Melting flasher relay. 1972 1200 beetle UK

[markus250]

Hi all, got an issue with our indicators. They suddenly stopped working, but when I put hazard lights on, they would flash, only extremely dim. I decided to check the fuses and relay and fuses all fine but relay had melted and was smoking so I switched everything off and removed the old relay.

I thought the relay being old had burnt out or so.ething, so I fitted a new one and that melted too!

Now I'm assuming a short somewhere. But where I don't know. All wires under bonnet look fine even to back of the relay. Nothing seems split or making contact with anything it shouldn't. I decided to start at the indicator switch as it looked to have been replaced at some point with wires joined. All those joins seem fine. My concern it's that when the indicator switch is screwed in place on the cumn, could it's wiring be coming into contact with the screws securing the ignition switch cover? Someone on a beetle Facebook group has said they had that issue.

[raydog]

I guess I would start by making sure the correct bulbs (correct wattage) are installed. Then with bulbs out, check each turn signal wire with an ohmmeter to ground. The best way would be to disconnect at the junctions in the truck and test from there. Then check turn signal switch to ground if necessary, in both positions, left and right. Also verify correct wiring going to the flasher relay.

See wire diagram in tech section.
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Come on, It's not rocket science. KISS

[raydog]

I guess I would start by making sure the correct bulbs (correct wattage) are installed. Then with bulbs out, check each turn signal wire with an ohmmeter to ground. The best way would be to disconnect at the junctions in the truck and test from there. Then check turn signal switch to ground if necessary, in both positions, left and right. Also verify correct wiring going to the flasher relay.

See wire diagram in tech section.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/wiring/bug_71.jpg
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Come on, It's not rocket science. KISS

[Starbucket]

If relay is smoking someone bypassed the fuse block or they put a high amp fuse in so you need to start tracing wires from the relay. If it smokes just with the key on it's probably the 49a wire.

[bnam]

Pull out the wires at the 49a terminal. For your model* there should be 2 wires on one terminal there - one black with green white tracer and another blue one that goes to the emergency flasher switch (but don't worry about the colors as they changed over the years). Use a multimeter and check for ground on this wire. There should be no ground. If there is ground, then the relay be on all the time - even though the lights are not flashing (as the turn switch and e-flasher switch are off) -- burning up the relay.

* the 1200s used older wiring set up than the corresponding Deluxe models. I've not seen 1200 specific wiring diagrams posted here. But, I believe the 70s 1200s continued to use the 71 turn signal switch - so am referring to that 71 wiring diagram.
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1971 1302LS Convertible (RHD) owned since '74
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1965 Karmann Ghia Coupe - under restoration
1966 Fiat 1500 Cabrio (with 1600 Twin cam)
1952 Citroen TA 11BL