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Wed Dec 10, 2008 12:55 pm

hello,
I am installing a 68 speedometer into a 67 beetle.
I had the regular mechanical gauge but upgrade the speedo to the one that has the gauge built in.

Does anyone here have photos of the back of there combo speedo, so I see what wire has to go where?

I posted a few pictures of the previous fuel gauge set up.

here they are:

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Wed Dec 10, 2008 1:35 pm

Here you go. Wherever you tapped the power for your old electric gauge should work on the 68. As well as the extra night-illumination bulb on the new speedometer.

Wed Dec 10, 2008 2:02 pm

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Wed Dec 10, 2008 3:14 pm

We were talking via emails to, but seeing these photos I'll comment here too.

The fuel gauge - you need the vibrator.

I think you have some bulbs in the wrong holes there. This speedo has all the extra holes in for extra bulbs, like the autostick overheat. I have such a speedometer here and I went and took a photo and added labels.

The unused one on the left side here, I notice is labelled 57. That's parking lights. I know Busses used a light on their dashboard from 68 to like 73 or so showing the parking lights, but I've never seen it done on a Bug.

Wed Dec 10, 2008 6:20 pm

I think that Item you have marked "power for warning lites" is a ground wire.

Wed Dec 10, 2008 6:36 pm

I think so to, on my old gauge, the wire was black, and placed there also.

Wed Dec 10, 2008 6:42 pm

NO, that is NOT a ground connection on the bottom! It is Power. The warning lights are powered there!

The ground comes from when the oil light switch, voltage regulator, or turn signal relay provides the ground path.

Ground wires are brown, by the way. Black is hot/switched (terminal 15).

Here's a snippet of the wiring diagram. Those bulbs are K2,K3 and K4. See the black wire coming from the fusebox going to them??

Wed Dec 10, 2008 6:49 pm

Interesting. I have been trying to figure that lug out for 2 months.
Dan

Wed Dec 10, 2008 6:55 pm

WD0AFQ wrote: Interesting. I have been trying to figure that lug out for 2 months.
Dan

You have a ham radio license and didn't look at the schematic.??
j/k :wink: :wink:

Wed Dec 10, 2008 7:04 pm

yep, you caught me. Have rewired the whole car too. :lol:
Dan

Sun Dec 28, 2008 4:06 pm

I just posted pictures of the speedometer, with the fuel sender unit, and voltometer unit.

My question is do I need to ground the fuel sender unit on the gas tank?

the wires going to the vibrator unit are:
on the right: black wire from a lamp unit to bring in power...

on the left: green wire from the sender.

am I missing anything?

I saw that a person had a ground from the sender unit on the tank. but the previous setup i had on my unit did not have this.

For the voltometer:
I encrusted it into where the old gas gauge was.
I do have a whole bunch of wires that went to it.
right now I have a ground to the chassis, a bulb with a black wire,
and another wire that is going from my speedometer (red light connection) to the voltometer

The voltometer is VDO, it has
I (where I have put the wire from the speedo to, thinking I means indicator???) S (where I have nothing), the bulb where I have the bulb and i used one of the attachments G as a ground to the chassis.

is this set up okay?

Sun Dec 28, 2008 5:25 pm

Tank unit ground: If all of your sending unit screws have washers under them that are made of plastic, then yes you'll need to do something to ensure a ground. The easiest way is to use a copper washer in place of one of the plastic ones.
-Andy

Mon Dec 29, 2008 6:29 am

Or just run a ground and be sure. That brown stuff is Indian Head gasket sealer, don't want any leaks. :wink:

Mon Dec 29, 2008 1:08 pm

If you run a ground, make sure there's no plastic gasket underneath preventing it from making contact. I was going to post the picture of the tank unit in my Baja, in which I did both, ( but the only reason I did the extra wire was because I was having issues.... which turned out to not be because of a ground, it was a burnt out gauge. )

Mon Dec 29, 2008 1:28 pm

so it looks like I have to get the sealant for the screw to, I looked at the sender unit, it looks like there is nothing under the screws, but I will put a ground to be sure. Indian head sealant? I guess I will at the automotive place to see if i find it or something like it, and ground the other end on the chassis.

Mon Dec 29, 2008 1:56 pm

Thanks for the pic of the 68 speedometer. It got my 66 working. I had a wire in the wrong place and messed up my flashing light for the blinkers. Had a "glow" in it all the time. No more. Thanks again to all of yall who have walked before me.
Dan

Wed May 27, 2009 1:14 pm

Time to bring this thread back out.
I'm having issues getting the electronic fuel gauge to work correctly in my 62. I have a 68 speedo and brand new sender, vibrator, and gauge ( I swapped the
face plate of the new gauge to the older style).

Here is the problem. Everything works perfect when OUT of the speedometer. Here are three pics taken with the gauge and sender
just setting out and using jumper wires.

Sender in the empty position

Sender around the halfway position

Sender in the full position

However, when I hook it all up in the speedo, I get this.

It goes straight to full, but there is less than a gallon of gas in the tank. Also, I can pull the wire off the sender and nothing happens (it will stay at full).
I have ran an extra ground wire from a fender bolt to one of the bolts that hold the sender unit in place. The wire from the top of the sender is going
to the tab on the drivers side of the fuel gauge. I have power from fuse 8 going to the vibrator which is attached to the tab on the passenger side of
the gauge. I'm pretty sure this is correct.

I took everything back out and did some more test. I found that when I touched the metal housing to ground, the needle would go all the way to full.

Sender close to the empty position.

Sender in same position, but with a ground wire touching the housing.

So when the gauge is installed the housing is touching the speedo, which is grounded, and messes it all up. Should this be happening? Am I missing
some rubber insulators or something? Maybe it's just a bad gauge? Anybody got any ideas for me? Thanks!

Wed May 27, 2009 1:25 pm

Man I need one of those 68 gauges for my 61 Vert. Anybody got one reasonable in good working condition? I can trade a good 1969 unit for it.

Wed May 27, 2009 2:29 pm

fluxcap wrote:
So when the gauge is installed the housing is touching the speedo, which is grounded, and messes it all up. Should this be happening? Am I missing
some rubber insulators or something? Maybe it's just a bad gauge? Anybody got any ideas for me? Thanks!

It should not be happening. The gauge, if installed properly, should "hang" in place isolated from ground, not contacting the speedometer housing.

By the way, kind of trivial, but FYI - that's not a 1968 faceplate on there, looks like a 69-70 vintage. The 1968 had bluish tinted graphics that match the 68 speedo head, as well as numbers set in a wider typface that matches the speedo graphics:

Wed May 27, 2009 2:50 pm

Thanks Andy. I'll try again later. I figured that was part of the problem and tried and tried to get it mounted without any contact, but just never could get it. I see the difference in the face plate you mentioned. Just happy to not have one with the red reserve area! Now I just need to get it working right.