Instructions for the mechanically challenged: killing the 96 drls
for those of you with 96's that would like to get rid of your DRLs.. and would like to be able to have every combo of fog, parking, lows and highs imaginable - you will need the following: 1H6941531B 01C the euro switch $49.08 823941817A a bridge $ .96 NSJUMP hi/low jumper $ 4.00 or at least those were the numbers that i got from timmons vw in long beach california (1.800.266.3247). last i heard they will ship stuff to you no problem. installation takes about fifteen minutes once you know whats going on. so read in advance and know what is coming. i guess i must tell you all that the following is an account of MY experiences. if your car has fifteen of everything that i tell you to look for because your car was made on tuesday instead of friday, dont bug me. this is a FYI only. though i would be more than happy to answer any questions about unclear instructions. it is a three part process: 1. the euro switch. pop off the end piece by the light switch with a screwdriver. reach a finger in and push a little tab at the inside side/top of the switch. this should free the old switch. pull it out a little and undo the plug. plug in the euro switch. pop it back into place and put on the end piece. done. 2. installing the bridge & jumper. this is the scary, but easy part. look under the knee pad under the steering wheel. you will find the fuse box "hatch." you can open the hatch, or save yourself some time and just remove the whole bottom panel. after you remove the two screws pull it down slightly and then pull it out. the back is held in place by being sandwiched in a clip. no big deal, really. look at the fuse box. look at either side. you will notice a gray or white little clasp on either side of a bolt looking thing. pull them forward. this will release the fuse box. gently lift the box up off its hooks and let it hang down. more or less, this is what you should see.. |------| | 173 | | | |-----------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | --some of these are filled |-----------------------------------| some are not, dont worry | | | | 110 | | | --about them | | | | | | | |-----------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | --these are the fuses |-----------------------------------| pull the 110 plug. you will see places for the bridge and the jumper. (i think that the jumper is the thin small one of the two shaped like a "u"). put in the jumper into the slot that it belongs (there are a bunch of holes, and then the obvious one). you will want to wrap the bridge (or the "z" shaped one) with some electrical tape where it overlaps with the jumper. then put in the bridge. done. 3. the drl plug. this is the whole reason why we had to take off the bottom and unmount the whole fuse box. this is the pain that was too far away to reach and take out because it is using damn near every one of its prongs. pull the 173 plug. it will probably take some fiddling. get an edge up and then use a flat head screw driver to pry it all the way out. done. (ie, you dont put anything in its place.) now lift up the hanging fuse box and put each of its sides on its hook. slide the gray or white clasps back down over the hooks to hold the box in place. done. then slide the far end of the bottom panel into the far sandwich. then screw in the two screws to attach the front. done. thats it. if this all sounds scary and difficult, DONT WORRY. it sounded that way to me too. but it is no big deal. take your time, keep track of your parts, and dont force anything. of course you can play with all the different combinations of the 173 and 110 plugs with the jumper and bridge. but to get the no drls parking only fog with parking low low with fog high with low high with fog high with low and fog this is what you have to do. (i might have missed out on some of the combos.) of course if you get the smoked side turn signals (TF945071SMK $26.36) it will look really good. and no, this wasnt taken from any copyrighted book. be well, go well.. addendum #1: from Bob Tillman bob sent me the following. he had an early 96 build date, and i guess that there are some differences, so look and see what you see. turns out it was #94, in the upper right corner, and covered by a piece of foam. |-----| | 94 | | | |-----------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | --some of these are filled |-----------------------------------| some are not, dont worry | | | | 110 | | | --about them | | | | | | | |-----------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | --these are the fuses |-----------------------------------| addendum #2: i have heard from people with 97, 98, and 99 gti and glx models that have said that the above rules apply perfectly.
1996.07.30