List of electrical problems with new car..!!

Heater not working, presumed button (anyone have the part number?)

Rear lights intermittant with the occasional front light blinking off?!

Instrument panel not lit, although the road lights button seams to glow, could that be glow or light?!

Cheers guys, love the new car just a few issues to sort!

Instrument panel not lit could be just the bulbs need replacing and the lights and heater may be something as simple as the connectors behind the switches being loose or corroded
take the dash out ( you have to anyway to check bulbs behind intrument panel ) and check all the connectors including the eatrh terminals next to the fusebox and the connections on the fusebox itself cleaning and tightening where needed
hope this helps

Yeah and check the earths not corroded to the rear lights too. Its just inside the boot on the left hand side.
The headlight probs could be because of corroded wires or terminals to the headlighs themselves. Pull the plug off and have a look.

Oh and obviously you know about the dimmer switch for the dash? Next to the headlight switch.

and the dash lights are not very bright i thought mines was broken untill the late nights came in ops:

opentopvw said

take the dash out ( you have to anyway to check bulbs behind intrument panel )

what? dnt take the dash out just take the panel off the front of the heater cotrol

Cheers guys,
i think when i went through the receipts and history of the car its had exactly all that work already done, lights changed, looked at, dash out for bulbs etc so im a little bit scared, earth hasnt been checked and could deffinatly be the source, it was repainted so possible corrosion could of got under these earth points..

Awesome little car though, dead chuffed. As soon as i got onto the motorway i got a nod from a bloke driving past!!

Hello mate,
I had a very similar list of faults to yours when i bought mine about six weeks ago. In the end all the electrical faults were down to a selection of loose or old and dirty connectors ( dont bother cleaning them just cut them off and replace with new ones). I tried to clean them up but they d just become loose so replacement is best.
Rear lights was the earth inside the back panel, recently painted too. Replaced the earth ring and scratched back the paint to give a better contact. Another problem was the earth connections behind the fuse box, again loose connectors wanted replacing there.
Work on one thing at a time and fixing one seemed to cure some others too. Its a bit daunting taking them all on together but as you pick them off one by one it all seems a little easier. Good luck mate.

Cheers you lot, really decent bunch! Im sitting in the car now looking at some burnt wires leading into the lights switch so that solves quite a few problems hopfully, i also need to re grind the earth as its a really shitty attempt at doing it after a paints been layed down!

Heater switch, the mystery is that you will turn the switch and the revs die slightly so you know something electrical is putting strain on the alternator. That one will have to wait for the mo!

EDIT

Im looking at the lights switch and ive found a grey wire loose, with two ends, one goes into the switch block and the other presmably goes into this big black block jointed onto a black wire with a white stripe. Where abouts does is this grey wire ment to be in the switch block!!?

the heater switch problem im assuming you mean the fan speed control switch. Normally what happens is the fan motor seizes, this will then cause the engine to dip a bit when you turn the fan on. You can sometimes get away with spraying a load of wd40 in the fan motor houseing(scuttle tray below windscreen) and at the same time get a screwdriver or something and push the blades round with the fan switch on. If not you will have to take it out and and replace it, the motors are still sold from places like europarts i think.

Aswesome cheers, had a good night tonight fiddled with some wires and the fuse box and the lights all work, inc handbrake light and the dash lights (truly crapily though!) Just the rears didnt come on for a bit so ill be grinding in all the earths on the car.
Rear
Fuse's earth

Any others?

I had the same problem with thte heaters as you in my old yellow mk1. As already said, it was a seized fan. Got a new one from GSF.
www.gsfcarparts.com
think it was about ?60 but dont quote me on that.

WD40 solved it! Still a little bit squeeky now and then but ive got 3 speeds!

Lights, the rear lights are still intermitant, the earth is fine in the boot, checked with a multimeter and cleaned. Cant find the fusebox earth!!?

Ordered a new idle control screw but its got to some from grrrrmany so will have to sit like a melon in traffic at 2k revs, managed to get it just down to 1k revs and put her on the AFR, she was running at 13.2:1 so changed it to 14.5 (thought id stay the richer side of 14.7..!!) and she has a little more grunt on wide open throttle, shouldnt last long as i think ill be doing the 20v t route in the summer !!! http://www.qpeng.com/ have been an awesome help!