1974 Ghia wiring problems

[Orsocron]

Last night, I put a battery into my recently acquired 1974 Karmann Ghia. I was surprised to find that most of the electrical stuff works. I have headlights, tail lights, hazards, buzzer, and interior lights. Heck, even the quartz clock works.

Unfortunately, the iginition switch does not do much of anything when I turn it to the on position. I do hear a "click" which sounds like it comes from a relay of some sort, but I get none of the idiot lights on the dash, nor does the motor even attempt to turn over when I turn the key to 'start'.

I know that there is some sort of power coming to the ignition switch, because when it's off, I can't run the blower motor on the A/C unit, but when it's on, the blower motor actually works (I was shocked there too). When the switch is on, I get no power to the turn signals, and I have no brake lights either. HOWEVER, I do get headlights with the switch on.

I also have no horn at all.

I was looking in my manual and it seems that all these problems can be traced to fuses 11 and 12...I was looking in there and the fuses aren't blown.

Any ideas about how I can restore the power to this circuit and take a first step to getting this Ghia back on the road?

[Marc]

The ignition switch on `71 and newer cars is more complex than in older cars, it has separate contacts which handle the current for the headlights, vent fan, etc.
The switch itself may be bad, so that Term 15 (ignition) and Term 50 (solenoid) are dead or you may just have bad connections at the modular plug on the underside of the column.

[GhiaFL]

Hi, now my '71 Ghia is also having horn and starting issues. For some reason now I'm thinking they are related somehow. I even put a new ignition wiring in it. The horn first worked and it was also attempting to start but then on 2nd attempt... nothing. No horn, no starter motor, nothing but just lights and indicators seem to work. So i changed the ignitiion switch for no reason. Im wondering how you solved your problem, please