Early Golf - Dash lighting and Blower queries

My main binnacle pod lights up fine, but the heater control does not. It had no bulb holder so I installed one, connected the grey/blue wire but nothing worked. I replaced the bulb holder for a known working one but still nothing. Should their be a earth wire from the other side of the bulb?, if so, where is its earth point? and if this is required, is their a different type of bulb holder as mine only seem able of connecting a cable one side?



I seem to have 3 unused grey/blue wires. I intend to use 1 of them for the above, but where should the others connect?. 2 of them have the small 'bulb connector' terminations, but the other has a larger spade type connector?



My blower only works on one speed. The earth wire are connected directly on to the back of the speed connector using spades, there is no connector plug. One of the earths is from the blower motor, the other goes into the loom, Which ever of the positions I connect the other earth determines which of the 3 positions starts the blower (hope that makes sense). Is this correct?



None of the wiring appears cut or tampered with.

Below is a few general pics of the wiring behind the dash. Incase someone spots anything relevant.

Anyone?

The Blue stripped Gray wire is for Dash illumination, it is controlled by the headlight switch's rheostat (dimmer).
I wouldn't use that wire for any other item but a bulb.

As the ends of them are 12V+ they should have insulation or heat shrink over them so they don't blow a fuse if they are plugged in or not.
There is one that should be going to the switches above your heater fascia, that is the demister switch, 4-way hazard so there are your 3 wires that aren't "being used?".

The Blower motor switch should of had a connector on it.  if you have a 3 speed motor then you should have 4 wires to the switch, that is one main 12V+ in, and then 3 wires going to the motor.  The motor is usually isolated from ground, as it is in a rubber mount, and is separately grounded via the Connector that is usually on the left side high on the heater box.

It could be that your blower motors resistor is bad, and they worked around it.  The fact that the motor runs is showing that it is more a wiring issue to the motor, than the switch.  The switch only having 2 wires one Feed in and one feed out is why you only have a single sped and all the others don't work.

The Best thing that you can do is to source a Bentley or Haynes for the older style rabbit/golf and learn the wiring diagrams.
If I can find my old Gasser Rabbit book, I can look at the wiring diagrams.

It  appears that the early Golfs had a 2 speed motor for the fresh air fan.  It  shows 2 wires into the switch with one wire having a resistor on it both are Brown so Early Golfs/rabbits pre-77 are varying ground to the motor the 12V feed in to the motor is from f11 which also would feed a glove box light.

The 12V feed to the motor is via a solid red that is tied to a black/red from the fuse.  

Newer Golf's /Cabriolets feed varying 12V+ (via the heater resistor) to a solid ground wire to the motor.

It shows that a resistor is on or in the switch as on later Golfs the resistor is on the motor and being cooled by fresh air….

I couldn't find my early Bentley, but found my Haynes VW Rabbit, Golf, Jetta, Scirocco, Pickup 1975-1992 All Gassers book number 96016.

On a side note, you should place heat shrink over any unshielded wire connector, as this will prevent stray grounding of the wire and possibly eliminate a electrical fire or blown fuse.  

It is very common for the later Cabriolets to blow the fuse for the turns when playing with the Cluster or removing the hazard switch because of the 2 bare wires on the switch.

If your Dash lights aren't working (blue stripped Grey), then check your fuses first, then the headlight switch.

Thanks Briano, I'll digest all that info you've just given me lol

if your bulb holder only has 1 connection, it is designed to earth thru whatever you are fitting it to,. since your heater panel is plastic, that wont work

so you need to find a bulb holder that has 2 connections, or earth the bulb holder casing somehow. then run the earth to the dash harness or chassis somewhere. the brown wires in the harness are all earths have a good dig around you'll probably find the missing earth for the heater bulb tucked back there somewhere.

look at all the dash switches, ciggy lighter and radio connections these are where you will generally find bulbs, check the clocks too. might be the looms were 'multi-fit' and you just dont have all the bulbs that were possible. early switches dont tend to be illuminated, maybe some were on 'deluxe;' models? plus theres no rev counter that would have had a bulb in it if it was fitted. insulate any spare spades and tuck them safe so they cant short as mentioned by Briano.

very early mk1s dont have plug housings for many of the switches so I'm not surprised your blower doesnt have a plug, what year is it exactly? the earliest diagram I have to hand is 1979. It has a black/red live to the switch, labelled + or X. Then you have white to pin 1, yellow/black to pin 2 and yellow to pin 3 which all go to the motor. It shows a 1 pin and 2 pin spade plug between the switch and motor loom, so have a look for that. the motor itself is earthed, no earth to the blower switch.

if yours is earlier than that let me know and I'll check my haynes when I get chance

Thanks Jonny.
I've ordered a bulb holder that is used in the centre console VDOs as that looks like the same quarter turn fitting with 2 connections. I'll earth the second connection to the back of the clocks.
As for the blower issue, I think it has been replaced at some point with the later series 1 fascia, I need to look for the early fascia and controller as per pic.

ah that would explain it yes, what year is your mk1 exactly?

tbh it might be easier to rewire it to suit the later knob and convert fan to late style than to find an early slider unit like that which still works! probably the reason it went missing in the first place

rubjonny I got the heater panel to illuminate using the method in my previous post, so my whole dash illuminated perfectly. Unfortunately, whilst I was taping up some cables, the power and earth cables to the heater panel both slipped out my hands and swung onto the exposed top of the ignition barrel. There was a spark, and now I have no dash lighting at all. I have the early fuse box, and I don't appear to have blown any fuses.  The headlight switch still works on the external headlights, and the interior light still works. Is their a dedicated fuse somewhere for the dash lights?

Sorted it. Luckily I had spare headlight switch. Tried that, and all good again 👍

big problem with mk1 golf up to around 85-is is the dash lighting feed isnt fused, big mistake on VWs part there really. Might be an idea to insert one inline with the headlight switch