Trailmix Beetle

[Mike Kever Kombi]

even have 4-ways again.

To be young again...

[sweeth20007]

Great move Keith on getting Bruce involved! Once again Bruce thanx for all the Pics and documentation....we all appreciate you sharing these projects!

[Dual Port]

So after researching some schematics (which I don't understand but I was trying) and watching some videos, I decided to pull the "parking" wire from the motor. Now they work fine except that they don't "park" at the bottom of the windshield. You have to be right on time with the switch to get them to stop so their not in your face.

It sounds like the "park switch" inside the wiper motor got damaged along the way. The park switch opens the wiper circuit when the motor is at the end of its sweep for parking the wipers at the end of the glass.

Glad you popped for the factory TS switch box and got your 4 ways working, it's expensive but worth it. We didn't have this when I was working on the car so I wired in a regular 12v flasher.

Your skills are better than I thought they'd be, keep up the good work!

[trailmix]

I've put some really good miles on the car the last couple of weeks. Runs awesome once you get it hot. Still a few "pops" under acceleration but I'm kind of used to it and it still pulls fine.
The front end seems to be loosening up a little bit but I'm sure that it's not supposed to be that way. So today it's back up on jack stands and the ball joints are being replaced next week. I really wasn't ready to do this again but I just can't stand the wandering and stiff steering.
I've done some more cleaning and the headliner is on it's way to Russ Upholstery for the install in a couple of weeks once I get the front end back together.
Until then, here are some pics from the other day before the rains came.

[trailmix]

I finally tackled the hard steering issue. I knew it was in the ball joints but not sure which one so I took all of them to the local front end shop. Much to my surprise they told me that only the lowers needed replaced. I slapped the front end back together tonight and the difference is night and day. With a little more attention to torque specs and checking the steering after every bolt I tightened, it seems a lot better. The two lower joints that I had replaced by a notable VW shop were WAY too tight and not the same manufacturer. Not sure if the joints had to be the same manufacturer but the new ones fixed the problem.
So NOW the generator light is on and stays on. I will have to dive into that one before I can take it on the road for any distance. It seems that the car knows when I am about to complete a project and it just gives me another one to do.....

[toolbox]

So NOW the generator light is on and stays on. I will have to dive into that one before I can take it on the road for any distance. It seems that the car knows when I am about to complete a project and it just gives me another one to do.....

I do not see the ground wire between the generator and the voltage regulator. The original regulator was mounted to the gen and grounded through the mounting screws.



It should attach with a screw in the empty hole just in front of the mounting strap.



And attaches to the regulator mounting foot with a screw, marked D- in this picture.



Not saying this will fix the issue, but it will eliminate a possible issue. Check that the trans to body ground strap is good too. Don't need the motor getting it's groud through control cables or wheel bearings!

[Dual Port]

I called Keith and gave him a couple of tips, and I'll get a chance to look at it sometime this weekend if obvious things don't help. I did clean the tranny ground strap so I doubt it's a ground issue, there was not a gen ground wire in the original harness and I didn't want to "rig" one because it would look hokey.

Good Luck!

[WideFive]

I didn't want to "rig" one because it would look hokey.

That never stopped you before

[trailmix]

Pushing on the brushes didn't turn off the light. I don't hear the voltage regulator making its usual functioning sounds either. Unfortunately, the brush spring came off when I removed the brush to check it. I think I am going to have to pull the generator to get the stupid thing back in. I am trying different techniques to see if I can put it back in without taking it out but it's not looking promising.

[toolbox]

If it is the bottom brush giving the problem remove the neg battery cable, the backing plate fasteners, the wires from the gen, loosen the strap and rotate the gen to get the bottom brush.

Hopefully your comm does not look like this!!

That was a $35K repair.