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Lights pop up but do not come on.

 
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FFNPMcD  



Joined: 15 Aug 2013
Posts: 19
Location: Richmond, Va.

PostPosted: Thu May 24, 2018 12:51 am    Post subject: Lights pop up but do not come on. Reply with quote

Trying to diagnose a problem with my headlights. The lights come up but do not illuminate. If I pull the high beam switch the brights light but only if I hold the switch.
It appears my fuses are good, so I'm lead to believe I have a bad headlight switch or the turn/high beam stalk is bad. How do I determine which it is?
Or... Perhaps I'm missing another potential issue.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Neill
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1987 924s
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Fasteddie313  



Joined: 29 Sep 2013
Posts: 2596
Location: MI

PostPosted: Thu May 24, 2018 2:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My electrics did a lot of weird things and I just decided to pull all of my switches apart, clean and grease, inspect for and remove corrosion, etc..

IIRC my headlight switch did have a bad contact that I was able to clean up, and the steering wheel stalks were the trickier ones to reassemble, but all of these switches can actually be taken apart and put back together, they are actually "user serviceable"..

The only switches I never got to work 100% are the darn window switches!!
I must have been through them 20 times and could just never get them to all work perfectly at the same time..
I bought all 3 brand new ones, they are still in their baggy..
I'm sure I will install them after I am returning from my first test drive with the door open a bit so I don't suffocate from the heat, lol..

Other than going through the switches cleaning the contacts on the fuses themselves and the fuse contacts on the board..

Take like a drill bit or a deburring bit and by hand drill them on the fuse contacts on the board a bit, to expose fresh metal..
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Eric P  



Joined: 21 Jun 2017
Posts: 175
Location: NY, USA

PostPosted: Fri Jun 01, 2018 1:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My headlights and turn signals didn't work right when I bought my car either. There are a few things it could be.

First, before I go into detail, buy a manual. Used Haynes manuals will run you about $10 on that internet auction site we all have a love/hate relationship with. You know the one. For that price, you'll save yourself tons of headaches.

Now on to troubleshooting:
- check that all the fuses are in place, not burned out, and the contacts are clean. Corroded fuse contacts is a really common issue and fairly easy to fix. With the headlight switch on, check for power at the fuse block with a multimeter. Note that you will only have power at either the high beam fuses (fuses 3 and 4) or low beam fuses (fuses 1 and 2) at the same time. They cannot have power at both due to the headlight dimmer relay. You should have close to 12v on one side of the fuse. No power at fuses indicates a bad switch or relay.

Here is a fuse block diagram:



Check the ground on the left side frame rail near the radiator. This is where your headlights are grounded. A bad ground = no lights.

Check to make sure your bulbs are good.

Note that if you suspect the turn signal switch, a VW switch is considerably cheaper than the Porsche switch and is the same exact thing. I bought one brand new for about $16 and it fixed multiple issues with my headlights and turn signals. EDIT: Whoops! I was thinking early model. The S model doesn't share the VW switch. At least not the same one I was thinking of.

Hopefully that gives you a starting point to start your troubleshooting. If you shoot me a private message, and I can send over a picture of the headlight wiring diagram tonight if you're interested.
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1980 924 NA, US model
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curtisr  



Joined: 07 Apr 2012
Posts: 98
Location: Kingston, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 9:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Were it one light I would say I know what the trouble is. Given that this isn't the case, this may not help but here goes anyway.

One of the wires leading to the lamp was broken thanks to years of twisting when the light is operated.
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