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Amps for 74 super beetle??? Blowing fuses continueosly
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john diego
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 11:04 pm    Post subject: Amps for 74 super beetle??? Blowing fuses continueosly Reply with quote

Guys, it’s been some time since I’ve last post, but being an enthusiast for some time now, I know you guys would still be around as I am, thanks. Now that my son is turning 16, an yes, 👀 at my my 74 Super, it seems like I must put things together now that he’s getting his Licenses. Well you know what that means. Well anyways this is my 1st question. Is it true that when it comes to the fuse diagrams, the 12 fuses, that 9th and 11th are both 16-Amp? all else is 8- Amp???
Question #2, which is puzzling 🤔 as we all know because we drive a 🐜😂😂😂 2 days ago I went for a cruise 🚢, 😂😂 during the night, and all was well.
All electrical lights came on bright an pretty if you know what I mean. 3 days later attempted to go for another night cruise but was disappointed because both parking lights,right tail light an license plate lights were off, which kept blowing at the same time.checked the fuse and of course it was blewn. Changed it continueosly but kept braking. A big thunder storm did come in the night before, not sure if water was the cause. If water was not the issue, can someone guide me in the right direction to getting started on checking why I’m getting these short? Thanks.
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Chris333
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 11:18 pm    Post subject: Re: Amps for 74 super beetle??? Blowing fuses continueosly Reply with quote

I dunno, but it could be the amp is drawing more power than the VW can put out. Do you have an higher output alternator or a lower out generator?
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john diego
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 2:30 am    Post subject: Re: Amps for 74 super beetle??? Blowing fuses continueosly Reply with quote

Not at all, it was running well couple nights before.
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sb001
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 3:56 am    Post subject: Re: Amps for 74 super beetle??? Blowing fuses continueosly Reply with quote

9 & 10 are 16 amp. Rest are 8 amp.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/manuals/74bug.php

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Replacing constantly blowing fuses is not going to solve your problem. You need to trace your wires back from #1 fuse which powers all the items you mentioned being off.
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Ricache
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 4:38 am    Post subject: Re: Amps for 74 super beetle??? Blowing fuses continueosly Reply with quote

You gotta short. Take off the taillight assembly, clean all contacts on the bulb side and wire side. Then look for any exposed copper wire on any of those wires. Insulate the exposed wires if you find any.

Also notice if any water got in there. Water between the ground and something hot would blow your fuse

While disassembled is there anything else that needs to be addressed?


Reassemble and test. I've gone through this before.


HTH
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Luft kühl
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 5:12 am    Post subject: Re: Amps for 74 super beetle??? Blowing fuses continueosly Reply with quote

sb001 wrote:
You need to trace your wires back from #1 fuse which powers all the items you mentioned being off.


He has a super beetle (113). The chart you posted shows that circuit as being on fuse #2.
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john diego
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 6:04 am    Post subject: Re: Amps for 74 super beetle??? Blowing fuses continueosly Reply with quote

I appreciate it guys, will do. I was trying to read an reread the diagrams all morning thanks for the confirmation
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Chris333
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 9:28 am    Post subject: Re: Amps for 74 super beetle??? Blowing fuses continueosly Reply with quote

lol somehow I read this as your son put an amp (car audio) in the car and now you're having problems. oops Shocked
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ashman40
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 11:32 am    Post subject: Re: Amps for 74 super beetle??? Blowing fuses continueosly Reply with quote

You probably figured this out already but the parking lights on certain model year Beetles are connected in a strange way. You would intuitively expect that all the right side parking lights would be on one fuse and the left side ones on another. That is not normally how VW wired the parking lamps over the years (it did change over the years).

The front parking lights are powered by solid grey wires. Often a single grey wire comes off the fuse box and splits into two to power the left and right front parking/marker lights. This can be powered by either fuse #1 or #2.

The license plate lamp has always been powered by the right rear parking light circuit. So the right rear circuit has a slightly higher load than the left rear.

The two rear parking lights MUST be powered by separate fuses. This is a safety/resiliency feature. The rear parking lights are how cars behind you at night judge distance and avoid rear-ending you. One fuse blowing should NOT take out both your rear parking lights. So the left rear should be on one fuse and the right rear on another.

You would think that it would make sense to pair the front parking lights with the left rear parking light since it is less loaded. This would seem to make sense but many of the earlier model year Beetles went with a different logic that went something like this... “Load as many parking lamps onto one 8A fuse as possible (to save $$). As long as the fuse can carry the load with at least a 20% overhead it is not a burden (all corner 5W parking lights + 5W license plate lamp + any marker lamps only come out to around a 5A load leaving over 35% overhead available on an 8A fuse). Oh wait, we don’t want both rear parking lights on the same fuse so move the left rear parking light onto its own fuse so we have resiliency. Done!” So you often find the left rear parking light all by itself on its own fuse. This explains why all your parking lights except the left rear turn off when one fuse blows.


To isolate your problem (and save $$ on fuses), remove all the bulbs from both front parking lights, the right rear taillight assembly and the license plate lamp. The fuse that was blowing should no longer have a path to ground thru any bulbs. Use a ohm meter or test lamp and test the output wires from the fuse. Find which of the wires are still shorted to ground. If it is the solid grey wire then your problem is somewhere in the front parking lights. If it is the grey/black wire then it is the right rear taillight OR the license plate lamp. If it is the rear one, go to the junction behind the tar paper on the right side of the engine. Find the grey black wire. You should see it split into a solid grey wire running to the taillight assembly and a grey/blue wire running to the license plate lamp. Separate these wires and check for ground one the wire. If one is grounded trace it to find where the wire is grounded.
When you have found and fixed the short to ground reconnect everything and retest to make sure there is no path to ground before you replace all the bulbs.
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john diego
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 11:59 am    Post subject: Re: Amps for 74 super beetle??? Blowing fuses continueosly Reply with quote

That was awesome man, lengthy but good.
I wish definitely test those wires
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john diego
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 18, 2017 9:27 pm    Post subject: Re: Amps for 74 super beetle??? Blowing fuses continueosly Reply with quote

Well guys after doing some research, checking the wiring an bulbs, a few
Bulbs were burnt out, due to the heavy rain that passed by. The Parking and side marker bulbs were bad. Ended up brushing up some wire ports, replaced with new bulbs an whammy, I was good to go again.
The license plate bulbs also came on. Thanks again for the support really appreciate the time an support
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ashman40
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 20, 2017 3:45 am    Post subject: Re: Amps for 74 super beetle??? Blowing fuses continueosly Reply with quote

Good work troubleshooting and getting your lights working again.
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Abscate Premium Member
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 20, 2017 3:55 am    Post subject: Re: Amps for 74 super beetle??? Blowing fuses continueosly Reply with quote

Not to be pedamptic but technically you are blowing fuses intermittently, not continuously. Ok, that's less than helpful.
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