87 fuse/relay panel is a hodgepodge of metal strips
running every which way. There are about 8 levels, separated by about
3mm of air between each layer. The runs on each level are separated by
air with the closest points about the same 3mm apart."

Mark Drillock wrote:

> While the fuse box could be at fault it seems unlikely in this case. If
> he is right that pulling fuse 3 stops the battery drain, that leaves a
> fairly short run of about 2 inches inside the sealed fuse box for the
> problem to exist in. On the other hand, the vehicle wiring fed from fuse
> 3 is about 20 feet long with various switches and connections. All are
> available to be messed with and messed up.
>
> The inside of the 87 fuse/relay panel is a hodgepodge of metal strips
> running every which way. There are about 8 levels, separated by about
> 3mm of air between each layer. The runs on each level are separated by
> air with the closest points about the same 3mm apart.
>
> Mark
>
> Richard A Jones wrote:
>
>>> Could be the fuse box itself. I had a problem very similar to this
>>> in my '85 Jetta years back - I
>>> kept pulling fuses trying to find the current drain, and when I
>>> found it, couldn't trace it outside
>>> the fusebox. Swapped the fusebox and it was fine for another 10
>>> years. The late model
>>> Vanagons use the same or very similar fusebox with flat brass
>>> conductors - I'm told moisture
>>> can lead to minute current leaks with age.
>>
>>
>>
>> Yes, I had a fuse box problem in my '87 Syncro.  In fact, Mark helped
>> solve it by loaning me another.  Turned out to be a loose piece of
>> brass--scrap from the stampings, I guess.  But I would think that
>> is pretty rare.
>>
>> If you open up one of those fuse boxes you will have nightmares!
>>
>> Richard
>>
>
>