Hi everyone, happy holidays to you all.

I am battling an electrical gremlin in a '60 Beetle. The car has just been returned to the road after many years of sitting, its only passed its mech check a week ago. Since then it has given us intermittent issues but now its full-time.

Short version (so as not to bore you) I can't get the indicators right. Intermittantly they disappeared, I have been battling them for hours under the bonnet and got to the stage of now having them stay on (i.e. not flash), with no dash light (believe that is because they are not flashing).

It recently had a new flasher can and I have also bought a new one, and used another good one, during this job….so 3 flasher cans don't remedy it. I've tried replacing connectors and also following wiring diagrams where I can.

Thing is, this was working fine, but now is cheesing me.

I've attached a photo below, some of the work is temporary just to get it functional, so that I can then get it cleaned up…but I just can't find the issue.

Can anyone see where I might be going wrong? As stated no flashing now (after a long battle), but at least I have lights, albeit they stay on.

Thanks heaps.

Have a look at this wiring diagram. For a US 61 but close enough for an Aussie 60.

Pretty sure that the 49 wire goes to the indicator arm and the 49a goes to the dash light and on the 3 terminal flasher cans the 3rd termina, goes to earth. Usually a brown wire to earth.

I have had a situation where the indicators would stop working when the voltage dropped a bit. Of course when you are tinkering with the electrical system without the engine running the voltage tends to drop! This may not be your problem, but it is worth ruling out before doing anything drastic. I pinched another flasher unit from a newer car and the problem went away.

Thanks all, I've had partial success. After checking a few diagrams and fiddling more under there, I now have the indicators working, but no light on the dash. I've confirmed the bulb is good and changing connections altered various things, but in the end the best result I have are functional indicators but no dash light.

I'll have to dabble with it further when I have more time. One thing that is an issue is that the light itself (dash) has 2 connections on it, where the diagrams only have one. The light has a smaller connection on top of it and altering these connections changes everything. I haven't found a diagram yet with this extra connection.

Appreciate everyones info, we're 95% there, I'll revisit this soon. Thanks

Hi
Seeing You are having Electrical problems... the biggest problem being that fuse box there... take the fuses out and clean the ends where the fuses go in to make a 100% contact.. also clean ends of fuses.. Now I would also cut the bare ends off the wires that go into the fusebox and cut the insulation back, clean the bare copper and put it back into the fusebox..
That will stop any bad connection problems from the fusebox etc..

If You have the lights flashing OK.. that is the main thing..

all copper/brass etc electrical connectors or wires get contaminated over the years and the electrical system breaks down.
As You can see, the blinker unit isn't the problem..
it can be bad connections or bad earth connections on the lights themselves.. this is common even with 1968> cars..

Lee

Try a jumper wire from the dash bulb terminal to a good earth on the body. If it don't light then as 68Auto says 'clean all connections and terminals'.

The 2 pin relay is pretty simple in function so if the indicators work then it's either dirty/oxidised connections or a broken wire.