bad electrical problem

[blitzgp]

i made a post earlier about my alarm messing up, but it turns out my whole electrical system is hosed

where should i start...
when the car is turned on, the right fog light, left rear blinker, interior lighting, sunroof, cigarette lighter, drivers-side power window for passenger lower switch, can only arm the alarm from the outside once in a while, cannot disarm alarm from outside, cannot roll up or down windows from outside, cannot unlock gas tank

when turned off, the only working exterior light is the left side running light, everything else is broken the same

im guessing its just a ground or short, but all i have is a chilton with pathetic electrical schematics

if anyone has any ideas or real electrical schematics, please help me

oh yeah, 96 gti vr6

[boschmann]

More than likely the connectors to the rear bulbholder assemblies are corroded. Unplug the harness(es) from the bulbholders to see if any pins are corroded. They can get rusted in place & be very difficult to unplug.

[blitzgp]

what is the little box in the rear passenger side by the tail light? whatever it is was a little wet, and there was some minor corrosion on the right rear connector, but it doesnt look like it wouldnt conduct...

also, there are 3 connectors on the left, but only 2 on the right

[boschmann]

That is probably your door lock pump motor. That is correct for wiring connectors. You pulled them loose from the bulbholder & looked at all the pins, none were rusty?

[blitzgp]

the eight pin connector was slightly corroded, or should i say oxidized

had a slight layer on it, but looked like it would still conduct...
which is surprising because earlier i was having problems with tail lights, brake lights, the whole 9 yards, because of corroded lightbulbs, ad lightbulb slots were corroded... ive never seen a lightbulb corrode on the inside

i tried disconnecting all of the connectors, but i was still having same problem...

now when i lock/unlock doors, i get correct indications though.. lock direction when unlocked will lock and arm it, when in locked direction, will flash the led to tell me its locked

this is pretty difficult without a fluke though

when i first got the car, i couldnt roll the driver side window with the switch, i would have to use the key, but that was due to corrosion inside the switch, fixed now...

then a month ago, it acted like the battery died
car would act like it wanted to start, then would die and lights would go out. the next morning, for shits and giggles, tried to start it again, and it did no problem

right now im gonna try pulling the console off to see if theres anything wrong there

[blitzgp]

quick update...

i was cleaning out the trunk area, dbl checking connections (there are 3 more connections on a plastic holder right below driver's side tail lights, 1 was corroded a little, cleaned), when i saw a connector sitting in a tiny puddle... it was a 2 pin, tangled up in a way that the connector appeared to go down, however, theres nothing to plug it into... so i just plugged it into the tail light piece. so now there are 4 plugs in the passenger taillight piece, and 2 in the passenger side

retesting revealled the following:

passenger fog light and side running light dont work, passenger brake light doesnt work, turn signal doesnt work, but hazards do, alarm doesnt work, interior lights only work when headlights are on (may be how they are supposed to, as i have never ever tried to turn on the interior lights i the daytime), the locking system does not work properly-have to unlock individual doors, but the lock/unlock button inside works, including on the gas tank.

the trunk open light stays lit all the time, but in between cleaning steps, the alarm worked when it was lit, so did the turn signal at that point

im wonndering if that 2 pin connector has anything to do with it, but the tail light piece was perfect reach, and i didnt notice anything else in reach

[boschmann]

Do any of the lights come on dimly? Make sure the ground is good to both tail light bulb holder units. Sorry, I'm not sure about that 2-wire connector. It's been a while since I've looked at one.

[blitzgp]

none of the exterior lights come in dimly, but come to think of it, the interior lights dim a little bit when i was messing with the interior electroics, mainly noticed when i was messing with the lock button

[boschmann]

If it's making a difference to the park lights whether the key is on or off position then I would start to suspect the igition switch. Not all the plugs go to things in the rear, there are several options the US models don't have but the harness is there. The tailgate lock light is probably a bad switch in the latch mechanism.