electrical guru help please 8v to vr6 conversion

[Tuccy]

Hey all, swapped my g/f`s gti 8v for a vr6 lump a while back..

all went well, except for one weird little prob we are having..

HEADLIGHTS???!!!!!!

with the ignition OFF
if i turn the light control knob to sidelights position they work ok (ONLY the side lights illuminate)

with ignition on (car not started)
if i turn the light control knob to sidelights position they work ok (side lights illuminated) but also dip beam illuminates on too???
even though the light switch is only at sidelight position..

we have used the vr6 fuse/relaybox, engine loom etc but still has the 8v lighting loom
Any pointers as to what could be causing this please??

have i got something plugged into the wrong place or something??
trying to work this out from the wiring diagrams is a nightmare so though id ask some of you knowledgable folks on here before i go that route....

thanks in advance Tuccy aka Thomas

[Wayne]

Is that not normal: http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=141242.0

[Tuccy]

Is that not normal: http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=141242.0

i dont think so buddy

this never happened before when the gti 8v was fitted, this makes me think ive stuffed up somewhere with the wiring,,,

before the conversion
first position on the light switch brought on the sidelights, second position the dip,
if we had sidelights turned on then we turned the ignition on this still only kept the sidelights on, to get dip you would have to turn the light switch round to dip position.. ""this seems to be normal i expect"

after conversion
first position on the light switch brought on the sidelights,
if we had sidelights turned on then we turned the ignition on this now also lights the dip lights even tho the switch is still at the sidelight position

at the moment
assuming the car is ticking over with dip beam on (ie the light switch at dip beam position)
and we then try to turn the dip beam off by turning the light switch to the sidelight position,, you would expect the dip to go off and the sidelights to remain on, however the dip remains lit...as-if the swich is still in the dip position even tho its not??

so basicially with ignition on it doesnt matter whether the switch is in sidelight or dip position we always have sidelights and dip beam on.

if the ignition is off the  switch appears to work normally,
it almost seems as-if the ignition switch if switching the dip beam on instead of the light switch, this is why i though id stuffed wires or relays up somewhere

sorry for going on a bit, its alot harder to explain in text lol
cheers thomas

[VR6-Joe]

With the ignition on.. put the sidelights on. The sidelight bulbs will light up.. and so should the headlight bulbs (but only very dim)

Now turn the headlight switch onto the dipped beam position.. do the headlight bulbs get brighter??

[Tuccy]

With the ignition on.. put the sidelights on. The sidelight bulbs will light up.. and so should the headlight bulbs (but only very dim)

Now turn the headlight switch onto the dipped beam position.. do the headlight bulbs get brighter??

No joe the dip are either full bright on or completely off, there isnt the dim dayglow effect.

had the dip came on dim with the sidelights i would have understood,
i dont remember seeing the dim dip resister during the install, maby thats what im missing then
im sure the 8v didnt have dayglow, but maby the vr6 ecu relay/fuse box expects it?

what ya think???

[VR6-Joe]

Hmm tricky one

The dayglo resister is located in the drivers side front corner of the engine bay, normally underneath the airbox

[Tuccy]

yeah tricky joe

thanks for your input tho, you got me thinking??!!??

im now thinking that the donor car the vr6 engine etc came from prob had the dayglow resister etc and the lights prob functioned like your saying,

but

seeing as i used the vr6 ecu,engine loom and fuse/relaybox, but i kept the 8v lighting loom im now thinking maby the 8v lighting loom doesnt facilitate the dayglow feature,, if my hunch is right due to the dayglow resister being missing ie(dayglow not installed on the 8v light loom) it would seem that maby the vr6 wiring/fusebox is sending the current to the non existing inline resister of the 8v lighting loom, therefore no resister = no resistance and hence the dip is full brightness..

ummmm i think you`ve maby helped me twig onto whats up joe
many thanks,

will investigate later when my gf gets back from work,,,

dont suppose anyone knows the ohm value of the resister???

[GuessWho]

No, you problem is, you used the VR fusebox, which allows the sidelights to light up the headlights dimly, but the VR6 Golf had a dayglo resistor, because your 8V didn't have this, the lights are on full.

You need to find the link in the fuse box (some cars it's as simple as a bit of shaped metal) and remove it. I'll have a look at my dads car later but it's a bit difficult with the headlights he has.

It's normal with the VR fusebox, the VR6 would have done this but the headlights would have lit dimly, because of the resistor it had, yours doesn't have one so you get full effect.

[Tuccy]

No, you problem is, you used the VR fusebox, which allows the sidelights to light up the headlights dimly, but the VR6 Golf had a dayglo resistor, because your 8V didn't have this, the lights are on full.

You need to find the link in the fuse box (some cars it's as simple as a bit of shaped metal) and remove it. I'll have a look at my dads car later but it's a bit difficult with the headlights he has.

It's normal with the VR fusebox, the VR6 would have done this but the headlights would have lit dimly, because of the resistor it had, yours doesn't have one so you get full effect.

thats what i figured,
after alot of cross referencing between vr6 and gti schematics i discovered the headlight  switches are also different, they look the same on the outside but the poles inside are different, i then discovered that the vr6 switch livened up a pole when the ignition was switched on, it was this pole that was sending the current to the (not present dayglow resister) but due to the resister being absent in the gti (no resister=no-resistance) hence the lights were coming on full glow, we traced this back and realised there was a simple too eliminte this extra pole in the vr6 switch without opening the switch itself, just disconnect a wire behind the fusebox to elliminate this prob just like you mentioned..

whats,, really weird is when the resister isnt fitted you would expect that circuit to be open circuit,
nope for some strange reason vw decided to leave the resister out yet still make the circuit closed thats what really threw me..lol

anyhow prob solved all good now:@)
thanx to all for your input
Tuccy

[GuessWho]

No problems.

That's interesting, cars with dayglo have different switches to those that don't.

I'd have thought it'd have been an open circuit too....

So there must be four different UK headlight switches.

Fogs,no dayglo.
No fogs, no dayglo.
Fogs with dayglo.
No fogs with dayglo.