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Please help me identify these wires
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LeftSatisfied
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 05, 2015 4:13 pm    Post subject: Please help me identify these wires Reply with quote

I just reinstalled my engine and have a few mystery wires that were going nowhere when I pulled the engine. Can you help me identify these wires? One must go to my license plate light but my new light housing accepts only one wire. The last two photos are the same wire. Thanks in advance!
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LeftSatisfied
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 05, 2015 9:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Maybe I can add some more detail to help get an answer. The first pic shows a 2 wire cable coming from the passenger side behind the doghouse. It is roughly 2 1/2 feet long which leads me to believe it powered the license plate light. The connector throws me off since I never has a stock license plate light housing. The second pic is two black wires to a connector coming from behind the doghouse. It does not seem to reach too far into the engine bay. The last two pics show a green wire coming out of the wire sheaves that go to the alternator and the coil. The wiring diagram has been little help since it does not show connectors.
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sb001
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 05, 2015 10:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What year car??

In the first picture is that a double connector? Yes that goes to your license plate light, early bugs (through 68 ) there was only one wire going to the license plate light, this was the power wire which branched off the right taillight wire using a 1-2 connector behind the passenger side engine bay tarboard. Then the bulb just grounded through its housing. Later (starting in 69 I think) VW added an actual ground wire that went from the license plate light back to behind the passenger side tarboard where it grounds out on the chassis tab. So--if that's a double wire connector in your photo, one wire should be kind of cream colored (that's the power wire branching off the right rear taillight wire) and the other (brown) would be ground. If your license plate light housing only accepts one wire then that would be the power wire, and you can just leave that brown wire alone- the bulb should ground out through its housing.

In the second photo, that 1-2 connector is for your reverse lights. The wire going in to the single end of that connector is coming from your backup light switch on the transmission--it branches off into two wires through that connector, one wire then goes to your left reverse light and the other goes to your right. There should be a loose black wire around that same spot going back through your wire harness toward the left side of the engine bay, that wire is for your left side reverse light and plugs into one of the slots on the double side of that connector. Then there should be another black wire going over to the right side of your engine bay for the right reverse light, that will plug into the other slot.
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1969 autostick sedan, family owned since new
1600 SP engine
Solex 30 PICT 3 carburetor
Bosch 113905205AE autostick distributor


Last edited by sb001 on Sun Jul 05, 2015 11:00 pm; edited 2 times in total
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sb001
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 05, 2015 10:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That green wire looks like it's already plugged into another (black) wire through a connector..? The only solid green wire coming out of the wire sheathing in the engine bay should be the DF wire going from the DF terminal on the voltage regulator under the rear seat to the DF terminal on your generator/ alternator.
There is also a BLUE wire with green stripe that goes to your oil sender on the engine case, in case that's actually what this wire is.
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1969 autostick sedan, family owned since new
1600 SP engine
Solex 30 PICT 3 carburetor
Bosch 113905205AE autostick distributor
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LeftSatisfied
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 05, 2015 11:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

sb001 wrote:
That green wire looks like it's already plugged into another (black) wire through a connector..? The only solid green wire coming out of the wire sheathing in the engine bay should be the DF wire going from the DF terminal on the voltage regulator under the rear seat to the DF terminal on your generator/ alternator.
There is also a BLUE wire with green stripe that goes to your oil sender on the engine case, in case that's actually what this wire is.


Thank you for the reply! Now I can finish up my wiring. I'm not running reverse lights so I can leave that connector tucked away. I'm starting to think that that green wire was added some time in the past since my alternator and oil sender are covered. Thanks again.
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