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Fried wire to coil
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Zylinderkopf
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 8:47 am    Post subject: Fried wire to coil Reply with quote

My son borrowed my '71 super beetle. Said it started to lose power and then stopped completely. White smoke coming out the front air vents, smelling like burned wires. I found a wire from coil completely fried and one in the front as well (see pictures). And yes, the fuel filter was dangerously close to the wire that shorted. Had not had a chance to move it ( just bought this bug about a month ago). Wiring is not my expertise... Can anyone point me in the right direction on how to fix? Thanks!
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Glenn Premium Member
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 8:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Looks like a short. You'll need to run a new wire but first find the short.
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BugMan114
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 10:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Perhaps the coil is shorting out. I'd replace it and the wire with the same or larger gauge. I'm guessing that wire may have melted the wires around it which can cause the other wires in the loom to short out and possibly cause a fire. Might need a new harness. CIP1 has them for a reasonable price if that's the case
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DrummerDaveB
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 10:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had that happen once.
Check to see if your choke wire shorted against the alternator ... or the Idle selenoid wire against something.
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Cusser
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 12:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yep, back in 1978 had to run a wire over the roof back to the coil to get me home. My wire had shorted out somewhere in its path, luckily my ignition switch electrical was still OK. SO that afternoon I ran a wire under the fender, under the running board, back underneath, back to the coil.

And I now have an in-line fuse up at the fuse box, as this circuit is unfused from the factory.

Looks like Mr. Wire met Mr. Hot Intake Manifold.
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Joel
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 2:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As above the old melted wire on the preheat gag.
Normally its the oil light wire or the condenser low tension that it happens too.

Someone on here is making kits for an easy plug and play inline fuse for the coil wire, will prevent this from ever happening again.
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Cusser
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 2:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Getting an inline fuse and putting correct termianls on it and inserting that between live side of fuse box and the coil wire was a 15 minute exercise for me.
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1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297
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Joel
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 2:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's all the kits are:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1484940
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Zylinderkopf
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 2:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

thank you all for your replies. I hope to have time this weekend to try and fix this. I may be back to you with more questions at that time!
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Cusser
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 3:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Joel wrote:
That's all the kits are:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1484940



$7 shipped is very reasonable too.
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1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297
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pwmcguire
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 6:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cusser wrote:
Joel wrote:
That's all the kits are:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1484940



$7 shipped is very reasonable too.


Zylinderkopf, I'm sorry about your short in your coil wire. Cusser, Thanks for the nice comment. I created this kit to assemble the parts for a reasonable price. By the time you buy all of the parts you'll have way more than 7 dollars. I made it plug and play with no modifications on your wiring. Check out my other electrical products.
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volksworld
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 7:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

when you ground out a wire it melts at both ends and works its way toward the middle....probably cause there's more resistance at the ends but I don't know the scientific reason....so most of the time you can get away with just replacing the burnt ends,not the entire wire...just depends how long it was grounded out....factory wiring doesn't have enough slack to hit the heat riser...what was that attached to?....in addition the ignition switch could be damaged too...
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Zylinderkopf
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 6:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Problem solved. The prior owner had installed a chrome firewall and the wire to the starter was wedged between the engine and the firewall (which has a sharp edge where it was cut to fit). The engine vibration wore through the insulation and voila! we have a short. I replaced the wire - routed it through an existing hole, said a quick prayer and started her up. Took her on a test drive and so far so good.
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1970 Karmann Ghia Coupe
1971 Super Beetle
1974 Thing


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pwmcguire
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 6:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The coil fuse kit shipped out today. It shouldn't take long to get there.

Thanks
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volksworld
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 6:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

just wait till you pull the motor some day and when you break the upper nut loose the firewall removes your knuckles like a cheesegrater....you've only begun to love that chrome p.o.s.
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Zylinderkopf
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 8:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

volksworld wrote:
just wait till you pull the motor some day and when you break the upper nut loose the firewall removes your knuckles like a cheesegrater....you've only begun to love that chrome p.o.s.


Ha! You're probably right about that! But when I do pull the engine the chrome p.o.s. Firewall will go into the trash! It's definitely not my style!
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1963 Beetle
1966 Beetle 1300
1970 Karmann Ghia Coupe
1971 Super Beetle
1974 Thing


"A lot of people never use their initiative because no one told them to."
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chad_m
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PostPosted: Sun May 25, 2014 7:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi, what amp fuse did you use when you added the fuse holder to the coil wireing? I had the wire to my choke short out a few weeks ago on me and make a mess.

Thanks
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