disconnected wires at battery ground

Karl Kleese · Post by **Karl Kleese** » Mon Oct 06, 2003 2:12 pm

I have a question about the wires at the negative (ground) side of the battery. Here's what's up:

In addition to the big braided ground strap, the battery post has a solid brown wire on a clip that attaches to the post.

There is a brown wire with a narrow white stripe that is plugged to the floor of the car sort of below the heater vent by the door.

In addition, there are a yellow wire and a beige wire just sort of dangling there by the battery. I do not see where either one would plug onto a clip on the floor pan, plus I don't know what they're for. I assume that they are meant to be grounded, but before I start yet another fire under my seat (a frighteningly exciting story) I thought I'd check with everyone here.

Thoughts?

Thanks, folks.

Post by **Marc** » Mon Oct 06, 2003 2:40 pm

http://66.34.72.138/wiring/181_from_August_1973-2.jpg

The wires shown going to orange circles are for the dealer diagnostic plug (for example, by comparing the cranking voltage at pins #8 & #17 they could determine if the battery ground strap resistance was too high). The OEM batteries had a center tap that the wire from pin #7 connected to - if one half of the battery showed a significantly different voltage than the other half it would indicate a battery problem. None of these wires are needed for normal operation of the car, though - compare your "mystery wires to the schematic and see if you can account for all of them.

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 12:09 am

The brown and white stripped wire connected to the pan is either for the heater lever gorund or the lighting on the gear shift selector. The yellow...or yellow and red was fro the battery level float that connected to the test wiring harness. On some models the ground connected to the negative post goes to the heater lever connection. The reat..as Marc noted go to the test loom. Ray

vwbill · Post by **vwbill** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 12:46 am

Hey Ray, the yellow with red dots is connected to the pos. term. on my car is this a problem? Thx, Bill

Karl Kleese · Post by **Karl Kleese** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 7:58 am

Thanks for the color wiring diagram! I struggled with the b/w one in my Clymers but eventually got everything sorted out. Most of my experience is with cars considerably older than this VW, and the wiring in the VW is - to say the least - a real head-scratcher for a novice like me.

I'll take the diagram out to the car next time I'm there to see if I can sort anything out.

Thanks a ton!

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 10:13 am

VWbill...it won't hurt anything...but just bear in mindthat it makes one more pin hot at thetest plug in the back. Also...in some models..the brown wire that gos to the chassis is a test wire as Marc noted. In some models the ground wire from the heater lever goes to the chassis spot...and some it goes to a flag terminal on the ground side of the battery. There were lots of variations in the 411/412 diagram. The only one I have found to be really accurate for all the little accessories...is the late 73 and late 74 year diagrahm...which is actually what marc provided a link to. Ray

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disconnected wires at battery ground

disconnected wires at battery ground

Battery Question

Thanks for the color diagram