Well, I've almost finished a 6 year restoration of my 66 bug, but I still have some lingering problems with the wiring. The greatest problem is that the rear turnsignals, brake, and running lights are very dim (you have to take off the lenses to see the filament glow). I just replaced the battery yesterday and the red light on the speedo goes out after ignition, so I'm confident the engine wiring is sound. This afternoon I cleaned the ground strap contacts, as well as the positive battery wire. Each of these lights do function correctly, just very dimly. The most obvious problem occurs when I am driving down a hill and am coming to a stop. As I take the car out of gear and apply the brakes, the engine will often die. Also, in the past the battery has worn down over a number of weeks and has to be trickle charged to get the car started again. My first guess is there is a short somewhere in the wiring (It is the original 40 year old wiring) or I have a poor ground coming from the fenders. Any ideas?
- posted
18 years ago