I was just re-doing the entire rear lights and wiring on an 82 westy.

There is one ground wire, on that year anyway, for all the tail light
housing light circuits.  So check yours.

 

Poor and 'half' ground connections can cause the weirdest things.

It can cause some circuits to 'sort of' find ground through other circuits,
and create very weird symptoms. 

 

Saw a Volvo one time - turning the key the 'start' had only one affect - it
made the headlights come on dimly.

I just happened to think of grounds, and put a battery jumper cable from the
engine to the battery - bingo, it was working again properly.  

The ground side of all circuits is just as important as the supply side. 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: mordo [mailto:helmut.blong@gmail.com] 
Sent: Monday, December 03, 2007 1:04 PM
To: vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com; scottdaniel@turbovans.com
Subject: Fwd: bemused by wiring

 

I doubt this is happening, but the wrong kind of bulb somewhere ( like two
filaments instead of one ) can cause all kinds of weirdness. 

 

Aha! Scott, I think you may be on to something with this brief statement. I
have noticed that one of the tail lights is brighter than the other. I can't
recall which but I will bet on the right lamp being the wrong bulb and thus
the culprit. 

 

Still doesn't make much sense to me unless the two circuits share the same
ground.

-- 
mordo
1990 Carat