Control valve wiring

hercdriver · 21 December 2008, 17:11

Hey there,

I'm trying to figure out the wiring on my 73 super and wanted pick your brains. The wiring diagram in the Bentley shows a black and a red wire hooked up to the control valve. So far I think I have the black wire found. But I'm coming up short on the red. I've seen a few pictures on line that have a cream looking wire hooked up. Any ideas?

Also when I do narrow it down. Does it matter which post they are connected to? I seem to remember reading that it doesn't.

I did find a picture of the valve when I first got the bug and it has a brown wire and a white/black stripe hooked up.

Ps. Just to make sure I'm referring to the correct part, the control valve is the beast mounted inside the engine bay(left hand side) with the vacuum lines and two wires?

Bookwus · 22 December 2008, 00:42

Hiya Dave,

I'll try answering in reverse order..................

Yep, you aced the terminology/semantics quiz for this semester. That gizmo mounted up on the left firewall with all the hoses and a couple of wires is, indeed, the control valve.

I have seen only two colors of wires (I'm talking original VW wiring here, not something cobbled together by a PO) hooked to a control valve: tan and black.

The control valve won't mind which wire goes to which post on its solenoid. The solenoid won't care either.

I checked the Bentley for wire colors and bygawd man, you are absolutely correct. I have never seen a red lead to the control valve, but it surely does appear that way in the Bentley supplementary diagram for the 73 AutoStick. But the bottom line here is this............if you trace the wire back from the gearshift selector lever and it winds up at the control valve, you are good to go whether it's red, tan, or purple with yellow polka dots.

Here's my hookup to the control valve...........

68autobug · 22 December 2008, 15:09

As Mike says , one wire goes to the bottom of the gearshifter
and the other wire goes to power - usually the coil + terminal..

and Yes, it doesn't matter which way the wires go...
[I looked in lots of manuals to check on that a few years ago... ]
[hoping it would fix the problem i had - with the clutch servo.. lol]

the gearboxes are very strong - plus a clutch that is either IN or Out -
plus the torque converter to smooth things out ...= very low wear

early this year I changed My fan housing from a doghouse oil cooler back to the original
fan housing - the electronic ignition box is behind the fan housing and i have the oil cooler
mounted next to the tappet cover on the RHS.. I have just bought a non VW oil cooler
which I'm thinking of mounting over the fan at the rear of the housing..
I also have a spin on oil filter and thermostat to add to the oil lines...

cheers

LEE

hercdriver · 22 December 2008, 16:02

Thanks guys,

I do have an extra black wire coming from the coil. I wasn't sure if that was the hot wire I was looking for though. (If that's the one, it needs to come off of the positive side?)

As far as the other wire. It sounds like I need to pull the shift stick in the cabin to find out what color it is.
Or could you see it from under the car?

hercdriver · 22 December 2008, 16:19

On a side note, I've decided to replace the large vacuum lines connected to the control valve. As previously mentioned I went to www.belmetric.com/html/catalog26.htm and ordered 2 meters of the RH12W. The guy that answered was very friendly and knew exactly what I was looking for. He also mentioned that is the OEM part for this application.

Bookwus · 22 December 2008, 16:20

Hiya Dave,

The black wire leading to the control valve does come from the positive side of the coil. It also has an in-line 8 amp fuse.

About the wire leading from the gearshift lever back to the control valve.............

Well, VW is not going to make this easy for you. And heaven knows what any PO might have done. But here's the general idea.......

The line leading back from the shift lever should be blue (I don't think VW changed that color, but I could be wrong about that) and lead to a connector under the rear seat. After the connector, the line should be black and lead back to the nuetral safety switch. From the NSS the line should lead to the control valve and now be tan.

Now the colors are from my own experince and don't agree with yours, but the track of the line is the important thing here.

Bookwus · 22 December 2008, 16:27

Hiya Dave,

Quote from: hercdriver on 22 December 2008, 16:19
On a side note, I've decided to replace the large vacuum lines connected to the control valve. As previously mentioned I went to www.belmetric.com/html/catalog26.htm and ordered 2 meters of the RH12W. The guy that answered was very friendly and knew exactly what I was looking for. He also mentioned that is the OEM part for this application.

Hmmmmm........looks like I need to make a phone call later this morning!

hercdriver · 22 December 2008, 17:50

Ok, I think I have enough information to be dangerous. It's just going to be trial and error from here on out. Many of the wires are disconnected under the rear seat ( which tells me the last guy had some kind of problem he couldn't figure out).

I did see the second in line fuse in a picture of your engine bay Mike. Presently I only have one in line fuse hanging off of the coil. I assumed it was for the rear lights. I'm heading out the local vw shop today and will check to see if he has any in stock.

