I'm having that same exact problem right now. I just replaced the battery fuse box but am still getting the clicking and no start. Replacing the alternator wire harness next. Also, I feel ya on replacing the dipstick. Everything about the VW Beetle is a fantastic example of bad design. The plastic actually crumbled in my hand!
Hi Drew, Thank you for the video. My A/C in my 2003 VW Beetle quit on me yesterday and I am taking it in for repairs. I was notified by the mechanic that there is probably a wire problem. I am assuming it may have to do with the harness wire you mentioned in your video. But I am not sure. My Beetle, which is a manual shift, has 115,000 miles on it. But there are other problems with the vehicle too. It is a convertible and the regulator does not work too drop the top; and the rear windows do not cooperate with it. I'm pretty disappointed. I wish I could get these problems repaired and keep my car as an operable antique for a few more years.
my 2nd 2001 VW Beetle 1st one 2.0 Engine 2nd 1.8 Turbo Automatic Trans had both over 10 yrs and neither one ever had a battery fuse box burn 🔥 up...blow a fuse yes, but never once did any of them burn the box
@@PlaneNose I purchased the fuse box on Ebay. I later found out that volkswagen was using a smaller grade wire for the wiring harness. This is why the Beetle eats fuse boxes. After i changed the alternator wiring harness and the fuse box, it ran well for another 8 months, and then the fuse box started to melt again. I finally sold it to a mechanic with full disclosure of my situation. He was going to use it for his nephew.
I have a issue with mine hope u can help 😊 so I just bought it yesterday and today I tried to start it and it won't start I jump start it and it turns on as soon as I unplug the jumper cables the car turns off do u know how I might be able to fix this issue ?
I purchased an alternator wire harness from E-Bay actually. Try looking for the harness on various on line parts distributors. Or try the junk yards in your area. If that doesn't work, try the volkwagen dealership, or shops that specialize in the volkswagen. I hope this helps.
When I did this job for a friend I noticed the air pump mounts had broken and it was resting on the charging system wire. To do this job I had to remove the battery tray to get to that last connection and route the wire. Hope this helps someone.
Hi, thanks for the video my fusse box is burned, the alternator wire is the problem, I will replace it, i hope it fixes all my issues. Do u have the step by step video how to replace the alternator wire?
Hi Luis, No I don't. This is the video where i show what the alternator wire harness looks like, and where it travels from your battery to your alternator, and starter. You will have to remove some brackets, and bolts holding the wire harness to the car. I always take a picture before i do this, so you'll know where to put them back. It wasn't hard to do. I hope this helps you.
Drew Conlow thank you so much for all the information, it will be great help. I have and Audi A3 1.8T i think it’s the same or similar, greetings from Acapulco, MX.
does anyone know what the three green fuses in the under the hood fuse boxes are for? My automatic spoiler is stuck in the up position. The control under the dash does nothing. I'm looking for possibly a fuse that ay be burned.. I cant seem to find out anywhere.....
Your fuse box will be on top of your battery. Open your fuse box. If your fuse box is showing signs of melting, wires are burned, or your fuse eye connectors look charred. This will be an indication of your fuse box shorting out. Usually, the alternator fuse connection is the fuse shorting out. It's on the right side of the fuse box. I hope this helps you.
Hi Greg, After I replaced this fuse box. I replaced the alternator harness. It did not give me any problems after that. I sold the car about a year after this video. I did explain it to the new owner. Fortunately, he was a mechanic and knew how to address this issue in the future.
As said the core issue , and you will keep melting fuse boxes unless you address it , is a Bad "high restance" cable from the output of the alternator , this causes a bad high resatance connection to the lug that attaches to the fuse box,, the first time alternator puts 60 + amps of charge current through that cable it turns the cable and lug into a restance heater and cooks your fuse box , the original cable can barely handle that current when its in great condition as the cable ages and stresses the conection at the lug it starts getting hot, it starts a cascading failure loop as this degrades the connection making for more and more restive heat in the lug on the end , I ended up replacing mine with a much lower gauge cable that can easly handle that much current flow. I then routed it through a high current circut breaker rated at the same value as cars orignal Charge circut protection fuse.. and then directly to an added lug on positive battery termnal so that the fuse block does not have to handle all that charge current Plus the rest of the load its struggling with .. the electrial bus in that fuse box that is allready stressed quite a bit by all the other loads simply is not designed to handle all that combined amperage.. make sure the green high current fuses in that fuse box that power high current systems like the AC and ABS make a clean connection to where they plug in as well. or they will burn up after they develop a bad connections where there spade termanals plug into the box ..
