as I've stated before, I am an electrical ....... dunce. I know the basics and have gone through them and am stumped on where to go from here. Here's where I am. I have half the car pulled apart with regards to wiring. I found the headlight switch to be flaky, but have them working (with pop up function) if I pull the switch just right (ok I'm good with even being there so far). I still have no flashers (have tested the hazard switch and it seems power comes in and goes where its supposed to when actuated (only at the switch though). The blinkers don't work, nor under the guise of the hazzard switch do they work. I have no brake lights and the running lights (next to the back up lights) seem to stay on whether the lights switch is on or not (ignition on).
Also I pulled the front bulbs (looked good) as well as the rear. I pulled the rear housings apart and I when I did, I have lights that come on when they shouldn't, lights that don't come on when they should, and the kicker, if I play with the back up light for instance (push it in harder) all the lights on that side come on clearly something is wrong. Almost seems like I have cross pollinating going on somewhere in the electrical system. Like power is being crossed over to everything but only under certain conditions.

So my Q is......where do I start? Where should I look? Should I scrap the entire harness for either new or refurbed from Pelican (or other)? I was hoping to get this car to where it was driveable while I decide how far to take its reconstruction and since I won't have much time until next summer to do this car right, but this will be a huge setback if I don't get it worked out.

Any guidance will be hugely appreciated.

I would suggest that you invite a guy over with a 914 so you can run back and forth for an hour.

You wired up the rear lights wrong..that is the first place to fix.
You may have wired up the front blinkers and parking lights wrong also.
Its easy to do wrong and then some things work and others do not.

Rich

The switches go bad .... especially the headlight switch. Most of the circuits for lights go thru the headlight switch.

Count the pins. I'll see if I have a 35 year old passable one.

A) no other 914 guys that I know have stock boxes to compare to.
B ) I had nothing to do with the sh$t wiring. I could have wired it up better than this. No I am the recipient of an "everything works" PO comment for which I believed and am finding not to be true after all. I said I was a dunce not an idiot well i suppose believing a seller was a temporary lapse in judgment. Good thing I didn't pay to much for the car

Really? According to the bible (Haynes manual ) it looks as if most of my issues go through the hazard switch next to the headlight switch......
Course in one place the switch is a switch, then they call it a flasher (is that like a relay?). They're confusing me more than helping!

I have a 5 relay fuse panel and still can't figure out what they do, maybe I should take a pic and post it.........one of you can point me in the right direction? tell me what the hell they do?

Dont get upset..I think we have all wired up the taillights and the front parking lights wrong at least once....

Did you look on Pelican PArts for the color coded wiring charts?
They can be printed out in large format so you can follow all the wires.

Its a messed up non logical wiring system, so if you dont know wiring, that will help, if you do know wiring you will spend alot of time wondering why...

If you want, you can search hear for the real tailight wiring...there are a few hand drawings so you can confirm if those are done correctly.

The gauge wiring is very dependant upon the year of the car.

The two switches..the headlight switch especially are like super hubs for all the wiring..and they do go bad.
There are no replacements except used, so keep your eyes open for part for sale here and on ebay.

RIch

What the consensus on the idea of scrapping the entire original harness and going to an after market bug/ghia harness? Seems like a much simpler solution than trying to trace 35 year old wires. Seems they can be had for fair money, and I found one that comes with everything (fuseblock and all) accept for the ignition/hazard switches (which mine may or may not be bad, and I'm sure I could source new bug switches for less than P-car parts!)

On page four of the garage in the thread "Tail light wiring for 73" I posted the wiring for the tailights. Check it against what your's are.

I'll check it against mine, thanks. But I really think mine is more of a grounding issue or some sort of crossing within the wiring. I have proper license plate lights and reverse lights. Tail lights do come on as do corners, but not properly and as I stated above, if I tamper with the individual lights while in their sockets, it causes the other lights to do strange things (and it effects both sides). Oddly enough, for 35 years old, the tail light housings themselves look pretty good, and there really isn't any corrosive build up on the contacts.

The tail light assemblies get there power through the ceramic block on the back side of the housing (each lamp having its own spade connector).......are they prone to failure? Could that point be my problem?

I'm wondering where the flasher relay might fit into this wiring problem. I'm chasing a no-turn-signal-emergency-flasher problem on a Vanagon. I'm waiting on the delivery of a new (used) flasher relay and hoping that's the fault. I'd say it's not easier to change the wiring harness to a ghia/bug; how do you know you have the right connections? (EFI?). Remind us what year/displacement/induction you have by listing it in your signature. As stated, wiring diagrams are available at pelican but ease of reading diagram depends on year of car. 73-on are "current flow" diagrams but -73 are hard to read wiring (?) figures. Heck:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/914/914_electrical_diagrams.htm

Ooops, sorry signature amended. Didn't have the car when I signed up.

As for the bug/ghia wiring harness, I figured i could alter the ends by cutting the old ends into the new harness (or new ends....either way). Didn't the late bugs come FI'd?

In any case, just throwing ideas out there, see what comes out of it. I can't believe no one has had to replace a harness in these before, and the only choice is a used one from Pelican? What about a custom car? With lights and audio systems, what do those guys do? I just want to get this car going and want to restore it properly. I can just see this becoming a never ending gremlin chase. I'll fix one issue only to have another crop up, and then I won't enjoy the car at all. I suppose I could strip the car (for paint/body work), and deal with the wiring as I put it back together? Pull all the looms apart check each wire and re-loom as I install.......

If I could just get to knowing whether its a relay/fusebox/switch issue or a chaffed wire(s) I'd be a lot happier!

Do the fuse boxes go bad? looks like just a block for holding spade connectors and the relays.

Someone tell me these damn things do, they don't seem to make any changes when removed/replaced.

I would say no, do not go for a buggy harness.
Just learn this one.

Front lights are grounded at the inner fender on each side...open the hood and you will see it on top of the inner fender, just behind the lights.

Main ground is drivers side up (way up) behind dash on inner fender.

FI ground is in the engine bay, behind the relay board, behind the drivers seat. I think that is the one for the tailights.

If not...look around for a ground in the tailights..I cant remember if there is a local one.
Both license plate lights need to be grounded....the original screw grounds them to the metal in the bumper...but that is all gone now...just run a short new ground lead from the screw on each light...

If your tailights are dirty...meaning the brass sockets that the bulbs fit inside...then you have no grounds and some lights will work, some will not..
I use a dremel with a round wire brush to clean each socket...do it once, do it right, then cover the inner portion of each socket with dielectric grease.

Rich

See my "so much for......" post, may explain most of my issues. I'm just gonna strip this sucka and start from scratch!