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Subject:Re: Rear Wiper Relay: Use 171 955 529? Pre '90 Headlight SW Change; Handle more Amps? (1988 Westy)
From:neil n
Date:Sun, 27 May 2012 20:40:08 -0700

That's very interesting. Trust Canada to cause a change in headlight
switch design. Blame Canada!    < grin >

Re: "B" compared to  "M" suffix switches. Maybe "M" switch was made to
handle more amps?

This coming from a much less VW knowledgable person and hopefully I"m
not misreading the diagrams but.....

Looking at online conversion tables, comparing the '80-'81 Vanagon to an '87....

From "Lite" switch to one low beam headlight light, '80-'81 uses #12
down to #16. In the '87, it's 2.5 mm to 1.5 mm.  Looking at the online
AWG to mm tables, it seems that the later MY Vanagon uses slightly
larger diameter wires in those examples.

Maybe the "M" switch was made with larger current capabilities so it
could be used in all MY Vanagons up to the magical cut off "T" year
where the wiring changed?

Neil.

On Sun, May 27, 2012 at 10:36 AM, mark drillock <mdrillock@cox.net> wrote:

> Loren, the important difference isn't for version B - M swaps, but for
> version T swaps. According to VW parts data the version T headlight
> switch is for certain of the last Vanagons made but the exact serial
> number when it was introduced is given very differently in different
> places in the same VW documentation.

> There are still other letter versions of the switch not mentioned yet.
>
> Neil was really looking to know if the version M replacement for version
> B was a stronger improved one and that I can't answer.
>
>
> My best guess is that the headlight switch wiring was changed to allow
> DRL system flexibility. Since DRL was a Canadian thing at that point in
> time the switch/wiring change may depend in part on which market the
> particular Vanagon was intended for.
>
> Mark

-- 
Neil n

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