Okay, I lied, there are more then the “main three” harnesses. These “minor harnesses” include the Starter Harness, Backup Light Harness, Test Connector Harness (we’ll cover this in it’s own section), Battery Harness, Fuel Gauge Harness, Fan Motor Harness and Wiper Harness.

Starter Harness

The Starter Harness runs from under the rear seat, routes out right above fuel line and into the Engine Compartment. It consists of two wires, which break out like this:

Backup Light Harness

The Backup Light Harness runs from the transmission, routes through an hole on the Passenger’s side of the Engine Compartment, then attaches to the three-way connector also in the Passenger’s Side Engine Compartment. Sometimes, this is routed behind the tar board back there. It consists of one wire, again, which breaks out like this:

Battery Harness

The Battery Harness consists of two wires and runs from the Battery Positive Terminal in two directions. One direction leads out the rear pan area on the Passenger’s Side, then to the Starter. The other direction routes under the back seat, over the hump and onto the Voltage Regulator (B+). The rear seat hold-down bar that straddles the car has a channel to route this properly.

Fuel Gauge Harness

The Fuel Gauge Harness is hidden behind the dash. It routes from the cabin, through the firewall under the fresh air box, and onto the Fuel Tank where the Fuel Level Sender lives. The harness also has two wires, which break out like this:

Fan Motor Harness

The Fan Motor Harness is also buried behind the dash. It consists of three wires which run from the Fan Switch mounted on the lower part of the dash, route out the firewall into the fresh air box, attaching to the fan motor itself. Here is how that breaks out:

Wiper Harness

The Wiper Harness again is buried behind the dash and consists of five wires. It runs from the Wiper Switch mounted on the steering column, routes out the firewall into the fresh air box, attaching to the Wiper Motor itself. Here is how that breaks out:

The Test Connector

The test connector was used by the VW Dealer to help diagnose your Beetle. I highly doubt there is a VW Dealer these days that still has the equipment to utilize the test connector jack, but I might stand corrected. The test connector has one large Red / White wire and a normal Brown, then a bunch of mini connectors that lock into a plastic receptor. This receptor is then mounted on the upper rear firewall on the driver’s side. Here is how that breaks out:

Grounds

Now let’s look at the Brown Ground wires. There are two areas in the front trunk area where screws hold down both the headlight and turn signal ground wires, on either side.

In the Cabin, there are two more areas to ground wires to, the firewall behind the dash (near the drivers right knee) and the Speedometer. Here is how that breaks out:

Back in the Engine Compartment, there are a few more grounding tabs located on either side of the compartment on the flat area that the engine seal attaches to.

Well, I hope you are far less confused. For full wiring diagrams, which are not my property, see The Samba Type 1 Wiring Diagrams. These are the best diagrams I have found on the Internet so far.

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The rear harness is much harder to replace because of the tight bend required to route it into the engine bay through the driver’s side quarter panel. People will chop off the test connector wires, sometimes, but that usually does not effect the operation of the car. I always see the ends that connect to the generator being pretty menke. Sometimes these wires have been chopped so much that they barely reach their destination.

The harness goes from that quarter panel section and breaks out a little under the rear seat:

Some of that connects to the voltage regulator that is mounted on the bottom section of the driver’s side quarter panel, under the rear seat. That breaks out like this:

From here, the harness runs along the channel created between the body pan and the body. It is supposed to then route up in the crease between the kick panel and the wheel well (there is a hold-down there), and then back the other direction, right along the side of the car to the driver’s left knee. It is joined up with both of the Front and Door wiring harnesses (I like to route my Antenna wire here also) with a hefty clip at the top of the kick panel and a little under the dash. There is another one of these just to the left of the fusebox, and two more that are integrated into the dash itself on either side of the steering wheel (hard to see). There is an 8-way connector here also that connects the rear wiring harness to the fusebox. The wires on one side of the connector are the same color as the ones on the other; the connector only plugs in one way.

Door Wiring Harness

There is another harness that contains 5 wires that runs from the dome light (left of the driver’s head) through the door pillar, then to each door switch (passenger and driver) and finally into the cabin. It connects to one of the 8-way connectors and one wire routes up the the Speedo. That harness breaks out like this:

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The front wiring harness is fairly easy to interchange, and many parts suppliers provide fronts for many years of Beetle, minus the 1973 Super Beetle, of course. I chose to remove the harness when painting the body, then re-installed it afterwords. Someone painted over the harness in the past, so I know exactly where it clamped prior to restoration.

The harness consists of 11 wires. The lay out as follows:

The lights that have brown connections from the light-side of the harness are screwed down to the front areas on either side of the luggage compartment. The harness splits into a passenger and drivers side, with the passenger headlight and turn signal wires on the longer section , and the driver’s headlight, turn signal, and horn on the shorter run of the split.

Upstream over the driver’s wheel well is where the master cylinder split out of the three wires occurs. The harness now runs through the lower firewall section above the driver’s left knee and held in place with the other harnesses as they run to the middle of the dash, where the fusebox lives. Before the wires reach the fusebox, the front harness is joined together with an 8-way connector. The wires on one side of the connector are the same color as the ones on the other; the connector only plugs in one way.

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Lets focus on the electrical system. The system consists of three wiring harnesses, a test connector (sometimes), the fusebox (with 2 relays), and the battery. Many folks seem skip this part, as I have seen many Beetles out there that I would name “Old Spark”. On these old cars, the wires get stiff and crack the insulation over time. Connectors rust out or detach from the wires easily, causing you to crimp new ones on. Good luck finding the micro size connectors, BTW. This requires some patience because you have a mess of wires that bunch up under the dash and into the fusebox. Let’s dive in…

1. Fusebox

The fusebox is mounted to the middle of the front foot well area, directly over the hump. You should be able to spot this easily. On the Super, there is a cowl that covers the fusebox, used to conceal the wires flowing into the top of the unit.

It is basically a plastic box that holds 12 8 AMP or 16 AMP fuses in the “front” (which face the engine) , with at least two male wire connectors on the top of each fuse and at least two more on the bottom of each fuse. Behind this, facing more downward, is an area that holds relays; 2 in my case. The fuses are numbered 1-12 going from the driver’s side to the passenger’s side. They are not labeled on the box itself, so some counting is required. Here are the positions, sizes, functions and wries attached to those fuses:

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