Indicator relay problems

[luke]

This week ive been fitting my taillights and have had many problems but theres one which has got me stumped! I wired up the taillights and one side wouldnt work at all, so i traced the wiring back only to find a massive melted part with all the wired melted togeather just beneith the battery. I cut the wires off about an inch before the melt and crimped on a bunch of new wires and ran them to the lights, after testing all was good exept none of the indicators flashed, whenever i tried the dashboard indictor lights just lit up, no flashing. Suspecting the relay i went off the GSF this morning and got a new relay, fitted it and tryed it, the left rear indicator worked fine, the right one didnt and the relay was flashing extra fast so i tryed the hazards and nothing......then smoke rose out of the relay and it wont work. Does anybody have any ideas? i dont realy want to try trial and error because at £7.50+vat for each relay i blow i could soon be skint, cheers in advance, luke.

Bus :1972 crossover deluxe, RHD, with 3 prong flasher relay

 

[noddy]

Sounds like your drawing too much current, have you check that the fuse is the correct type (it wont solve the problem but if its the right amp it will blow before the relay melts).

Usual this sort of problem is due to a run to earth somewhere in the circuit, and with a fuse thats too big it keeps the circuit open, and melts the next easiest thing after the fuse.

Either that or the circuit is unfused and pulling full power to earth.

 

[luke]

cheers is there anyway of checking which fuse it applys to and which fuse should be there, its annoying because it worked fine before it was welded/sprayed

 

[noddy]

depends on year of model, for a 1970 lhd its fuse number 9 position, left most being no 1 position, right most being 12.

If your bus is rhd you will need a haynes manual for the electrical wiring diagram, if lhd look here for wiring info, http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/wiringt2.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

You need to find where the wire is either melted through to another wire of where it is contacting the body, are you sure every thing was connected back up correctly after your respray?

 

[oneday!]

Hay luke

make sure that the connections are round the right way on your indicators as will work fine when not screwed to the van
but when connected will short causing your relay to over heat

 

[luke]

thanks for the help all, in the end i found a wire hanging off the back on the fusebox and after refitting and cleaning up all the connections and putting new bulbs in all is well