smoke out of dash HELP! pls

Hi there i went out driving in ny car when the LED light fell down from behind the fan switch and instument and then it blew.  About 20mins later i got a burnin smell and loads of smoke cumin out of the dash so i switched it off and bailed out of the car waited a min and popped the bonnet cos the car was overheating a little bit but nothin.  so i pushed it into a carpark and started too look at the wires behind my dash and found a wire that had burnt that goes to my head light switch.  i have followed the wire back and i think it goes back to this LED What could it be.  My lights are still workin but i have no dash lights.  And the dash light dimmer switch feelsruff to turn it is not smooth no more.  Will this need a new headlight switch, a couple of bulbs and a new wire.  Cheers Phil

Phil,
   The headlamp switch smoking is a common problem and its best to change it to be on the safe side. I got mine form GSF and it was only about ?6.00 for some reason.

The bulb that illuminates the heater slider controls will cause your fuse to blow and smoke if it touches against the metal work of the dash. (I've done it so many times!!).

Change the switch, check your fuse and put some tape round the bulb holder to provide better 'grip' so it won't fall out again.

Dan

cheers mate ill try that tomorow Phil

Phil - you have burnt the light/dark blue dash light wire that powers all of the dash bulbs.  If you check behind the heater panel you will find part of this wire.  For some reason VW did not fuse this circuit and I've seen many Mk1's with this wire overheated.

You'll be ok if the wire has not burnt through to an earth or another circuit.  This had happened onmy Campaign before I had it.  I ended up replacing the wire in the end.

Cheers

Rich

Yup, it's the blue-grey wire….here is the source of my dashfire: 8O


Note that there is a junction of wires behind the instrument panel that the wiring diagrams show, but do not indicate where it is physically located.  I included a photo in this brief writeup of the mess.
http://www.vwgolfmk1.o…=0&postorder=asc&start=10

I replaced the headlight switch and virtually every inch of the blue/grey wire as it was fried from the ashtray to the switch…..bleah. :?  

Everything works now…..but scary stuff, you know?

cheers for ur help i still need to get it sorted and i have been drivin with no lights for the time bein and it was very scary, yes it is that grey and blue wire.  Cheers phil