Another almost perfect day...

Don Giovanoni · Post by **Don Giovanoni** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 1:37 am

Today's weather in the St. Louis area was great, low 80s with very low humidity. Hit the back roads this afternoon and had a blast. Did some exploring (took the GPS just in case) and found some fantastic Manx roads with great scenery. Miss being at Big Bear this year, but had our own Posey Sniffer ride. Just wonderful. Almost perfect as another brake light switch failed. I checked the lights in the garage and found they were not working again. &^%$*# Chinese junk parts. This is the second switch to die. I just ordered a OE German switch and hope it will live longer. Luckily nobody rear ended me to ruin a great day. Hope everyone else had a good buggy day, at Big Bear or close to home.

newmanx59 · Post by **newmanx59** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 2:47 am

Don, If you continue to have problems, you might want to run the brake lights thru a relay. I have about 12,000 miles on my switch.....now that I jinxed it, I had better buy a new switch.

1856 · Post by **1856** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 1:20 pm

Don, Carol and I did the same. The smoke from the NorCal fires is still bad but the coast was nice ...

fubar · Post by **fubar** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 4:17 pm

The parts guy at my local money pit said the reason the switches fail is that they take on water, etc in the buggies where as in the bugs they have more protection. The last switch I bought prior to installing I coated around the conections with 5 minute epoxy. Everything but the threads and conectors, no problems so far going on two years. Yesterday I toured downtown Portland in the buggy, it was about 90'. Went for Thai food and hit the Albina Rose Gardens, then tried to find the shady way home.

Don Giovanoni · Post by **Don Giovanoni** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 12:52 am

Good idea about sealing. I still think the $2.99 switches are junk. I will use silicone sealer on the OEM VW one just in case!

fubar · Post by **fubar** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 3:27 am

I don't claim to be an expert on sealants, but have seen silicone fail with UV exposure, etc. Better than nothing but would suggest at least a urethane based goo if you want it to last. I used some hobby shop 5 minute epoxy because I am inpatient and wanted to ride the sumbitch. I have also experienced multiple failures with Ford voltage regulators that have not been dunked in some sort of goo, a cheap napa regulator on the Pinto buggy lasts about 3 minutes vs an OEM or the high dollar one they sell. Perhaps the OEM VW switches worked that out?