Ignition switch, couple questions.

[Frodge]

Last year I was doing some work on my bug. The wires on the ignition switch under the dash a couple inches off the switch must’ve gotten warm at some time. The insulation was stuck together. I hat i did was carefully pull them apart and tape carefully and accurately over the tiny sections of insulation that has come off when I separated them.

This leads to my next question. When can one find the correct thin wall socket to get the steering wheel nut off? I had to take the horn ring off and I don’t want to ever fiddle with that again if I don’t have to because of too large a socket. Those small threaded holes for the horn ring can easily be damaged.

Second, how difficult is it to change the ignition switch in a 1970 beetle? Are the switches hard to rebuild? I have an original. Is there a write up somewhere?

[Cusser]

[Starbucket]

If you have access to a bench grinder just grind the OD using an extension to hold and rotate the socket and dunk it in water if it gets too warm.

[ashman40]

Not sure you want to use a thin walled socket/ The steering wheel is torqued pretty tight and not unheard of for the previous person to have used Loctite when installing.
The horn parts were meant to be removed before attempting to remove the nut. If you try to remove the nut with the horn ring in place and you slip while breaking the nut free... you could end up damaging the horn parts.


The steering shafts up to mid-'74 used a larger 27mm socket to remove the nut. From sometime in '74 VW switched to the smaller nut that used a 24mm socket.


Here is a write up when I disassembled my '71 ignition switch.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=455734
The aftermarket switch pictured in the thread will have different internals. Just pay attention as you disassemble parts. There will be spings and ball bearings inside. Take care not to lose any parts.
Clean up the brass contact surfaces and lightly grease everything before reassembly.

Please post pics of the internal contact surfaces in your OE switch. I found that the OE Germany switches have much larger contact areas compared to the aftermarket switches, but I would like someone to post pics of the switch internals. I threw away my switch before taking pics.


Here's another thread showing some pics of an OE switch. You can see a few pics that show some of the OE parts of the switch.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8403474
_________________
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!}

[Frodge]

I’m not taking apart just yet. Taping up those wires has been fine for well over a year, it might even be going on two. I’ve had the steering wheel off and didn’t have trouble getting that nut off. I did have some trouble holding the horn ring down under the spring tension and getting those little screws started. They seem pretty easy to strip out and then I’d be screwed. I don’t think you can repair the threads in the steering wheel which is why a thin walled socket would work best. I would say just don’t pull down toward the ring.

The steering wheel definitely needs to be removed to get the electrical part of the switch out?
I’m thinking that if it’s been ok for 1.5 years after I carefully insulated it, maybe it should be left being it’s original.
Thanks for all the links and help!

[ashman40]

If the switch fully functions and it is just the wire insulation that is the problem... cut the wires and solder a new wire in its place. Has the insulation melted all the way up to the switch terminals?

You could...

Clip off the wires 1inch from the ignition switch.

Solder new wires of the proper gauge to the little ignition switch pigtails. Use a heatsink to prevent overheating the switch terminals. Overheating the terminals will melt the plastic parts of the switch.

Cover the exposed wires with heat shrink tubing.

Crimp female terminals to the ends of the new wires.

Route the new wires in place of the old ones.

Add an inline fuse to the #15 wire to avoid melting the insulation in the future.

_________________
AshMan40
---------------------------
'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!}

[Cusser]

[Frodge]

What do you mean duco cement?
1 couple inches away from the switch, the wires were “stuck” together so to speak. I carefully separated them and there were small areas on the two or three wires where the I dilation was off from pulling them apart etc. I taped each individual wire neatly and tightly over that area about 18-24 months ago and have left it so far,

[Cusser]

[Frodge]

So should I take it all apart even though I had taped it up nice and neatly and glue it?

[Cusser]