Turn Signal Switch Replacement, Beetle 68-71, Karmann Ghia 68-71Turn Signal Switch Replacement, Beetle 68-71, Karmann Ghia 68-71
By Jim Thompson
Question from Customer: What’s involved in replacing my Turn Signal Switch on my late 60s Bug? Does the Steering Wheel have to come off?
Answer: This requires the removal of the Steering Wheel to replace the Turn Signal Switch.
Disconnect the Battery Ground Strap. Always do this when servicing or making repairs to electrical items on your vehicle.
Remove the Horn Button and disconnect the Horn grounding wire.
Using a 27mm socket, remove the nut and washer holding your Steering Wheel on the Steering Shaft. Take a bottle of White-out ™ and dab a spot on the shaft and an aligning spot on the wheel. This makes sure that your wheel will be straight when going down the road afterwards.
Inside the Front Luggage Compartment, remove the Wiring Protective Cover. Note the harness coming through the bottom of the dash. Note the individual colors of the wires in the harness and where they go. In the old days, it was wise to "tag" each wire on each side of their slip-on connection points so that the wires could be easily and properly re-connected. Take particular note of the wire that connected to the Flasher Relay. This is a Black with Green and White striped wire. If you can’t "tag" the wires, draw a diagram noting the wires, their colors and where they connect. Disconnect each wire.
After disconnecting the wires, push the harness through the grommetized hole in the bottom of the dash.
Loosen and remove the switch securing screws (4) and pull the switch assembly off the Steering Column Tube. Note there are spacer tubes for each screw between inside and outside "cage" of the switch. Don’t lose these as they are needed to prevent the "cage" from being crushed when the screws are re-installed and tightened. If the "cage" is crushed, the switch may be damaged or not work at all.
Remove the switch pulling the harness through the Steering Column/Ignition Lock Cover.
Feed the harness through the Steering Column/Ignition Lock Cover and place the new switch assembly on the column cover aligning the 4 screw holes. Re-install the screws, though the spacer tubes. Don’t over tighten the screws. Make sure the stalk lever is in the OFF position.
Feed the cable harness through the grommetized hole in the bottom of the dash into the Front Luggage Compartment.
Carefully re-connect each wire, double checking that the color coded wires are connected properly. Below is a chart of what each wire does:
Black w/Green & White stripe - Connects to Terminal "49a" on Flasher Relay.
Black w/Green stripe - Connects to the Right side Turn Signals
Black w/White Stripe - Connects to the Left side Turn Signals
Brown w/White Stripe - Connects to Terminal "S" on the Headlight Dimmer Relay.
Brown Wire - Connects to Chassis Ground.
71 Models - White Wire - On Beetles this connects to the Brown wire going to the Horn. On Karmann Ghias, this wire connects to the Brown wire going to Terminal "85" on the Horn Relay, located on the left side of the Spare Tire Well.
"The Extra Wires" - When your Beetle or Karmann Ghia was assembled on the line, a 6 wire switch was originally installed. Because a similar switch with 9 wires was installed on the Type 3 to accommodate the European Parking Light function, VW and SWF eventually superseded the 6 wire switch to the 9 wire style to reduce production costs and streamline their replacement parts inventory. This why you may have more wires than what’s listed above to work with. These wires are Grey, Grey w/Black stripe and Grey w/Red stripe (this last wire is not usually on Reproduction Switches). Simply terminate the ends with electrical tape and tie-wrap them out of the way.
Triple check each and every connection before re-installing the Wire Protective Cover.
Reinstall the Steering Wheel, aligning the white spots you made earlier, making sure the Canceling Ring does not damage the "cancel cams" in the switch assembly - again be sure the switch is in the OFF position to prevent damage.
On 1971 models, be sure the contact strip on the switch makes good, clean contact to the brass contact ring on the plastic signal cancel disc (ring). This insures positive contact for the horn circuit.
Reinstall the 27mm hex nut and spring washer and torque the nut 35 to 42 pounds.
Reconnect the Horn ground wire.
Check that the switch mechanically works and cancels properly by moving the Steering Wheel back and forth with the switch in the Left Turn or Right Turn position.
Making sure all electrical connections are correct, re-connect the Battery Ground Strap.
Check the electrical operation of the Turn Signals, the Headlight Dimmer function by momentarily pulling the stalk lever back with the Headlights ON. Check to make sure the Horn is working.
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