Pictures of engine compartment wiring

[easyriderknucklehead]

just wondering if you guys may know what some of these wires are for and where they connect.
My alternator I believe is not charging (only 11.6 volts while running should be 13.5 right.
if anyone can leave a contact number too I can go outside and name off the colour codes
I have a blue with yellowish green ? a black with plug type? A orange and red thick one together with a connector coming out of bus below regulator (which I thought would be the alternator red one coming from engine connection )?? and the other harness with multi coloured wires that go to engine and bus I have I live white and a BLUE on not sre about.
also that last picture is that a vacuum for somewhere ???
Sorry my typing sucks but this site rocks and well worth it . if you guys ever out this way lots of fishing and hunting drop in for a beer.

[Wildthings]

All or at least most of your wires will show up between current tracks #2 and #7. Some will be for the deal diagnostic system and can be taped off and otherwise ignored.

Double click to enlarge

[easyriderknucklehead]

I can t read the prints or know how to figure out which colour wire goes to what , I was hoping for instructions like the orange goes to alternator or battery etc. or a picture of somebody s bus with the colours. I do have a vw service manual but way over my head ( was thinking about doing carb adjustments tomorrow too but all this reading scares me !!!

[Jody '71]

Not only that, but if any of those wires have been replaced with a different colored wire sometime in the past (or the wire colors have faded), you'll never figure out where they're supposed to go based on the original color wiring diagram. You can go up to "Technical" and print out the "in color" wiring diagram for your particular year. Sad to say you really need to be able to decipher the later model Bus wiring diagrams. Years '71 and prior are pretty easy to figure out. Once they went dual carb in '72 with the type 4 engine and later with FI that stuff gets even more complex. Best of luck
_________________
'66 Beetle
2011 Hyundai Elantra Touring

[easyriderknucklehead]

I tried briefly connecting a couple together while the engine was running and the voltage jumped high on the meter I had on the battery and the engine made a new strange noise from the alternator area I am thinking but was kind off scary and I un plugged it .

Still not sure after all day pissing around the thick red and orange in the picture that come from the bus near the regulator in a harness when I hook it up to the thick red one from the alternator wire loom in tin on right of engine stays powered when the engine is off and key is off . will that not wreck my alternator .

I still have a brown and blu with stripe from regulator that I can t figure out either??

If it means anything my tail lights, front marker lights work and all interior but no horn or Head lights ??? no power to fuses 3 4 5 either I think

[sjbartnik]

Hi, don't connect random wires together. That's a good way to burn something down or break something.

You're gonna have to learn to read that wiring diagram. No two ways about it.

Also all that wiring in your pictures is some PO hack. None of that is VW wiring. So you're gonna have to trace it all out and figure out what the hell he/she did.
_________________
1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650

[MacLeod Willy]

[easyriderknucklehead]

the wires are all there I just think out of the four if I could find out brown , blue ,green from regulator plug go where and its simple (diagrams are for electricians lol ) if the guy who sent a picture sends one with brief notes it be golden )

[sjbartnik]

Now, let's try to help. I've taken a screen shot of the relevant portion of the wiring diagram at full size so we can actually read it:

Note, you didn't mention the year of your Bus but I see it has dual carbs so it must be a '72-'74. Hopefully we are looking at the right diagram; it appears we are.

OK, just to identify the components:
A = battery
B = starter motor and solenoid
C = alternator
C1 = regulator

The other stuff is irrelevant to what we're doing, J14 and E16 have to do with the heater blower fan.

Looking at this diagram it appears you have an externally-regulated alternator.

Your voltage regulator has three terminals and should have three wires coming off it. The terminals should be marked on the regulator itself - you may have to pull it out to have a look.

Look at the diagram and you will see that there is:
- a brown wire that runs from terminal D- on the regulator to terminal D- on the alternator. In VW-land, brown wires are grounds. This is the ground connection from the regulator to your alternator.
- a green wire that runs from terminal DF on the regulator to terminal DF on the alternator. DF stands for "dynamo field," this is the wire that the regulator uses to send a voltage signal to the alternator to regulate its output based on the needs of the electrical system.
- a red wire from terminal D+ on the regulator to terminal D+ on the alternator. This is the wire that the alternator uses to send its output into the voltage regulator. There is also a blue wire that comes into terminal D+ from the front of the Bus. If you trace that blue wire out in the diagram you will see it comes from the alternator light in your instrument cluster.

The way this works is that there is a black wire that provides power to the instrument cluster and the idiot lights when you turn the key on. The blue wire is the ground for the alternator light. It runs to the rear of the Bus and if the alternator is not generating electricity, the current runs to ground and the light turns on. When the alternator is generating electricity, you have 12v on both sides of the bulb so the light stays off.

