Before tonight, had been running perfectly. Wipers stopped working and the rotary arm on the wipers had come off, took off (what i think is the coil or the motor of the wipers, put it back on after a painful process and managed to get back on and working.... 5 minutes later, hear a spark and nothing...not sure where the spark came from

Battery seems fine, but no power at all. No click, no red light, no headlights and all fuses intact!! HELP??

1970 beetle

a desperate Josh

Check the main red wire on the head light switch, they can fall off

I didnt mention, the car does not turnover, nothing, no ignition / start / whatever

Sounds like a blown fuse.
Check all the fuses.

thanks ducati998 and 1303steve,

yeah i checked all fuses, they are fine. would there be a main fuse or anything?

its like there is no live power to the fuse panel

I did run a dodgy light bulb circuit across the battery terminals and there was a spark so i guess its alright... and i cleaned up the terminals so..

yeah i recon it has to be the main fuse...sometimes these can be in the engine bay in its own little holder depending on your set up.....its bound to be blown if theres no power at all anywhere.

Start check the main cable is still on the starte motor.... Then for power at the regulator/alternator....then as per steve's post above check at the headlight switch as this is the first connection at the front before the power is distributed to the ignition/ fuse box etc

Easy to figure, just start at the battery end and follow it thru

Hopefully you have a lead lamp or can rig one up easy enough

Let us know what you find

I cant see any sort of fuse or anything too similar in the engine bay

I don't really understand how working on the wipers can lead to no power to any part of the car. hmm..

- hellbugged, Ill do that now!

VW's wiring system goes from Battery to the starter solenoid to back of the dash with no fuse...

to the light switch or the ignition switch depending on what model..

check the solenoid on the starter motor and the light switch or the ignition switch.. it seems the main wire from the solenoid isn't connected to the wiring in the car...

so should be easy to find... ?? sort of...

LEE

There is no main fuses in the system. The power comes directly from the battery via regulator and then to the fusebox (one and only fusebox), I think it's connected behind fuse 4 and to a few more fuses. From the same side of the fusebox (not via any fuse) goes a wire to the headlight switch.
I believe that your wiper arm or something fell on this light switch (you heard a spark) and short circuit the wire. The result of this kind of short circuit can be a totally burned electrical system, the wire together with many others can melt, or in the best case (if you are lucky) it only burned the flat connector in one of the ends of the wire. So check the wire connectors behind the light switch, in the fusebox and also under the rear seat, I mean at the battery plus pole and also on the regulator at the other side. It's NOT connected at the starter engine in the engine bay.

Hellbugged has it nailed.

70 and earlier bugs like yours the main power from the battery goes the headlight switch first so the headlights get full battery voltage.

You've just knocked the main cable off the headlight switch when you took the wiper motor out.

Its not fused which is why you got a spark so do as Daimo says and disconnect your battery before you do anything more.

You guys are all legends! was the headlight lead, and when i made contact with the wire and connection I had a flicker of my interior light! so immediately disconnected the battery again and put it on and there it was!!power!

My wipers work again (and don't squeak anymore) and everything works great and I sure learnt a few things also luckily no burnt out wires/fuses!


thanks
Josh

ps: great weekend at old bar!!

good info thanks fellas