Being in California we are operating under the “shelter in place” rules. The good news is having a 1974 Karmann Ghia in the garage leaves a person plenty to do while sheltered. With the time available I have been able to focus on some of the wiring. I have become very close with the wiring diagram included in the Bentley Shop manual. Trying to sort out which wires goes where is always an exercise in patience.
 |
| . |
What I have found is that over the years there has been some changes in the wiring that including disconnecting, re-routing, splicing and sometimes addition of new wires. The other challenge is the wire colors have faded as the insulation has aged. I have consider putting in a new wiring harness but I have decided to clean up what is in place.
In the engine compartment I have tracked down key wires and cleaned up connections. For example, I noticed the backup lights were not coming on when I would shift into reverse. The wire for the backup lights actually feeds off the coil. After tracking the wire down I was able to clean up the connections, replace the burned out fuse, protect the wire with some shrink tubing and now I have working backup lights.
I also noticed that the lights for the rear license plate were not working…that problem was easy to resolve once I found that the original wires to the license plate light housing had been cut off near the firewall. A quick check to confirm those were the wires meant to go to the license plate light housing, some new connectors and I have light on the license plate.
I am not sure the relay for the rear window defogger is supported to be mounted on the engine fan shroud…but that is where I found it. In this case redoing some of the connectors and cleaning up the relay connections I was able to get the defogger to work.
 |
I was also able to remove wires that had been installed for other purposes. As an example there was a “spare” wire in the engine compartment that I was able to follow up to the front trunk area. I am pretty sure this was a lead to an aftermarket alarm system that I had already removed. I debated leaving the wire in place for some unknown future use but decided to reduce the wire clutter.
Another wiring project was related to the interior dome light. Although I had purchased and installed a new interior dome light fixture, it was not operating. Again, cleaning connections and confirming the continuity I was able to get the dome light to work as advertised.
I still have one wiring issue I really need to solve and that is the brake warning light stays on. I have a new master cylinder with new brake light switches so that should not be the problem. I confirmed the switch on the emergency brake handle is in place and working as it should…so the next step will be working behind the dash to see if there is an issue with the wiring to the warning light.
Wiring is certainly not my favorite sport…but it is rewarding when you get stuff to work or you have a cleaner engine compartment with the excess wiring removed.
