'66-'67 Headlight "Flashing" (silent horn)

[Rickles]

My parents bought a new '66 Beetle. At the time, the Gov. had VW disable the headlight flashing (silent horn) feature for U.S. bound cars when VW put the dimmer switch on the turn signal stalk. Has anyone found a way to restore the feature? Is there a European turn signal stalk dimmer switch that can be swapped?

[Mr. Mike]

Never heard of that, a governor having any sort of authority. Sound like some wires are probably just disconnected. Here's a wiring diagram for the '66 that shows the dimmer and associated wiring to the headlamps.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/wiring/Beetle_1966_Clymers.jpg

Maybe the turn signal is kaput. Plenty in the classifieds

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/search.php?...ton=Search
_________________
1964 Sedan 6 volt

[Rickles]

Sorry, I meant the US Government. The way they mandated a different type of headlights and so forth. I was thinking back to 1966 when the car was new. On European bugs, you could use the dimmer switch to "flash" your high beams when the headlights were off, or have them come on for as long as you held the switch in, besides the regular high beam dimming function. Hence, the term "silent horn". By pressing the switch when the headlights were turned off, you could still activate the high beams. I gues the law was changed later because my 1984 BMW had this function (pull the stalk to flash with headlights off and push it down to activate the high beams when the headlights were on).

Thanks for the link to the diagram.

[grandpa pete]

_________________
63 two fold rag
66 sedan delivery Type 6

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=569619&highlight=sedan+delivery

[Mr. Mike]

Oh! I didn't know that. I thought driving lights were a european thing and folks just flashed their brights to pass. If you're handy with electrics, and could find them, maybe you could install a european relay that kept the dimmer hot/independent of the light switch or, perhaps, you'd need a euro light switch too. Although, I see no euro/us designation on any switches or relays in the classifieds. Maybe someone else can offer a better answer.
Cheers!
Mike
_________________
1964 Sedan 6 volt

[Rickles]

Your link was very helpful. I went to the Samba wiring diagram archives, and the Non-USA Beetles had a "Combi relay for headlight flashing and dimming" J2 while US models have J2 as "Dimmer relay". More wires on the non-USA relay.

[KTPhil]

The only difference is that on Euro cars, relay terminal 30 goes where it should-- to "always hot" power; on USA models, they jumpered terminal 30 to terminal 56 of the relay, which only has power when the headlights are on.

This is from the Type 3 forum but the relay is wired the same:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=341307

See the jumper from 56 to 30 below? Remove the jumper, run a new wire 30, and presto. Just make sure it is a thick enough wire to handle the load of both left and right headlights at once.

[Rickles]

That looks pretty easy, thanks.

[j.goodspeed]

The addition of a powered Hi/Low relay was covered here:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7851495&highlight=#7851495
_________________
Jeremy Goodspeed
www.goodspeedmotoring.com
www.goodspeedmotoring.net

[Rickles]

Thanks; all of the information that everyone has offered is very helpful. I'm buying a nice '67, but I don't have it yet. This will be something to play around with when i get it. I'm guessing the newer bugs, '72-ish, had a turn signal switch that you could pull toward you to flash and push down to turn on the high beams.

[j.goodspeed]

You can do it with a 67. You just need the powered Hi/Low relay mentioned in the other post.
_________________
Jeremy Goodspeed
www.goodspeedmotoring.com
www.goodspeedmotoring.net

[Rickles]

I'll do that; thanks again.

[KTPhil]

[Keith]

Do you still have the switch on the turn signal arm?

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1799658

_________________
Formerly known in the forums as "OVALTEEN"

"I firmly believe that some villagers from Botswana could probably build a better road than PennDot."- Splitty

"If you do anything to your car someone will hate on you for it. People absolutely love to complain and find fault with others. Don't let it bother you. Just live and have fun."- Lind

[Rickles]

[Rickles]

[hitest]

I have learned something new finally here- "silent horn"!

I didn't realize I've been using one for years- favoring it as a friendly(er) reminder on my M/C. My Volvo may as well be stuck in silent horn mode all the time- my morning commute involve 1000s of idiots. I'm always flashing to get the doofi out of the fast lane driving at the posted limit.
_________________

[Mr. Mike]

[Rickles]

I certainly appreciate everyone's help, thanks.

[Rickles]

I finally replaced the flasher relay this afternoon. Very easy; so cool to have my "silent horn" working. Thanks for all the help and to everyone that replied.