electrical issue

[will81vw]

Hi I'm having some electrical issues with my '81 rabbit. First my rear defogger stopped working, then climate fan, and now window wipers all within a short period. At least in the case of the rear defogger the fuse is fine, I was having trouble finding the other fuses. You guys know these cars so well, I was hoping maybe you could point me to something like a common ground that might have failed or where to start looking. I'm not very electricaly savy unfortunately, so please bear with me. Thank you!

[TylerDurden]

The grounds on a vintage car often need TLC... there are a few under the dash and near the fusebox, plus the main ones in the engine compartment.

Is there any leaking at the windshield? Water leaks have often shorted the fusebox. They can sometimes be fixed, but the easy solution for that is finding another fusebox if/when you can.

[will81vw]

Thanks! I gather that I need to check and clean the grounds with a wire brush. Hopefully I'll be able to find them.

No leaks in the windshield anymore, but it has been very moist inside due to a sunroof leak wetting the carpets. Wouldn't changing a fusebox take forever to rewire?

[WorldA]

Giant holes behind the drivers side fender will kick water into the rabbit fuse box as well via dripping and drainage of said slosh. If you havent looked behind the drivers side fender try there as well. Sounds like ground or water short for sure. Very common on vw mk1 where salt is used on the roads . Flexing of the car opens up the seams to rust from what I have seen and improperly lifting the car can begin the rot up and then under the fenders where eventually water gets splashed in .

[bscutt]

check the X relay, it kils power to the blower, wipers, radio when cranking. it may be going bad or corroded

[Fatmobile]

I think the heater fan ground is behind the fuse box.
Could also be a bad relay,.. doesn't work on high.
Or a bad resistor pack,.. works on high but nothing else.

[will81vw]

Thank you bscutt for pointing me to the X relay, that turned out to be the problem. Got a new one and everything works again.

[bscutt]

Nice! I had one go bad due to the fusebox getting soaked and corroding the relay, ended up replacing the fusebox and relay to cure it. Was lucky to find a fusebox on ebay for cheap in good shape. That was on my 80 Rabbit, haven't had any electrical problems on my 82 (fortunately!)

[Thomas M]

I hope this video might help with your ground issues. Although you have probably gotten past this issue, this is still good information for cleaning up your engine bay grounds and checking out your alternator. Good luck with your work !!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11jbHS4 ... e=youtu.be

Thomas
Vancouver, WA

PS: Chrisfix is the greatest !!