Head light switch.

Hi, just checking over the golf after a rebuild to see what works for the 1st time since 2012, pre checks before start-up. And the headlight switch works correctly for the head lights but the dash oil pressure light comes on flashing with the battery light on too. This is without the ignition key in too. Pretty sure it's not meant to do this but really can't remember to be honest…. Any ideas where I balls'd up during the rebuild? It's an 83 gti btw.  Any help is appreciated! 

check the dash earth to the side of the head if its an MFA car, look for brown/white wire with spade. the other end of this goes thru the engien loom to a female spade behind the fusebox, this needs to be plugged into a matchign spade on the dash harness

Cheers will do……. On a more positive note I've managed to start the engine for the 1st time…. Happy days! 

Checked the earth as suggested and its good, I've put a second in behind the dash for good measure. The rev count now works, smoothly, but the warning lights are still misbehaving.

- When it fires up ticking over the battery warning light stays on with the oil light flashing.

- Same with headlights on ignition off, no key in barrel. 

I've measured charge at the battery terminals when on and it's good so happy that's not an issue. I took photos on strip down, engine bay, when everything worked and it all matches up now.

I'm a kinda stuck now as to what to look at, any suggestions? 

oil light at idle is handled by the brown or blue switch in the side of the head, it should have a yellow wire. if you unplug this the light should go out.

the battery light is fed off the blue wire near the battery +, theres a spade plug here where the wire from the alternator pin D+ connects to so check all of that over. if the blue wire is shorted to ground it will bring the battery light on all the time. I'm assuming your battery voltage is showing around 14v when the engine is running yes?

you should only have sidelights with light switch on and key out, check your light switch wiring round the back. the red wire(s) are permanent live and should go to pin 30 on the ignition switch, the black/yellow wire(s) are ignition live and go to pin X

Thanks rubJ… Without the key in it is just the side lights as it should be. I've taken the spade off of the low oil pressure switch and the light on the dash goes out. Does this mean the switch is broken? Should replacing it fix that issue or have I a wiring fault? 

Not looked at the alt wiring yet, no more time today unfortunately. 

its either the switch is wrong, broken, or you really have low oil pressure in the head!

it should be a 0.3 or 0.24 bar rated switch, OEM VW ones are blue or brown (not black!)

Hmm, it's brown but I'll replace it anyhow.

It's probably worth knowing the engine has been fully refurbished with new oil pump etc. This is the first start since its rebuild. The dipstick is showing correct oil level having put 10/40 in, just under 4lt. Before starting I primed the pump turning it over by hand and then fired it up. Could this be part of the problem? 

if the oil pump was put on dry they can struggle to self-prime, its recommended to put a blob of vaseline in the pickup then pour oil in the top till its full before fitting.

if you pull the coil wiring you can crank it over on starter till it primes up, or if you remove the dizzy you can make some kind of adaptor to run the oil drive off a drill

if you take the switch out and its pretty oily that suggests you have good oil flow at the head, if it comes out dry then possibly not!

thanks for pointing me in the right directio! Took the switch out and it was dry, so had the sump off, taken the oil pump out and that was dry too. Got the Vaseline out and primed the pump, spun the engine over and the light instantly goes out. Happy days. Just gotta sor t the battery light nd I'll be booking an mot…. 

welcome