Aircooled VW South Africa

Hi all, please excuse my ignorance, but trying to undertake some minor repair work myself and need some guidance.

1961 Karmann Ghia, brake lights working intermittently. Check bulbs, fuses and wiring, looks OK. Suspect is now the brake light switch which is on the master cylinder. Reading the blogs and service manual the suggestion is that I simply replace the switch, but before I go haring off and undo the suspected offending item off the cylinder, just wanted to check with the communal wisdom.

Manuals indicate that it is simply a threaded attachment, simply undo wires, unscrew switch off master cylinder and re-attach new one. Questions I have: is it as simple as that? Does the switch simple unscrew form the master cylinder?

Suspecting that the switch has never been replaced before, is should I bleed the brake system first? could I damage the master cylinder by doing this?

And lastly, recommendation in JHB where i should be going to buy the replacement part before I start?

Any help appreciated
Johnnyalpha (amateur restorer)

Yes it is that simple. No, not really much chance of damaging the cylinder. No, bleed the brakes after you replace the switch. BE VERY CAREFUL with what replacement you get. I had one sold to me by the well known beetle parts supplier in PTA and the switch popped and the pedal went to the floor while i was testing the swicth after installation, Very crappy switch. But my local parts supplier had a good quality replacement and that was that. make sure the crimping round the back of the switch isn't half hearted. Get a good switch, if it pops you have no brakes!!!

Yes, its really just a matter of unscrewing the sender, and replace with new one - but it might be very tight due to age and dirt, so be carefull not to exert too much power. I think Volkspares should have a suitable replacement switch, I have also heard the one used on the old MK1 golfs were similar if not the same, but cant confirm if it is true.

Thanks everyone, really appreciate the input

JA

I had exactly the same problem in my spyder, turned out that the fusebox was buggered, the fuses didn't make propper contact so every now and then the electrics in the car(including my brake lights and indicators) wouldn't work.. cleaned up some of the contacts and hey presto.. I bought a new fusebox and its getting installed when I rewire the car, but everything is working for now.

Are you running a 6 volt or 12 volt system? My 59 Ghia had the same problem when it ran on 6 volt. In the end I had to clean up all the contacts especially the earth connectors.

Hi - runnign a 12v system, not the original 6v. I will ahve a go at a good clean of all the contacts before swapping out the switch, thaks for that

JA

As someone said the early mk1 golf switch is the same these can be found @ Goldwagen for R65-00