three wires under rear seat

[Schillnuts]

I have a question regarding three wires I found under the back seat.  None of these wires are connected to anything and they dont look like they have been for quite a while.  One has the terminal end missing, and the other two look slightly rusted or corroded, in any case, not the best shape.  Each wire is of different color: light brown, yellow with either red or an orange stripe, and light brown with a white stripe.  They run from the drivers side to the passengers and have enough length to go near the ground to the battery, where there is a connection point, which I hooked up both wires with the terminal ends (at different times) to and nothing happened (no improvement in my lack of shifting). If anyone knows what these wires go to and where they go to, I would like to know in case this were part of the problem with my grinding, although I have noticed them not connected when I got my car 5 years ago.

Jason

[1302LS auto]

They sound like the wires for the old diagnostic computer, what year is it?

[Schillnuts]

I have a 1973 autostick Beetle, currently having some issues with shifting, which will be sorted out in a week or two when she gets checked out by an old school VW mechanic.  Im counting down the days...

Jason

[68AutoBug]

Can You get the car into gear?
If You can but its crunching the clutch needs adjusting

If You can't get it into gear it can be clutch adjustment or a few other things..
wire from gearlever to control valve...
Power wire to control valve..
Vacuum hoses... Large ones...

Best of Luck

Lee -- 68AutoBug -- Australia --

http://community.webshots.com/user/vw68autobug

[Schillnuts]

Lee,

Im having problems with getting into gear and a grinding noise when I try to get into reverse.  Basically, the same problem as on this thread, which I also posted on:

http://www.volks.org/vwar/forum/viewtopic.php?t=433&sid=00484d652ee91e5c87302b35903b0b73

Nice set of pics on webshots, where did you get those AS manual photos?  Very detailed photos of your restoration/customization.  Wish I had done something to document what I have done...shouldnt be too difficult to make it look like I had been doing that all along, but remembering the dates as to when I changed things...thats a different story.  Anywho, perhaps Ill post some pics of my ride up here, just need to find some good ones and follow the directions I guess.

Oh yeah, back to the posting...I replaced the terminal end to the wire which was missing a side and the car still has the shifting problems, so she will be taken to a mechanic, who knows a lot about AS beetles, to be looked at since me and my dad know our luck with fixing things isnt too good, especially when things are rusty (broken bolts and the like).  Would love to get some experience in tinkering with my AS set up, but I also want to make sure it doesnt get any worse than it is at the moment...so that means learning through others.  And since AS parts are becoming harder and harder to come by, I figure it will be worth while to have someone else fix it instead of me breaking something.

Jason

[WolvenGoth]

i think i know the wires you're talkin about and was wonderin what they were too, on mine, 2 of em are plugged into terminals where the battery cable goes through to the enigne, the other one is hanging loose laying wherever it feels like, when i have a chance i'll take a pic and maybe we can compare notes.

i just fixed my grinding issue that sounds kinda like yours.  the large vacuum line on the control valve, the one towards the front of the car, was hangin on by a thread, i cut the little bit left on the valve off, reattached what was remaining, and voila! no more grinding.  gonna order replacement vac lines for it soon.  so if it's grinding like you say it is, check over those big vac lines really well.

--Drew

[68AutoBug]

Hi
If You can get it into forward gears but not reverse
its just the clutch arm needs adjusting...
I used J pipes on My engine instead of installing the new heater
boxes... so it was fairly easy to adjust the clutch servo arm etc..
although I did have to take the servo off a few times to adjust the clutch arm, which i had taken off at some time, didn't put it back in the correct spot...
Once I fitted the heater boxes and heater hoses to the car etc
this made it very difficult to even see the clutch adjuster...
I even thought at one time to cut a hole in the body - over the top of the clutch adjuster... which would have made it very easy to adjust..

Ok on the photos on My websites..
I've No idea why I have made two.... slightly different websites??
I didn't take any pics of disassembling My front end, taking the torsion bar leaves out of the front, to fit new ball joints and to have height adjusters fitted...  putting the torsion bars back in, was very difficult...
You are also lucky to find a mechanic who knows about Autosticks.
I know an old VW mechanic, but He never worked on them, as Only one was ever sold in this area.

cheers

LEE -- 68autobug -- Australia --

http://community.webshots.com/user/vw68autobug

[Schillnuts]

Lee,

I cant get into any gear unless I put the car in park and then quickly select a gear after starting the car.  This makes me wonder if a hose I looked at is bad as it looks to have been pinched in one area, so Ill throw some electrical tape on that area today to hopefully seal it and see where that takes me.  I got a response from volkenstein from shoptalkforums.com for the answer about the three wires being from the diagnostic computer port.  Would be nice to get a computer set up to check that out (and to set up at shows), but I am pretty sure that all those diagnostic computers from way back have been disposed of.  Ah well, gotta preserve what we can of VW history while we can.

Jason

[bookwus]

Hiya Nuts,

I have a VW Diagnostic Computer.  It doesn't work (missing a couple of components), but I do have it.  Truth be told, it isn't much of a computer (at least in the way we use that term today) and it really won't give any specifics concerning component performance.  It's set up to give a positive or negative readout.  Sort of an "on" or "off" kinda thing.  Add to that, many of the "readouts" are purely observations nade by the tech running the "computer".  Nevertheless, it is an interesting bit of past technology and it's really too bad that a working model can't be assembled for demonstration purposes.

But I digress...................you asked about the wires under the back seat.   You might want to trace them out with a multimeter and find just where they DO go.  A brown wire is a ground (assuming that the color of the wires is still in keeping with VW original wire coding), a brown wire with a white runner is a switched ground, and Heaven alone knows what a yellow wire with a red runner is.  The yellow/red is the one most likely to be hooked up to your diagnostic plug - I see it nowhere on the regular wiring diagram for a 73.  The battery fluid level was monitored in the original onboard set-up.  However, the battery had to be the original (it was specially set up to accept the VW onboard computer set-up) and when it was tossed, the wire(s?) to it may well have just been left laying under the rear seat.

Finally, your shifting problems................do know that the vast majority of shifting problems have NOTHING to do with what's going on inside the tranny.  In other words, they are relatively easy fixes.  Also know that shifting is an electrical operation with a vacuum assist.  Since the vacuum system is the easiest to get to and work on, I'd recommend starting there.  Replace hosing, tighten clamps, check servo bladder, adjust clutch freeplay, and check to be sure that the vacuum hoses are connected to the correct ports.  Then do the electrical check out starting at the contact points in the shift lever and work your way back to the control valve solenoid (be sure to check the solenoid is functioning also!).  I'd just about guarantee that somewhere along those two lines you'll find your problem and fix it.