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my.beetle engine cuts off when I put it into reverse. ideas on what it is?

is there a reverse switch on the transmission? if so, how do I locate it? also, someone put a new harness on the Bug, but, didnt mark any of the wires. whats the best way to organize this mess. my dash lights dont work. also, I measure 24v on a lot of leads. I was expecting 12v. lookin for old beetle experts here. or just good at electrical . thx in advance,

RayRa

one of the wires that powers the coil and idle solenoid also provides power to the reverse light switch.
it runs across the fan shroud and has a in line fuse near the generator.

Take that fuse out and see if the problem stops.
That will allow us to chase it down faster.

take the fuse out? you mean bypass it? I dont see the fuse. what does it look like?
I see red & green hooked to generator, brown hooked to gen housing (see pic if it uploads), red a black from coil to distributor (no points now), 2 blk wires from harness to coil and from coil to underside of vehicle. maybe that goes to trans.
no fuse I can see.

thanka for quick reply. I can email pics if I cant upload here.
says file too big so have to email them.

RayRay

test to see if files upload.

in the pic with the coil, the black wire on the top right side of the coil is the coated (thicker) black wire on the top of the generator. that wire goes to right side of shroud to undercarriage I assume to the starter switch.

RayRay

running from the coil across the top of your engine, and over to the left, should be the reverse light power.
Unplug it from the coil, or find the inline fuse, and take it out.

Check and see if the problem persists.

helowrench wrote:running from the coil across the top of your engine, and over to the left, should be the reverse light power.
Unplug it from the coil, or find the inline fuse, and take it out.

Check and see if the problem persists.

.
.
ok, will try that tomorrow. kinda newbie on bugs.

rr

No problem, we have all been there.

Also... His Harness has been replaced by a new one (First post or so)... no telling what they actually did there. I am not sure his picture shows the back up light wiring... but it may be there behind the shroud... or it may be the thicker one across the Generator stand without a fuse...

Either way, I suspected the same thing when I read the first post, but declined to offer the help, due to the new harness...

What else connects to the coil and runs to the rh firewall?
Nothing that I can think of

Disconnect input wire at reverse light switch.If it still does stall,wire from switch to souce is shorted.If it doesn't stall,reconnect input wire & disconnect output wire.If it doesn't stall,switch is shoreted internally (doubtful) or output wire to lights is shorted,or wires are transposed inside light housing.Simple electrical troubleshooting.

ok so I disconnected the wire goin thru the pass-sose firewall and so far when I put it in reverse it does not cut the engine off so this may be the problem. Now we have to determine is whether its the switch or the wire itself.

how do I get to the switch on the transmission?

it's no problem if I have to jack the vehicle up I just need to know before I do it.
I have multimeters except for us so I can test the switch with leads or for resistance of thats going to help. since I'm not experienced with bugs I don't know if I need the key in the ignition and have it in reverse while its running or how I have to do it.
unfortunately I have to work solo here.

rr

Reverse light switch is on the nose cone of the transaxle.Disconnect both terminals on the switch,and disconnect the feed wire to the switch at sourceCheck resistance to ground of the feed wire.Should be infinite.If it shows continuity,wire is shorted.
If the wire is o.k.,put transmission in reverse.Check resistance from any terminal on the switch to ground.It should show infinite resistance.If it shows continuity,switch is shorted.Do those 2 tests & we will go from there depending on the results.

just to clarify it just looks like the body harness was replaced.
the headlight harnesses and other smaller harnesses seem to be the old ones.
they look to be in decent shape.

since I'm not from Larry would beat electrical systems very well I hesitate to connect any wires or make any jumpers for the fact that I might short out something. that's why I'm trying to be very careful and asking all these questions to make sure that I do not sure that anything that I cannot afford to replace at the moment.

rr & thanks again for all you guys help

If you follow my instruction,you won't have trouble.