1968-69 Beetle Wiring Harness Installation - Part 4:

Video Tips:

Click here for the next video in our re-wiring series.

Click here for the previous video in our re-wiring series.

Video Transcript:

With the wiring installation winding down on our 1969 beetle, we'll next move to the dome light harness.

Start inside the car, then pry or pop out the dome light lens by prying up on the edge and then disconnect the wires from the light. Securely tape the old harness to a six to eight foot piece length of wire. Then inside the trunk, pull the harness down the A pillar from the driver's side of the trunk near the hood hinge. An assistant can be handy to hold the drag line at the dome light to make sure it doesn't get pulled too far, or as you can in our case, tie it to an old headliner bow.

Once the harness is pulled down, unwrap the old harness from the drag line then securely tape the new harness to the drag line. Have your assistant pull the drag line from the dome light opening, while you guide the harness in from the trunk. With the wires pulled up to the dome light opening, un-wrap the harness and the drag line and connect the new harness to the dome light lens.

The red wire attaches to the terminal opposite of the switch.

The brown and white wire would attach to the other terminal.

In our case our dome light only has one terminal at the switch side as it is self-grounding. So we'll make certain that it has a clean, bare metal surface to ground out against the body when installed.  If you don't have a third terminal, make sure to tuck the brown wire back or tape off the terminal, so it does not ground out to the red wire by mistake.

In the trunk, plug the first connection of the brown and white wire to the driver's side door jamb switch. Route the remainder of the harness along the back of the dash, underneath the speedometer. Plug the brown wire into the ground tab on the upright brace behind the fuse box.  Plug the red wire into the back terminal on the front side of the fuse box, at the second fuse terminal from the cars right side. Lastly route the long portion of the brown and white wire along the back of the dash, underneath the glove box opening, and plug it into the passenger side door jamb switch.

Next, were going to hook up the various wires coming out of the ignition switch turn signal switch and the horn wire from the steering column bearing. These wires enter the trunk from the bottom side of the dash, on the cars left side near the spectrometer.

SIDE NOTE: There are three wires from the steering column harness that should already be hooked up, as we installed them in part three of our video series.

The thicker of the two brown wires coming from the harness, which hooked up from the headlight harness and the black and white and black and green wires from the harness are hooked up to their quad connectors.

The ignition switch has three wires, one a long red thick wire another thick black and red wire and a black wire.

The long red wire plugs into one of the 30 terminals on the headlight switch.

The black and red wire plugs into the thick red starter wire from the main harness, with a shrouded connector.

The black wire plugs into the back terminal on the first fuse terminal from the cars left side.

The pigtail from the black wire plugs into the bottom tab on the speedometer below the indicator bulbs.

The thinner brown wire from the turn signal switch plugs into the ground terminal, on the left speedometer mounting screw.

The brown and white wire from the turn signal switch connects to the F terminal on the headlight relay.

The black, white, and green wire plugs into a shrouded connector and will connect to the flasher wiring later.

There are six loose wires for the emergency flasher switch, all roughly 15 to 20 inches long. It is easiest to attach them to the flasher switch first then run them to their designated terminals.

The white wire plugs into the positive or plus terminal on the switch then connects to the 49 terminal on the flasher relay.

The black wire plugs into the 15 terminal on the switch then connects to the back terminal on the front side of the fuse box, at the first terminal from the cars left side.

The 19 inch red wire connects to a 30 terminal on the switch with the plastic shrouded connector at the switch and then into the front terminal on the front side of the fuse box at the second fuse terminal from the cars right side.

The black, white wire connects to the L terminal on the switch then connects to the H connector with the other black and white wire.

The black and green wire connects to the R terminal on the switch then connects to the H connector with the other black and green wires.

The blue wire with the small white black green pigtail, attaches to the 49A terminal on the switch then connects to the 49A terminal on the flasher relay.

The side with the black white green pigtail is the side that attaches to the relay.

That pigtail then attaches to the shrouded connector we installed earlier on the black white green wire from the turn signal switch.

One more loose wire is needed to hook up the flasher relay to the indicator bulb on the speedometer.

It's a short blue and green wire that attaches to the lower center bulb on the speedometer and to the relays KBL terminal if you have a four prong relay or the 49A terminal if you have a three prong relay.

There are six loose wires that will hook up the headlight switch, headlight relay and fuse box. The black and white wire attaches to the 56 terminal on the headlight switch, and the headlight relay.

SIDE NOTE: If you have a five prong headlight relay, you will need to run a jumper wire from the 56 terminal to the 30 terminal for the five prong relay to operate.

The white wire attaches to the third and fourth fuses at the third terminal from the cars left side on the fuse box and connects to the 56A terminal on the relay.

The yellow wire attaches to the fifth and sixth fuses at the fourth terminal from the cars left side and connects to the 56B terminal on the relay.

The gray wire attaches to the third and fourth fuses at the third terminal from the cars right side of the fuse box and connects to the 58 terminal on the headlight switch.

The red and white double wire connects to the 58B terminal then to the right and left speedometer illumination bulbs.

The thick 15 inch long red wire connects to the 30 terminal on the switch, and connects to the fuse box at the second fuse from the cars right at the rear terminal.

Connect the four loose wires from the windshield wiper motor to wiper switch.

The brown wire attaches to both the 31B terminals, one on the motor one on the switch.

The black wire attaches to the 53 terminal on the motor, and again on the switch.

The black and red wire attaches to the 53A terminals.

The black and yellow wire attaches to the 53B terminals, again one on the motor one on the switch.

Two more loose wires are needed for the wiper motor and brake light warning switch. Connect the green wire with the black 1/10 connector at one end to the back terminal at the front of the fuse box on the second fuse from the cars left. The opposite end of the green wire plugs into the 30 terminal on the wiper switch. From there, the black wire with the 1/10 connector attaches to the 15 terminal on the brake light switch. Connect the 18 inch long red wire with the 1/10 connector on it to the K terminal on the switch, and then to the red wire from the front break harness, with a shrouded connector.

Now run the ground harness which has seven terminals on a "daisy chain" six of the terminals have 1/4 inch connectors, and one of the terminals is a 1/10 connector. It's easiest to start with the 1/10 connector to orient the harness and run it from there.

The 1/10 connector plugs into the 31 terminal on the brake warning light.

The next connector plugs into the 31 ground tab on the side of the emergency flasher switch.

The next connector plugs into the 31 ground tab on the side of the windshield wiper switch.

The next connector plugs into the ground tab on the upright brace behind the fuse box.

The next plugs into the ground tab on the right side of the speedometer.

The second to last connector plugs into the 31 terminal on the flasher relay.

The last connector plugs into the [number] three terminal on the wiper motor.

The only wire left at this point, should be a brown wire in a black sheath. It connects to the sending unit on the fuel tank, to the back of the fuel gauge which is attached to the speedometer.

With that, all the wiring should now be installed. Double check all the connections for any loose or unconnected wires. Note that we haven't installed the switches to the dash so we can test them once the battery is connected. Make sure that the switches won't contact any grounds or other wires where they can possibly short out. Make sure all the switches are in the off position before hooking up the battery. Carefully connect the battery cable with the positive cable first then the ground cable. If you can hear any sparks or smell or see smoke, immediately pull off the negative cable and correct the issue. If everything is installed correctly, which it should be, then now is the time to test, and troubleshoot which we will cover in our next video.