Thanks a bunch. Great video. One thing to add. The tip of the switch...the little yellow button, seems to be made from some kind of hard waxy material??? Whatever. The buttons broke off when a removed them from the column. Anyway, the buggers (switches) cost about $50.00 each for the whole switch. I drilled out most of the remaining wax material and made replacements using the plastic plugs that are used for garden irrigation hose. It worked great along with the method for cleaning the contacts. Just cut off the large tip (just the tang) that goes in the hose. Insert that end into a drill and sand off the tang on the other end until it is a snug fit in your switch. Remove from drill and cut off the remain and press softly into the switch.

Thank you for shedding light on how this system works. I'm understanding my Vanagon more and more one day at a time haha

Great video Ken, thank you!

Van-Again never went back and verified that the electrical resistance between the two contacts was near 0. Just for other people watching this, like the vacuum switch, the electrical contacts will read infinite resistance when the switch (plunger) is not pressed and then will go to very little once pressed. So in this troubleshooting video, Van-Again should have been testing the resistance with the switch (plunger) pressed down. If the resistance is high there, you need to clean the contacts. HTH.

Awesome video, thanks!

Great video! I followed the guide, and I ended up needing to remove the o-rings and add petroleum jelly to those too in order to get a good seal.

After this, If you do go trying to diagnose the Control Unit as per Bentley and are looking for it, it’s behind the glovebox on my ‘89. Took me awhile to figure that out. I couldn’t figure out step #1 though, connect pin #8 to “positive connection.” Don’t know where that positive connection is. Jumper cable to the battery? Hmm...

Ken, I know you have installed the lowest cruise control unit... at least, I think that was your name I saw on the Samba list... I have the same kit. Any suggestions or things I should watch for ?? Barry

What I'd give to have Cruze on mine

what year is your Vanagon, does the 83 have cruise control?

The rubber piece on my vacuum unit is dry-rotted and ripped. Do you know of anywhere that sells these? Been looking everywhere. Thanks in advance.