People were not telling you to replace the light switch blindly... The headlight
switch is a well known weak link that has a limited life span, fails routinely,
and leaves you with no lights when it does fail, so it is foresight, not
blindness, that motivated those who advised its replacement.     If your
ignition switch was bad, the headlight switch will likely go, too.   Sounds to
me like you are blindly refusing to replace a part till it fails...
steve

Leif wrote:

> I'd like to thank all list members for your suggestions, and even the list
> member who called me hard headed.  I am glad I went with my assesment that
> the headlight switch in the dash WAS NOT in need of replacement.  I removed
> the ignition switch and carefully dis-assembled it.  There was some black
> marks inside indicating something had shorted, also the contacts were quite
> worn.  I guess I am a little hard headed but I fail to see the logic in just
> replacing parts blindly without determining which part, precisely, has
> failed.  Maybe that's why they won't hire me down at the local Volkswagon
> dealership.  I bought an ignition switch for $27, installed it and bingo,
> that was it.  Thanks again to all of you,  This list is priceless.
>
> Leif Paulsen
> '86 Syncro "4BY-THOR"