Vw Incompetence!!!

I took my 95 jetta to VW and they knew ABSOLUTELY nothing. It took them 4 1/2 hours to say "we cant figure out the problem." I paid $300 for them to tell me what i already knew. He ended up saying that it might be the fuse box, but he doesnt know for sure. I thought we pay them good money for a reason...but i guess not. Anyway... Does anyone know where to get a cheap fuse box???

That don't have a flat diagnosis fee? Down here it's equivalent to an hour's labor.

What was the problem?

I keep blowing fuses for the brake lights, so i dont have brake lights at all. There was no diagnosis fee, and on top of it all, it was an 18 year old kid working on my car who had to keep asking his neighbor ?s.

Did they pull the electrical connectors from the tail light bulb holder assemblies? That's a fairly common place for such problems, as they are prone to corrosion.

They did pull the connector on the bulb holders, and they were corroded, but he said that wasnt the problem. Any other suggestions before i spend $300 ???

I've never seen any similar problems be the fuse block. Did they check the high mount light unit also? The circuit is pretty basic, one thing you could do is disconnect the red/black wire from the brake light switch & see if it still blows fuses. Also you can pull all 5 brake light bulbs & check the resistance of the red/black wire at the switch to ground, it should be infinite (open). Or you can use a simple test light connected to battery positive, if it lights or glows the wiring is shorted to ground.

PART 1: I dont really know what they tested, besides the things i tried myself. On top of all the pre dealer probs, when they gave it back to me, the reverse lights, license plate lights, and the power remote trunk button do not work...and they said its not their fault and wont fix it. Should i unplug the wire from the brake light switch or from the fuse box?

PART 2: I unplugged the wire right from the brake light switch and the fuse did NOT blow! woo hoo. What does that mean?

It sure sounds like there's something wrong back there. Unpluging the connector from the switch only proves it's okay between the fuse & the switch. The red/black wire makes a trip back through the fuse block then goes to each brake light. I would plug the brake light switch back in & unplug the connectors on both of the left & right side brake bulb holder units (that's 4 connectors). Look carefully at the plugs for broken pins, etc.... See if it blows the fuse when you push the brake pedal then.

Yeah, the fuse still blows with the 4 connectors unplugged. The male plugs seem to look fine. ???

Well, your slowly tracking down the short. It gets a little tricky here, the problem is in that red/black wire between the brake light switch & the plugs for the left brake lights. Unfurtunately it does make a detour through the fuse block (just in & out). There are two ways to go about this: 1) run a new wire, 2) track the existing wire. If you want to run a new wire it needs to be cut in from the red/black at the brake light switch & be run back to the red/black at the outer left brake light (note that this is a double red/black as one of the wires travels over to the right side lights. You will also have to run the same wire over to the inner left brake light. The old wires at the left lights from the brake switch have to be cut.

The other thing to do is to follow the red/black from the switch to the fuse block, it goes in on connector E, pin #3 and comes out on connector K, pin #4. You would need to clip the wires one at a time at each point while checking to see if the fuse blows when you press the brakes to see when you've cut out the short. You can even run a jumper eliminating the fuseblock to see if the short is in there. Somewhere in that wire either to the fuse block or to the rear lights there is a short to ground. This can be a pain so often it's easier to run new wiring.

Part 1 : Thanks for the help again, but could it be JUST the fuse box like vw said, or is it the wiring for sure? because you seem to know more than vw. And if i run new wire, will i need 4 seperate runs of wire, 2 for the left and 2 for the right? Or do i splice and split the wire?

Part 2. I dont know if you remember or not, but i said that the previous owner put 30A fuses in instead of 10A fuses. I caught the problem too late. Is it still the wiring?

No, you don't need to run 4 wires. Just one wire from the black/red on the switch to the outer left brake light. Note, the old wire needs to be cut out. That means cutting it at the switch & at both of the left brake lights (the wire splits in the harness & runs to both of the left lights). On the left outer you will notice the black/red has two wires, one from the switch & one that goes over to the right lights. Only cut the one from the switch then run a new wire for the left inner. I assume you have checked all the bulbs (including high mounted) for the wrong bulb or being jammed in crooked, etc.... Just one other thought, when you cut the red black coming out of the switch plug the switch back in & make sure the fuse doesn't blow, meaning the switch is shorted.

Thanks ill try it. Do you know anything about the power trunk, reverse lights or the license plate lights and why they dont work? ALSO... if i rewire the whole thing, wont i be bypassing the fuse? and can i do that?

No, the fuse is before the brake light switch. I really think you should thoroughly check the wiring in your trunk area. Also try to find the ground wires where they attach to the body at the left side of the trunk compartment.

I looked in the trunk area for about an hour, and i checked out the grounds too. i stripped the whole trunk out and couldnt find anything. But you know that it isnt the fuse box?

Here's the flow of power: From the battery, to the fuse box (fuse), to the brake light switch, back to the fuse block (only internal connection), to the brake lights. The fuse didn't blow when you disconnected the switch so it's not shorted before that. I asked you to clip the red/black at the switch to prove it's not the switch. You pulled all the connectors @ the lights & it still blew so it's not in the bulbholders. Therefore, it has to be in the red/black wire where it goes back (through the box) to the taillights. The easiest thing to do is follow my earlier post & eliminate this section of wiring to the lights.

Sorry, i am a little confused on the wiring. so out of the brake light switch then to the outer left or inner left? and then to the right side?

Thanks a lot Boschmann. I took your advise and rewired the lights and BAM! it worked. I have working brakes now. Thanks again. Stupid dealership.