Re: No "High flash"

[rdh@sli.com (Robert D. Houk)]

   Thanks, Robert!  I will reconnoiter, try the fine abrasive cloth 
   route,  and consider adding a relay system.  Any chance you 
   could send a few words summarizing your relay/harness design for me?

The burnishing tool is *much* better . . .

Most people will mount the relay up front by the headlights, running
a dedicated feed from the conveniently-up-front alternator to the
relay (many such postings recently/archived...).

Being the recalcitrant sort that I am, I did mine completely dif-
ferently...

I ran a dedicated -- and fused -- 10 ga directly from the battery to
the light switch on the instrument binacle, replacing the yellow (?)
10 ga from the ignition switch (just a spade connector, trivial opera-
tion to pop the top cover to get to the light switch -- '83 vintage
anyways...). This now feeds completely stock low-beam wiring, bypas-
sing the ignition switch (which means I can leave my lights on and
kill the battery!).

The high beams I did by "Y"ing off the dedicated 10 ga "lights" wire
and running that to dual-pole relay that I mounted on top of the usual
relay rack that runs along the top of the fuse panel (there are a 
bunch of "slots" that relay sockets snap into to, kinda like a leggo
toy, you can roll your own relay arrangement). I then cut the two
high-beam feeds from the fuse panel and connected them to the relay
now sitting on top of the fuse panel, so the relay now feeds the 
high beams directly (obviating the left and right high beam fuses).
I triggered the relay off of one of the two (left or right, whichever
it happened to be) high beam circuits coming out of the fuse panel.
There are a lot of wires/etc. all hanging out in this area, so be
careful where you try to snap the new relay into place, make sure you
have clearance once everything is reassembled.

Current tracks are now --
  lo beam: battery to fuse to headlights switch to lo/hi switch to
	   fuse panel and fuse to low beams;
  hi beam: battery to fuse to relay to high beams.

Mostly I did the way I did since I was already busy doing other simi-
lar actions in rewiring the UrQ's electricals, and it was easier for
me to just do it this way, and I didn't have to mess with mounting any
relays up by the lights, drilling holes in the body to screw down the
relays, or exposing them to engine compartment heat, winter salt, and
whatnot.

You should also avail yourself of this opportunity to run another dedi-
cated 10 ga from the battery to the #15 fuse to power the radiator fan
directly (and win a volt or two in the process).

Together, these two "fixes" significantly offload your overstressed
fuse panel and will help prevent future meltdowns, and make your car
work *much* better than stock performance, and both are easy to do
(#15 radiator fuse is trivial, headlight switch is trivial and worth
doing whether or not you do the relay route -- my low beams went from
high 9 to high 12 volts!)...

					-RDH

Sorry, can't really provide details like relay socket part number 'cuz
I just went in to the dealer, and pointed to the parts book and said
"one of those" and he gave it to me...they are however all standard off-
the-shelf Audi (ergo VW/etc.) parts readily available. The relay was
similarly a "standard" double-pole 25A relay -- which is I vaguely re-
call used as the "A/C power relay". The rewiring was not a carefully-
planned procedure, I just went in and started debugging the damn thing
and fixed what was obvious and easy without requiring rewiring the
entire mess. (I also ran a dedicated 10 ga bypassing the fuse panel to
the ignition switch; I am now of the opinion that having the lights
bypass the switch is 95% of the win and the new ig switch wiring is not
especially costeffective unless you have a bad feed to the ig switch
itself. The fourth and last 10 ga was to power the assorted trunklette-
mounted electronics for the stereo).  In your favor, the relay sockets
etc. all use modular snap-in wire terminations (aka "spade lugs") which
your dealer should also have in abundance; I crimp and then solder all
connections 'cuz I'm a paranoid cynic, and I don't want to have to redo
it again in five years.