Old Library

I just did this conversion on my '98 last week. Here's what I found:

My kit came with a Euro switch (1H6 941 531 B/01C) and two identical jumpers
( both the 30-87 type, not the kidney shaped 85-86 type ). I only needed one
jumper, the other was not used. Relay 173 is near the top and is the J90
relay in the Bentley on page 97-331. Terminal 5 on this relay (generic 87a,
normally closed contact) is cut off. This stops power from ever getting to
the headlights through the DRL circuit. In the DRL circuit the hand brake
completes a ground to relay 173/J90 when it's applied so that the DRL's turn
OFF. Then when you release the hand brake the connection to ground sent to
terminal 6 on the 173/J90  relay coil is lost so it de-energizes and the
connection between terminal 4 (+12) and terminal 5 is made which turns on
the low beams. It seems to me that simply pulling the 173/J90 relay should
be just as effective but perhaps then the handbrake circuit would be
affected in some way? So I cut off terminal 5 as per instructions.

The second part of the instructions refers to the fog light relay, 110 also
know as J5 on page 97-331 in the Bentley manual. It's located at position 10
on page 97-3 of the Bentley which calls it out as a fog light relay. This
relay is removed and a jumper is placed between terminal 4 and 3 (generic 30
and 87) to supposedly allow the fogs to be switched on at any time. I have
dug into this relay's function a little bit and it seems a bit odd how it
fits into the system. From what I can see in the diagram, if you were to
place a jumper across 1 and 5 (generic 85 and 86) it would be a dead short.
Terminal 1 goes to fuse S3 (10A - Fog Lights) and terminal  5 goes to 31,
system ground. Perhaps this is where you generated smoke, but you should
have lost fuse S3 before this happened (unless you put a higher rated fuse
in here!).

Regardless, my Euro switch works great, my DRL's are gone, and I can switch
my fogs on in any light combination that I choose. That is except for
running the fogs without side markers as a mechanical switch feature
prevents me from engaging the fog position on the switch unless I at least
have the running/side marker lights on.

Simon
Black '98 GTi VR6

Fiction,

You are correct, I simply cut the tab off at position 5 and re-installed the
#173 relay. Yes my parking break light functions properly (and I can hear
the DRL relay clicking contently even though now it's output is connected to
nothing) If you chucked the 173 relay then perhaps a jumper between 2 & 6
would be the ticket. The problem is that here there used to be a relay coil,
so I think I'd use a 1k ohm 1/4 watt resistor as the jumper to limit any
current and prevent smoke. Hopefully the resistor would pop before anything
bad happened. I believe the handbrake circuit needs 12vdc present when the
e-brake is off to get the instrument cluster to shut off the warning light.
If the relay is missing then the circuit only gets a ground when the
handbrake is on and nothing when the handbrake is off. Also, remember to
please do this at your own risk, I'm not an authority! I'm just interpreting
the Bentley to the best of my understanding.

Simon


----- Original Message -----
From: "fiction" &lt;&#102;iction&#64;wsu<img src=/i/de.gif border=0 width=35 height=15>&gt;
To: "'Simon Wagner'" &lt;&#105;nboost&#64;pacbell<img src=/i/dn.gif border=0 width=35 height=15>&gt;; &lt;&#108;ist&#64;gti-vr6<img src=/i/dn.gif border=0 width=35 height=15>&gt;
Cc: &lt;&#86;WGTIVR6&#64;yahoogroups<img src=/i/dc.gif border=0 width=35 height=15>&gt;; &lt;&#106;main&#64;nfr<img src=/i/dc.gif border=0 width=35 height=15>&gt;
Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2002 1:42 PM
Subject: RE: [gti-vr6] RE: [VWGTIVR6] hand brake = dash light?


> So Simon,
> If I'm reading this correctly, you have left your 173 relay in
> the socket, but cut off terminal 5.  Thus, you have disabled the DRLs
> but still have use of the ebrake light...correct?  If so, this would be
> a great solution...but I think I threw 173 away...so if you have any
> idea how to make this work WITHOUT the relay, it would be much
> appreciated...thx very much for the info!  L8z
>
> Fiction
> "digging around for old relays" ed