My saga of my mysterious interior lights and odd behaving electrics has come to a close.

When I took delivery of the car last week, none of my interior lights worked with the exception of the map light in the manual position.
When I selected either door light to open with the door pin (manually via with the black switch), both bulbs dimmed indicating a short somewhere.
After a week of fiddling, I was finally able to get all of my interior lights up and running and I am quickly finding out how these cars can get a bad rep for electrical issues due to people with a poor skill-set working on them.

From what I can best tell, the previous owner attempted to hook up a new map light (as mine is brand new with a shiny bright white made in germany sticker), but did not hook it back up correctly.
That caused a chain reaction (insert panic here) which made him reverse the passenger door circuit which in turn shorted out the entire circuit (#24).
He then turned his wisdom to the dome light and had polarity reversed there as well as it likely wasn't turning off no matter what he did.
My suspicion is that he did this because the hatch pin had deteriorated to the point where the connections were touching causing that circuit to constantly stay on. At that point I think he threw in the towel!
His solution there was to unplug, and hide the central door circuit in the headliner with electrical tape and use the other existing circuit to fire the map light manually.

He then stuffed a 10 amp fuse in a 5 amp circuit and sold me the car. The problem in doing this was the collateral damage it caused to other systems:

-Clock dead
-Read Hatch dead
-Warning chime would constantly stay on barely audible and without and central warning lights.

Thankfully all of those functions have returned to normal, and I have installed some cheap LED lights that I bought off amazon for $10. I'm a stickler for OEM, and searched for a warmer temperature bulb but for now they will do the trick.

I also sourced a used wiper motor off of ebay for $100, and the motor instantly came to life. However, the wiper would only go in one direction and then become disconnected. I took a look at the receiving arm, and could see it was bent upward. So, I pulled out that assembly, bent it back, and now have a working rear wiper. I also ordered a new switch from suncoast for good measure.

I'm now waiting on a new dash dimmer and rear hatch pin from Pelican, and would like to get my rear fog light working (which I think may just be a fuse or relay).

Tonight I am going to put the car up on jack stands, and pull the wheels off which will be sent to powder coating + new rubber.

I know it needs new struts, so may tackle some of the suspension bits myself.. The car is due for a timing belt, and I know there are step by step instructions here.. So I am debating whether to do it myself....let me know what you all think.. how hard on a scale of 1-10?

Thanks for all the support guys.

`Kurt

 

I like to rate jobs in terms of "what's the worst that can happen", and when it comes to the timing belt it's not a 10 in terms of difficulty if your methodical, take your time and do a lot of research but the thought that I could do serious internal damage to the engine means I'd personally pay someone else with the right experience.

 

Timing belt isn't that big of a deal.

Long and involved.
Significant potential for problems (broken bolts on the WP are a pain)
Beware the WYAIT rabbit hole.

But it's just parts bolted to parts.
Follow the writeup for your engine (16v, S3 & S4 are different).
Double check everything.

Lots of folks have done it correctly. Me included (didn't do the water pump).

 

Thanks am considering. I'm already in the WYAIT rabbit hole.. HELP!

 

Nice work righting the wrongs. Figuring out the work from previous owners is a whole other world of troubleshooting.

You seem pretty competent and the timing belt and water pump are not difficult to change. The hard part is knowing where to stop as the engine mounts and oil pan gasket are likely past due not to mention the fuel and power steering hoses which should be replaced immediately. Enjoy the car for another month or so then tear into it over the winter so you will have a fresh car in the spring