62-65 headlight/parking light wiring question

ExtremeBean

Do the parking lights (tiny bulbs in the headlight housing) have a ground? I noticed there are 2 little holes (with a "set screw"). One of them obviously is the gray wire coming from the fuse box. What's the other for?

The wiring diagram is really confusing on this. It shows 2 parking lights per side. One is for sealed beam, which us what I have.

Secondly, I have the yellow, white, and brown (ground) wires for the 3 terminals connecting to the headlight. Which wire goes to which prong?

Lastly, just to clarify, the parking light IS the tiny second bulb correct? Thats not for the hi beam. The dual filament bulb is the hi beam, right?

Thanks in advance for the help

grandpa pete · Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 7:28 pm Post subject:

parking light is tiny bulb
what dual filament bulb are you talking about . a headlight bulb is THE BIG ONE it has the two filaments in it .

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

[parking light work on terminals under the headlight single element bulb brown is ground
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66 sedan delivery Type 6

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=569619&highlight=sedan+delivery

ExtremeBean · Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 7:41 pm Post subject:

Dual filament headlight bulb. It's a sealed beam so you can't really see it. I'm just assuming it's a dual filament. One filament for the headlights and the second for the hi beams, right?

grandpa pete · Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 7:46 pm Post subject:

yes..yellow and white wires..white to term56a yellow to term 56b brown 30 ground to parking light
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63 two fold rag
66 sedan delivery Type 6

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ExtremeBean · Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 8:23 pm Post subject:

The terminals arnt numbered. Can you tell me what wires go to which terminal if you're looking at the back of the headlight, it looks like this
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I I

What do you mean ground to parking to light?

hitest · Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 9:24 pm Post subject:

I searched through the beetle wiring diagrams and indeed, the '62 all the way up to '65 are confusing- as they address international models only. I had to look at the '66 USA model wiring harness before the headlight circuit looked right. The Clymer diagram is pretty bad- but the rest appear straight from VW factory manuals like Bentley. Here's the '66 USA one:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/wiring/bug_66_USA.jpg

It should help in the headlight area- but many things changed elsewhere.

I also searched the gallery and found no clear, close up shots showing the colors of the plug, but there is a simple way to feel them out. When faced with a bulb and could not recall the color code for high, low and ground, I cheated by using a 12v dewalt drill battery. I touched two scrap pieces of wire to the headlight's prongs until I found the high then low- then marked them. It comes in handy when a new headlight plug has 3 black wires, or, when the wires have been heavily painted. It's also a great way to test other bulbs in the car. For my 6v cars, I use the 7.2 dewalt.
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ExtremeBean · Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 6:03 am Post subject:

Thanks for the reply hitest. That's a good idea using the drill battery! So according to the 66 diagram, the ground goes from the headlight to the parking light, then out (I'm guessing to the fender). This is definitely a simpler diagram, however, I'm still not sure HOW to mount the ground for the parking light. The two holes in the bottom of the parking light bulb holder are small, and will not fit the 2.5 size ground wire. Also, I'm not sure the holes are "seperate". I've seen in some diagrams where the power wire goes from one side to the other which is what I now believe the two holes are for. Maybe it's just grounded by the housing in the same way that the turn signals are?

rcroane · Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 6:55 am Post subject:

Some folks (including me) run a separate ground wire from the parking bulb holder to a screw in the headlight bucket (drill a small hole for this). I think I used 16 gauge wire?
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'65 Sunroof Bug

ExtremeBean · Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 7:00 am Post subject:

So one of the holes in the parking light bulb holder IS for the ground?

Miklo · Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 7:14 am Post subject:

EverettB

ExtremeBean · Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 8:36 am Post subject:

Perfect. That's what I needed. Thanks!

glutamodo · Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 9:04 am Post subject:

Everett - I don't agree here. On Beetles at least there was a dedicated ground wire going from the headlight socket to a screw on the inside of the trunk area, one on each side. I've had too many unmolested 61 and 62s over the years with this wire built into the loom to say that was an add-on.

You can even see the wire, (but not quite the screw) behind the jack, in this photo from my 62 Owner's Manual:

And I took this photo of a mostly original 61 that was in our yard, at the shop I used to work at:

rcroane · Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 9:08 am Post subject:

That's how my '65 is wired, but it also had a ground wire from the parking bulb holder running to the ground connection in the headlight plug. I moved my parking light ground to a screw in the headlight bucket.
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'65 Sunroof Bug

EverettB · Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 10:30 am Post subject:

ExtremeBean · Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 10:32 am Post subject:

Couldn't you just use the same ground for the headlights? (Screwed to the inside of the trunk)

glutamodo · Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 10:35 am Post subject:

I'm not sure about the wiring change, but I think that particular reference in PR was about the metal conduit between the fender and body being deleted and replaced by the rubber tube.

rcroane · Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 11:27 am Post subject:

ExtremeBean....you can do that by attaching it to the ground wire on the headlight plug, but I found it hard to fit two wires in one terminal. The only way to use the same screw in the trunk would be to run it up through the conduit....that would be nearly impossible. Hence, run it to a screw in the bucket.
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'65 Sunroof Bug

hitest · Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 3:55 pm Post subject:

Much of why the ground is brought all the way through to the body is because the removable fenders of a beetle are also somewhat ground-challenged by the insulating fender beading. As the car is driven, the fender bolts lose conductivity as they are exposed to road salts, grime, rust, etc. Everett's picture of the bus, while showing the plug well, shows the ground in the uber-handy bus bucket locale, firmly part of a bus body. RCroane is right, it's awful tight in an old conduit tube to replace a missing ground wire. You may try running a long ground wire just to compare brightness, touch it to the fender's headlight bucket, then touch it to the inner body panel of the trunk. If there is no difference, you've got good metal-to metal contact through your fender bolts, and you are fine to cut it just to reach the bucket. Kind of a test then cut comparison.

You can always tell a well-grounded headlight assembly in that it should work while loose in your hand when wired and powered. If it only lights up when the chrome ring is screwed into the fender, then you know it is grounding by metal contact only. This means the circuit "finds" a ground vs. supplying a good one. Sorry to be so wordy. As you know I'm nuts about headlights.
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napgonz · Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2025 10:34 pm Post subject:


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62-65 headlight/parking light wiring question
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