1.8L starter problems, car won't start! Options

[aaronc70]

I'm trying not to let my 1975 1.8L turn into a garage queen. A few weeks after taking the car in for some general service work (brakes, ignition, fuel delivery problems, etc). The car started and ran fine. Suddenly the car would not crank. I took the battery in to Autozone to be tested and it tested fine. Next I looked at the starter. After pulling it and taking it to my mechanic, it tested bad- it would spin but the solenoid would not push the gear out.

I ordered a starter off Amazon, consequently the starter drive gear did not look the same.
My old one looked like this: https://www.autozone.com/batteries-starting...gen/beetle/2001

But the new one looked like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007Y85Q7...=UTF8&psc=1
(or vice versa, I can't remember which.

When I arc the contact points, the new starter spins and seems to spin and engage the flywheel fine.

However the car still would not start using the key. I did some research and found this how-to on Pelican: https://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/9...tion_switch.htm

I looked at the passenger seat belt switch and it seemed to be jumpered fine with good connection, so I assumed my starter switch at the key was bad. Despite my steering column not looking like the one in the tutorial, I was able to remove and swap it for a new one (Old was looked fine, was not cracked).
The car still will not start with the key with a fully charged battery.
Are there any switches that I am missing???
Any help is certainly appreciated!

[aaronc70]

there is a small connector on the starterside. Check if it is connected. If it is, check if it gives 12V when you turn the key. -It did not give me 12V

Where is the yellow wire (connected to the blue wire) going? Yellow wire was probably original and went where single black wire is now. Not sure, for a guy used to working on dirt bikes- I'm finding it very difficult to reach many of the bolt and trace wires. This ones goes into a sheath then through the firewall and disappears.

The jumper in the starter lead is a band-aid. Remove it and splice the wires together with a linesman splice and heat shrink for a permanent fix. I pulled the thick yellow wires out and connected them together- no change

Then, starting at the starter, hook a spade connector on the end of a 12G wire to make a jumper. Hook the connector to the starter, and touch the other end to the positive battery post. The car should crank. It did!

Move to the relay board, and hook the jumper to one of the rear two pins on the 4 pin connector on the left rear of the relay board. Again the car should crank when you touch the wire to the positive battery post. It didn't crank, but I did see a few small sparks when making the connection.

If all that works, replace the ignition switch. They are notorious for breaking and failing. I already did that, no change.



HOWEVER: I did manage to find a random fuse holder near the starter on the engine side of the firewall, and lo and behold, the inserted 15 amp fuse was blown. I replaced the fuse and whala! The car cranks now!

I wish I would have found the $1.99 fuse before I replaced the starter (with the wrong starter and threw my correct core away, and suffered through replacing the starter switch.

I have no idea what the fuse is for, other than to interrupt power to the starter when blown. There is an electric fuel pump and a radio that seem to be hooked directly to the battery- maybe it has something to do with that?

Thanks for everyone's help! Time to go spend some more money!