I'll post some pictures in a little bit. It's pretty cold in the garage right now.

hercdriver · 22 December 2008, 18:21

Quote from: Bookwus on 22 December 2008, 16:20
After the connector, the line should be black and lead back to the nuetral safety switch. From the NSS the line should lead to the control valve and now be tan.

I see the neutral safety switch on the diagram, but where in the car did VW mount it? What does it look like?

Bookwus · 22 December 2008, 20:50

Hiya Dave,

Welcome to my own personal corner of AutoStick Hell.

For some reason I have confused these switches in the past, but I'm gonna make a stab at redeeming myself here. Check out this picture of an AutoStick tranny.................

Looking at the right side of the transmission (as it is installed in the car) you'll see two switches just forward of the axle plate. The one nearest to the axle plate is the back-up light switch. Over on the other side of the transmission, located on the nosecone you can just see the nuetral safety switch.

Here's a close-up of that guy.............

hercdriver · 22 December 2008, 22:48

Ok I think I got it. The pictures helped quite a bit.

First. I wired a black wire from the positive side of the coil and used an in line fuse with an 8 amp fuse to the control valve.

Second. I found the neutral safety switch. As you can see from the photo below it has a rubber boot on it. I was afraid to mess with it in the cold and possibly tear the boot. I did follow it through the fire wall. The wire bundle split in two but the one bundle has a brown wire that doesn't have a home. It shares the same bundle with what I believe are the wires for the rear lights.

I still have a couple of loose wires. If anyone recognizes them, please speak up.

the control valve

the NSS

Bookwus · 22 December 2008, 23:05

Hiya Dave,

Quote from: hercdriver on 22 December 2008, 22:48 ........The wire bundle split in two but the one bundle has a brown wire that doesn't have a home. It shares the same bundle with what I believe are the wires for the rear lights.

In the Volkswagen scheme of wiring, a brown wire is ALWAYS a ground wire. So.......if that little beast is hooked into the closest available ground spade, you are good to go.

QuoteI still have a couple of loose wires. If anyone recognizes them, please speak up.

I'm having a hard time telling exactly what color they are from the picture. Possible to take a closer snap or describe the wires' colors? Right off the bat, I do NOT have any such wires in my wiring harness. And that makes me think that these loose wires may well be part of your onboard VW Diagnostic system, perhaps originally hooked up to the service plug which is just visible at the top of your picture?

68for500 · 23 December 2008, 04:07

Hmmm.....I'll have to remember this thread. I have to redo all that wiring on my 68. Currently, it is wired with audio speaker wire

Ironically, it does seem to work ok. The PO sold me the car telling me that second gear (2), was shot and that he could never get it to work. Oddly, when I got it home and got it started, it went through all gears flawlessly. After I tuned it up, now it "jumps" into gear with a nice bounce. No grinding, just a delay and then "whump!" into gear.......any thoughts anyone? Kinda off, but kinda connected to this thread..

Bookwus · 23 December 2008, 04:22

Hiya 68,

The "thump" when shifting is a classic symptom of having the small vacuum hose from the control valve hooked up to the wrong vacuum port on the carburetor. Take a look at this picture of a 34PICT3 in an AutoStick set-up...........

Do you see that the small vacuum hose is hooked into the vacuum port on the right rear of the carburetor? That is THE correct vacuum port for any carburetor in an AS application. Many folks are running their control vacuum hose to the left rear vacuum port (capped in the picture). Why do they do this? Because they do NOT have a right rear vacuum port. That's because the carburetor they are running was not designed or intended to be used in an AutoStick set-up - it's a generic replacement better meant and used on a manual application.

I would bet that's your situation. Check it out and let us know. There is an easy, cheap, and relatively pain-free method of fixing that particular problem.

volkenstein · 24 December 2008, 02:29

Herc,
73's are fed power directly from the fusebox. The end of the circuit is the contact point in the gearstick. That said, rigging up feed from the coil is OK. Just find your other power feed and terminate it properly so it touches nothing. Fuse 11 by the way.
If you peel back the rubber cover on the neutral safety switch there *should* be a thick black/red, red & piggy back brown wires.
Trace both ends of the brown wires. One should wind it's way under the seat to a connector. Your gearstick wire plugs into that. The other side should find it's way to the CV Solenoid.

The red/black is from your ignition switch, and the red goes to your starter.

It does sound like a PO has slashed 'n' burned through your wiring. Buy or rig up a test light and find out which wire does/doesn't have power for the CV solenoid/gearstick circuit for starters.

I know that brown is earth in VW's but for the gearstick circuit, it is actually "live" until the contact point and gearstick touch, then the circuit completes firing the solenoid. ie (Coil "+" -> 8 Amp fuse -> Solenoid) then (solenoid "-" -> N.S.S. -> Under seat connector -> gearstick contact) for the way you have it rigged at the moment.

HTH
Volkenstein