Electrical gremlins

On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 08:45:58 -0000, "Juper Wort" wrote: reach under and plug the wire pack into the ignition more firmly. The ONLY thing I can think of is that it is loose...when you turn on blinkers it wiggles it and cuts ofrf....when you ranmmdom wigggle...youi luck into getting back.....examine this...

...Gareth

Will try this, but I think the wires are soldered on to the switch. Its only a year old, but was a crappy plastic job, not the nice metal one it replaced.. Strange that the starter turns though.

James

Pray

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Check the ground connections located behind and under the speedometer, I mean under the hood that is.

I agree with Gary: loose wires or bad ignition switch.

If the Blk wire to the switch is loose or that section of the switch is bad, the starter will crank.

Not a grounding issue.

If you gotta have the car running, rig a toggle switch in place.

Speedy Jim

Thanks I shall approach black wire tonight. If I were to toggle switch, is this between black and where ? I have the wiring diagrams jpg in German, so sorting the legend is a bit difficult with altavista !

........

ahhhh, black and red.

Right. After much diagnosis in the dark & wet and after blowing my two remaining spare fuses:-

After tightening the coil wire at the fusebox I also noticed that it had been 'fixed' by PO after a previous melting, with bad electrical tape, which could also have caused a short to the body. Engine started & ran well with all lamps on & off. so I go back and tidy the wires.

It also seems the hazzard switch had turned slightly, causing a slight short from one of the connectors to the body, shorting the coil wire, but not enough to blow the fuse until I started fiddling with it. I will go out @ lunchtime & buy some more fuses, a length of replacement wire & some in line crimp connectors. Bit concerned that the coil wire has melted inside the loom. There seems to be no short upon testing, but it may show up later on.

as an aside, is there an appropriate fuse I can connect the radio & rear window heater & electric washer motor to ?

James

James,

Since you are into the electrical side, get a 30 Amp self reseting fuse, and put that in-line in the small red battery wire that feeds the rest of the electronics. Having the emergency flasher switch short could have cost you your car. VWs burn for two reasons, broken fuel lines, and electrical fires. A self-reseting fuse is about $7 in the US. I put one in my 1970, and when fooling with the timing, wired the coil + wire to the points. Then turned on the key, and wondered why I could not get my static timing light to light. Smoke from the distrubitor was a good clue. Then came a sharp snap from under the back seat, as the fuse opened. I turned off the ignition, corrected the coil wires, the only damage was burned points, and melted condenser wire. I had just replaced the whole wire harness, as the PO sold it to me for $375 US with (drum roll please) a burned up wiring harness.

Good thinking, Batman ! Looks like the indicator switch is shot as well. I bypassed it last night, with the other new bits in place & I have indicators. Shall try and get one @ lunch again.

Thanks all for your help.

James