THE NEW WIRING!

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Wiring a Beetle can be divided into two types. These are a complete harness replacement or repairing existing wiring.

If you are planning on stripping your Beetle for painting, then a new wiring harness is definately worth the extra money and effort. If you are like the majority, however, then you will go for the second option, and try to repair the existing wiring. This will be a challenge enough.

Wiring is not a big issue as most people make out. You should tackle it in chunks:

  1. Look at the wiring envolved in the tranny and shifting gears.
  2. Breaklights are the next step.
  3. And then headlights andturn-signals (indicators).

Before even attempting to tackle a wiring job, you must equipt yourself with the following:

  1. A colour wiring diagram: this is extremely important, and is available at www.vintagebus.com
  2. Several spools of wire (ideally of different colours and gauge).
  3. A large variety pack of connectors, wire ends and couplers.
  4. A !GOOD! crimping tool.
  5. Zip or wire ties (to bundle the wires together with...don't use electrical tape).
  6. A voltmeter.

Now you can throw that electrical tape away. You WON'T be needing it! Any connection made should be made with good metal connectors. In some cases, insulated ones will be needed. If you use a cheap, bad quality crimper, then you won't get the connectors tight enough, and they will become loose.

A marginal wire should be replaced, and make sure it is with a piece of wire of the same gauge. It is also useful to make a not in your colour wire diagram what colour the new wire is too. Wire ends that look frayed should be stripped and recrimped with a new connector. None of this is hard as long as you take it bit by bit.

Make sure you get new fuses to start with and make sure the fuse block is not cracked and corroded. Wiring problems can be traced easily. Many problems can be traced by checking the voltage or continuity across two contacts.

Make sure you know the rules of wiring:

  1. Should this object light up?
  2. Is it 12-volts?
  3. Is it grounded?
  4. Is a fuse blown?
  5. Is all of the functionality working?

And don't forget to make sure that you do use a colour diagram! If you don't have one, click here.

 

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