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Fri Dec 11, 2015 4:58 pm

I'm in the process of replacing almost all of the wiring in my 69. I'm also replacing the horn ring to get rid of the button under the dash. When I pulled off the turn signal switch, I noticed that one of the wires under there was broken/disconnected. It's the brown one on the left side where you can see the insulation is broken. It either passes through or is connected to that metal ring. There is a plastic yellow piece right above where it connects. First of all, what is this wire for? and second, how do I go about reconnecting it? Thanks in advance for your help.

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Fri Dec 11, 2015 5:44 pm

That looks like a hack repair of a turn signal switch- there should not be crimp connectors there.

Sat Dec 12, 2015 6:31 am

Solid brown wires on a VW go to ground. My guess, looking at the wiring diagram for 1969 Beetle, is that is the ground for the horn circuit. Tracing that wire to its end should lead you to the horn.

Sat Dec 12, 2015 6:50 am

What button under the dash are you looking to remove and why does it require replacing the horn ring?

Sat Dec 12, 2015 7:33 am

Under the dash is it a button or switch?
Do yourself a big service and rewire that region correctly removing the butt splices.

Sat Dec 12, 2015 8:07 am

I believe you are talking about the brown horn wire that connects to the upper steering column bearing for '68-'70 model years.

For the '68-'70 model year this was an integral part of the horn circuit. Power from the fuse box passes through the horn and then to the brown (ground) wire of the bearing. The current then passes through the steering shaft and the steering wheel until it reaches the horn switch. The final path to ground is the wire running inside the steering shaft to ground on the bolt/nut of the steering coupler that grounds to the steering box. For this circuit to work properly, the steering shaft must be insulated from ground while the horn switch is OPEN. Only while the horn button is pressed does the steering shaft go to ground. This is why the OD of the bearing is sleeved in plastic. Other model years actually used the steering shaft as a ground source.

Note the metal contacts on the inside of the bearing ID sleeve. This allow that brown wire a path to electrically contact the steering column shaft. Later years used a plastic spacer between the shaft and the bearing that cannot be used for the '68-'70 model years, or it would disable the horn.

Air Head Parts did a good video on replacing that bearing and describes the process very well.

Sat Dec 12, 2015 12:41 pm

Thanks everybody for the replies, especially the video. The button I referred to in the original post is an add-on horn button because apparently a previous owner couldn't fix the old one. And don't you all worry, I am replacing the turn signal switch assembly (new one already on the way).