Hi guys

Noticed on the weekend that my right tail light and number plate where not working!

1970 model

Had a look at the bulbs they are fine!

I did have an earth wire off in the engine bay. Its on the right side there are 2 together. Put it back on and also put a bit of tape between it and the dress up kit as I thought it might short it out.

I replaced the fuse (8amp) and turned the lights on and the fuse poped straight away.

I have searched the Internet for a wiring diagram and it looks like it's the fuse for the right tail light and number plate light which is why I guess they are not working!
See link to wiring diagram ( http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/wiring/bug_6971.jpg )

Does anyone have any tips for what i should be looking for?

have you had the number plate light off and the put it back on with wires reversed...didn't make sense to me but thats what happened
kept blowing fuse
yep..dress up tins rubbing against a tail light wire will do it also
you have to have a short there somewhere

take the globes out, then check fuse, if ok put one globe back in at a time and if it blows then you know what light and side causing the trouble.

When the engine was rebuilt and the car was on the dyno they had the deck lid off.

So I will check that.

Thanks Ian I'll try that as well

I connected the number plate light back to front, so the housing would touch the body every so often and blow the fuse. This may very well be your problem, esp as the decklid was off

Blown fuse = wrap it in alfoil and bobs your uncle, she works.
Learnt that from my oldies, couldn't believe they used to do it as a temporary fix in their type 3.

But that is definitely not your issue, you're short circuiting somewhere.
Sounds like it has something to do with the number plate light.

Hi guys thanks for the advise

The right hand front light works ok all 3 parkers, low beam & high beam

Borrowed a multi meter from work.

With the fuse out and with the meter connected to one wire on the number plate the other earthed it beeps. Then the same on the other wire!

Tried to chase the wire from the fuse but it is so hard with all the wires.

Have taken the back seat out and have wires everywhere. As well as under the bonnet/boot ( front end).

It's also impossible to chase any wire in the engine bay with the dress up tin.

Why is it never simple?

Usually, they don't short out unless the wires have been moved
or the rubber grommet or rubber boot they are in has split..

try the two wires on that fuse...

to keep You roadworthy...
run a wire from the left hand tail lamp across to the RHS tail lamp

I would strongly suggest that the dress up kit can cause all sorts of problems ...

the wire may have rubbed thru the insulation quite easily...

shame you are not close by... lol

I love finding faulty wires etc... lol

LEE

Good news but not before a waste of time

Had a mate come over on Friday night to help chase wiring issue.

After not being able to chase the wire as it changes colour and has been run through the heater channel.

My mate and I decided to run a new wire. From the other tail light through the engine bay past the dress up tin and hidden away etc. Close to 3hrs got it to work great.

We then thought ok to connect up the number plate light. Done .

Turn on the lights POP the fuse goes for that circuit. Bugger.

But at least we know it has something to do with the number plate light. After putting the multi meter everywhere it was not clear what the issue is.

Now it's 1am. So off to bed to clear the head and start again.

Now morning

Mate and I head back to the garage. We have a look at the plastic wire connector for the wires on the deck lid. Think ok let's bypass this and try it.

Sorted.

We removed the wire we ran and thought that we wasted our time the night before.

It only should have taken 20min to fix the issue. It took us over 4hrs. Anyway had a good time doing it. Plenty of laughs.

The wiring is now sorted!