Hi Guys, Ive heard a couple of incidents now of Mk2’s catching fire due to electrical shorts somewhere in the loom. Couldn’t get anymore details than that and just wondered if anyone could shed light on where this problem may be lurking so I can check the area before my dream literally goes up in smoke? Ta!
Can't say it's common, about the only thing that I've ever seen possibly causing that is the dim dip resistor for the lights. After that, as long as the loom is clipped up as it should be, all should be OK
you can do away with the resistor for sure. Not heard of any loom fires but i know when i took my loom apart there were some really crap connecitons..defo worth cleaning those up given an oportunity
Mine has fell victim to this at somepoint before I had it. Clearly didn't catch fire although I doubt it was a very pleasant experience. About 50% of the wires on the lighting loom, where it goes through the bulkhead, had fused together and a couple of them had had their insulation totally melted off. The resistor is on the front of the drivers side chassis leg. The sort of run over the side of the leg and they can rub through, causing a short.
yeah 'fire' is a bit of an over statement, the light loom smokes like hell and melts but fire is rare. the dimdip was only required for a short time by law, these days you dont have to have it. so find the 2 pin plug under the airbox, disconnect and bin. once removed check your sidelight bulbs, they'll probably have been blown for years but MOT testers often dont notice as the dimdip function looks like sidelights. the tester manual specifically says you should test sidelights ignition off, but they sometimes dont
The Mk2 Golf is no more susceptible to fire than any other car of that age - normally fires/overheating/damage is caused by pillocks messing with the wiring by adding this, that and the other and making a dogs dinner of the connections which ultimately overheat or short - the only exception is that stupid dip/dim resistor as mentioned by the chaps above - if you have one, bin it with extreme prejudice
Thanks guys. I guess it must be a risk being a high current consumer so to be on the safe side I’ll be disconnecting the resistor of doom. What’s the word on fitting LED bulbs vs Nightbreakers (the best halogens I believe) with the upgraded loom addition? Anyone had an experience with the new LED technology?
Nightbreakers combined with an upgraded loom DEFINITELY work well, some LED ones are good, some are terrible. I've tried AutoBeam and ClassicCarLEDs, but wasn't overly excited by either. I'm hoping to try Osram LED H4 soon. The main advantage of the LED being you wouldn't need an upgraded loom.
I've had Nighbreakers and Phillips Racing vision and they're both very good. Would be interested to see what the Osram LED's are like because I imagine they will keep your beam pattern nice. Only thing I'd say about the halogens is keep a spare set with you. Both of my Philips blew within 5 seconds of each other (impressed with the consistency). Not so impressed with driving round with foglights and having to pay £15 for a dodgy set of bulbs from Wilko :/
Think I’ll go for Nightbreakers and loom upgrade. I’m sure at some point LED’s will be the way forward as the technology advances even further.
My dash loom fried and bodged by incorrect pin headlight switch plugged in. So my 89 small bumper gti came to me with a driver loom so no mfa. And no mfa stalk. Turn blower fan on left hand headlight came on dimly. Scrapped the lot bought a good 2nd hand loom and switch for about a ton
