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ashman40
Samba Member
Joined: February 16, 2007
Posts: 15989
Location: North Florida, USA
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 Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2016 1:31 am Post subject: Re: DIY: Here's how to add a Relay to an electrical circuit |
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Find the #50 red wire under the rear seat. I can see it in your pic. This is the heavy gauge red wire that enters a sleeve and exits along the center tunnel at the rear of the pan. It looks a little melted at the junction so that is worrisome.
Disconnect the wires at this junction and test the one coming from the side of the car. This wire should have 12v from the ignition switch every time you turn the key to START. If the voltage is low or intermittent, then there is a problem with the ignition switch or wiring.
Take the other red wire that exits out the rear of the pan and (with the trans in neutral and parking brake set) touch it to the battery positive terminal. This should energize the starter and crank the engine. If it does this consistently, then the starter is in good shape. If direct power from the battery does not reliably crank the engine then you may have a starter or solenoid problem.
Report back you results here.
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AshMan40
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'67 Beetle #1 {project car that never made it to the road  }
'75 Beetle 1200LS (RHD Japan model) {junked due to frame rot}
'67 Beetle #2 {2019 project car - Wish me luck!} |
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justinline
Samba Member
Joined: February 08, 2011
Posts: 5
Location: Culver City, CA
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| Posted: Mon May 15, 2017 9:13 pm Post subject: Re: DIY: Here's how to add a Relay to an electrical circuit |
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Thank you for the good info Ashman40. Better late than never to reply (sorry about that).
I'm not clear on how to test the wire coming from the side of the car to get the 12v. I have a multimeter, but the one end of the wire seems to disappear into the bundle leaving the bottom right of the photo. Obviously I'm missing something here.
I tried the 2nd step to touch the battery positive terminal with the other red wire, but realized it's too short to reach the battery. I suppose I need a jumper or something.
Overall it's been pretty reliable since I posted this, but recently my luck has run out. Thanks again for the initial reply. I'll get a jumper and dig into how to contact the 1st wire to the switch. I understand if you do not reply since I took over a year to do so myself.
Thanks again,
Justin |
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ashman40
Samba Member
Joined: February 16, 2007
Posts: 15989
Location: North Florida, USA
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| Posted: Wed May 17, 2017 8:24 am Post subject: Re: DIY: Here's how to add a Relay to an electrical circuit |
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| justinline wrote: |
| I'm not clear on how to test the wire coming from the side of the car to get the 12v. I have a multimeter, but the one end of the wire seems to disappear into the bundle leaving the bottom right of the photo. |
Find the #50 heavy gauge red wire. There is a junction under the rear seat there in your pic. You can pull the wire out from each end of the junction. One wire will head to the starter. The other wire comes from the ignition switch.
Set your multimeter to read DC Voltage (VDC). If it is not auto-ranging select the voltage range just above 12v (usually 20v).
The black test lead connected to the COM port should be touching a good ground point.
The red lead should be plugged into the port for Volts/Ohms/mA. If you have a 3rd port it is usually for 10A (high amps), don't use this one.
As a test, touch your red lead to the battery positive terminal. You should get a reading of around 12.6v.
Place the test lead on the red #50 wire coming from the ignition switch. Even if you cannot remove this wire from the junction you can insert the probe into the junction and make contact with the wire/terminal.
Turn the ignition switch all the way to the START position. (Don't worry, the engine will not crank since you disconnected the #50 wires.) You should get a voltage reading from the red wire of 12v. If you get a lower voltage, fluctuating voltage or the voltage is there sometimes but not other times... this could be your problem.
Test this multiple times. If you always get 12v then the ignition switch is testing good.
| justinline wrote: |
| I tried the 2nd step to touch the battery positive terminal with the other red wire, but realized it's too short to reach the battery. I suppose I need a jumper or something. |
If you have a battery jumper cable use it.
Another good suggestion is to follow the heavy gauge wire running from the battery to the B+ terminal on the vr (or white junction if you have an alternator). Disconnect this and you should be able to touch the two wires together.
_________________
AshMan40
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'67 Beetle #1 {project car that never made it to the road }
'75 Beetle 1200LS (RHD Japan model) {junked due to frame rot}
'67 Beetle #2 {2019 project car - Wish me luck!} |
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justinline
Samba Member
Joined: February 08, 2011
Posts: 5
Location: Culver City, CA
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| Posted: Sun May 21, 2017 1:28 pm Post subject: Re: DIY: Here's how to add a Relay to an electrical circuit |
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Hi ashman40,
I was able to verify I'm getting 12v consistently from the ignition switch.
When I jumped the #50 wire to the battery, she tried to turn over, but didn't. It would stop after one or two cranks.
Looks like it might be a solenoid or starter problem. Looking into replacing it now. The starter seems to be tougher to get at for my '72 super than some other tutorials I've seen online.
Thank you for your help getting this far.
Justin |
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justinline
Samba Member
Joined: February 08, 2011
Posts: 5
Location: Culver City, CA
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| Posted: Fri May 26, 2017 11:11 pm Post subject: Re: DIY: Here's how to add a Relay to an electrical circuit |
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I just went a head and replaced the starter with a new one, but now I'm getting a whirring noise when I try to start it back up. It's like the starting is spinning but not engaging. I didn't change the starter bushing, but it doesn't seem too bad from the pic (though it's not the greatest). Everything to be seated just fine and installed / connected correctly. I'm not sure what to do next. Any suggestions?
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