FAQ 10
Question: My bug has intermittent electrical problems or smoking wiring or frayed wires. Answer: Thing one: disconnect the ground side of the battery to completely disable the electrical system. This is a good idea to do right now. Fix the worst circuits, then see if you can put the ground terminal back on with out smoking anything. You'll have to go over all the wiring, and remove anything with frayed insulation. Start with the fuse block. Important: only replace one wire at a time. Otherwise you'll never remember where they all came from. New ignitions switches aren't all that much money. You can mail order most any part from the places listed at: http://laudeman.com/bug_links.html There is a simple wiring diagram in "How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive". The complete diagrams are in the shop manuals. You'll want to buy a few different colored spools of wire, and a big collection of crimp-on terminals. Most crimp tools are very poor quality. I cleaned mine up with a Dremel tool, and it barely suffices as a wire stripper. There is a good crimping tool: Channel Lock no. 909. It is a large pliers-like crimper, with a wire cuttet in the tip. It is not a stripper. This thing is great, and really does a nice job on crimp terminals. I now buy tools at Lowes more than Sears. Lowes had two good crimp tools like the Channel Lock no.909 (as well at several of the clever looking stripper/crimper combo tools that are basically trash - serious.) You may need a new fuse block. All the current in the car runs to the front on that heavy red wire with the white stripe. That wire needs to be in good condition. From the engine compartment, the wires run through a channel on the driver's side. This channel may be blocked by factory applied poly urethane foam. If so, you'll have to carefully push something through there to you can get new wires through. With my car, one of the previous owners had made a very messy hack inside the car, behind the seat, above the rear wheel arch. This was probably unnecessary. I pushed a 3/4 plastic pipe through there, and run all my new wiring in that pipe. You have to pull out the driver side back seat trim panel below the window. Find each frayed or corroded wire and replace it, one at a time. The most important runs are from under the back seat to the fuse block, and from the engine comparment to under the back seat. Check the frame ground, and the engine block ground. It doesn't hurt to add extra grounds, especially in the front trunk area. A VOM meter and a test lamp will probably help track things down. Remember, any positive wire that touches a metal part of the car will short since the frame of the car is all grounded. My guess is that you have a bad fuse block, and a few melted wires. Probably not too hard to fix. Buy those tools, get the real shop manual, and get a big batch of crimp terminals. I buy mine mostly at Lowes (a big home improvement super store). Drop me a note if you have any more questions.
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