A very important thing to know is the alternator WILL NOT CHARGE if your alternator light is burned out or otherwise not working. The current from that blue wire is what "excites" the alternator and lets it start charging. If that current doesn't come through, the alternator never starts putting out. So if your alternator light doesn't work, fix that first.

Now you can verify the connections on the regulator pretty easily. Bit trickier with the alternator on the Type 4 engine as you kind of have to pull it out to check the connections. And that is not an easy job. Someone else familiar with the externally-regulated alternator will have to chime in and advise if those three wires are in a plug that plugs into the alternator and can't be installed wrong.

Now you also see that there is another red wire that goes from terminal B+ on the alternator (B+ equals Battery Positive) to terminal 30 on the starter solenoid. You can also see that there is a big black wire from the battery that also goes to terminal 30 on the solenoid. That's how the alternator is connected to the battery. Terminal 30 on the solenoid is one of the big ones under a nut.

(The little numbers you see in line with the wires in the diagram are the cross-section of the wire in square millimeters. So you can see the black wire is a big one because its cross-section is 25 sq. mm.)

You will finally see there is one more wire connected to terminal B+ at the alternator, a black one. You can see that this runs to an orange circle with the number 14 in it. If you look at the key to the wiring diagram you will see a note that all the orange circles represent connections to the VW diagnostic test plug in the engine compartment. So you can disregard that one; it doesn't do anything useful.

So that's pretty much it. Make sure your wiring looks like the wiring in the diagram. If it doesn't, fix it til it does. Once you get the wiring squared away, if your battery still isn't being charged, then report back and we can talk about troubleshooting your alternator and regulator.
_________________
1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650

[sjbartnik]

[Wildthings]

Very good explanation. The one thing that I would like to add is that thin black lines are conductors that are not standard insulated wires. They may be jumper strips in the fuse box, the large wires within the starter itself, or body grounds. The thin wires can either have power on them or be grounds, one just has to determine their used from the diagrams.

I like to use the '73-74 merged diagrams as a first resort when trouble shooting Type 4 powered bays, as they include the key/legend off to the right hand side of the drawing. The '79 diagram includes most of the changes that were made over the years to Type 4 powered bay so is another good drawing to use.

[telford dorr]

Here's a slightly more pictorial drawing of the alternator wiring:

_________________
'71 panel, now with FI
'Experience' is the ability to recognize a mistake when you're making it again - Franklin P. Jones
In theory, theory works in practice; in practice, it doesn't - William T. Harbaugh
When you're dead, you don't know you're dead. The pain is only felt by others.
Same thing happens when you're stupid. - Philippe Geluck
More VW electrical at http://telforddorr.com/ (available 9am to 9pm PST)

[easyriderknucklehead]

sounds good thanks a bunch , I will tackle it again tomorrow it sounds like I have to take some tin off to see the alternator wiring is wired properly (however it does have all the wires you mentioned coming out .

[Wildthings]

[sjbartnik]

[easyriderknucklehead]

thanks for all your help, so we got the <G> light working for the alternator in the dash. (the blue wire connected to a wire coming from the bus harness which has also the red and orange wires together on one connector)

The one that is now in question (the red and orange) has power to it with ignition off all the time. I am wondering whether the thick red one that comes with the green, red, black/brown from the alternator out through the tin to the regulator must go A: to the battery or this orange and red hot wire.

the small red wire that goes to the plug with the green, brown is already plugged into the regulator. This thick red wire I imagine from the B+ is what I have left over. The terminal 30 on the starter solenoid already has the battery positive and a red wire with a white stripe, another red wire. Terminal 50 has a black striped red wire plugged into the solenoid.

WHERE SHOULD I PLUG IN THE THICK RED WIRE FROM THE ALTERNATOR?( to the orange and red combo live wire)

[busdaddy]

The fat red wire with the gray sleeve goes to the #30 starter terminal, it should have a ring terminal on it opposed to that spade. I'd look into changing the entire wire, all that tape and janky terminal action creeps me out.
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[easyriderknucklehead]

thanks bus daddy so I still have the red and orange which fits right into the thick red from the alternator (the orange red comes from the bus wiring by the regulator wall where the positive from battery goes to the starter 30 which is a live wire too right and why not just run it to battery which is closer or to the red and orange live wire.

I know with the tape I covered up the po mess but all soldered and heat shrink and believe it or not same coloured wiring from the bus we pulled the engine from but it was a 1971 with 1974 enigine . it all seams to be working aside from this and head lights .

bus daddy if you can call me 604 910 3304 and next time I am on my way to see ed at the bug shop in Delta I will drop off some beer for your assistance ( if I make it in the bus in the winter over the coquihalla)

[Wildthings]

You can buy replacement wiring harness for your alternator. I have picked them up at shows for almost nothing. Check the classifieds or Bus Depot and see what you can find.

[Tcash]

Someone was going to ask kyleautomotivespecialties if he would make them.
You might want to contact him?
Tcash