I have a '03 VW Beetle. Does anyone know what the three green fuses in the under hood fuse box operate? My auto spoiler is stuck in the up position & I'm hoping that one of these fuses are for it....The under ash switch does nothing...Someone posted that it is easy to take the molding off of the rear hatchback & unplug it & you can simply push it down...I tried this, in vain. I could not find out what to unplug. Any advice from anyone????
At 8:27 minutes into your video you show that there is a 3-wire connector that you call "an attachment right here". I had my fuse box burn and noticed that the previous owner had removed that attachment and cut out any evidence of those wires so I don't know what to connect them to. Can you look at you Beetle and tell me where they connect to?
+Joe N Hi Joe, I sold this car. I do know where the three fuse go to. As you're face the fuse box. The fuse on the left is for the cooling fans, (S180), the middle fuse is for the ABS, (S179), and the right one, ABS Pump, (S178). I do not remember where the individual wires connected to though. I hope this helps you.
Hi Mr. Williams. I marked each wire that attached to each fuse. (you can see the markings on the wires at the beginning of the video) from the old box, and removed the burned fused box. I then attached the new fuse box connecting each wire that was marked. I checked on line and verified what each fuse did, and made sure the wires were connected to the right fuse.... Mr. Williams, I had so many problems with this bug, that I finally got rid of the car. I hope I answered your question.
Yes sir and i wanted to note that I gave your video out on my channel thanking you...I appreciated the advise. I'm trying to get the battery charge up now so I can try the new fuse box out...check out the video and like and subscribe if you like ...thanks again
I bought the fuse box on ebay. I typed in my year, Make, Model, how many cylinders, and liter engine. I actually do not remember the part number. But if you type the information in, i'm confident you'll find the right fuse box. In the mean time, i'll try to look up the part number, and let you know.
I heard that the wire that connects from the fusebox to the alternator was not thick enough. Which would cause the fusebox to melt. If you're going to keep it, I would have a shop look at it, that "specializes" in Beetles to see if you need a new wire. This may or may not be your problerm...
Can someone please help ? I have a 2002 Beetle and i replaced the battery and now the radio will not come on at all, no lights or anything just a black screen with no lights. Ive checked both fuses #42 and #37. Not sure if this has anything to do with it but the day before the battery was replaced i had the clutch and flywheel replaced.
Shana, Sorry to hear that. Unfortunately, the Beetle has been plagued with one car malfunction after another. The battery and the fuse box that lays over the battery are a common nuisance. Without seeing your car, it would be hard to diagnose the problem. However, taking a couple of guesses. 1.) find someone with a computer and look for codes. 2.) Look at the fuse box on top of the battery. 3.) Make sure all the nuts are tight, such as battery terminals, fuse box nuts. 4.) recheck all attachments recently performed on your bug. 5.) take your bug back to the people who performed your car repairs. I hope this gives a couple of ideas.
shana Richardson Hi Shana, my sons beetle had a fuse on the back of the radio,you'll have to remove radio. ALSO the radio code will have to be reset. code should be in owners manual or a sticker on radio after you have removed it. Good Luck!!
Please help...I have a vw beetle 2000 at the next morning the car don't starts and I have to charge batery I now there is a short because I tested it whit a test light,fuse # 15 ( cigarret lighter) is blown plus the mileage in dash stays on even when I take the key off...after I change the fuse #15 what I have to check next? Thank you
Martin Mendoza Hi Martin, Sorry to hear about your Beetle. Check your fuse box and make sure all bolts to your fuses are tightened. Second, make sure your alternator wire is not burning up. This is your black wire in your fuse box. Third, check your battery terminal wire connectors and make sure they're tight and the wires are properly attached to your beetle. Those would be my initial guesses. Hope this will help.
Thank you Drew Conlow I just did what you say and everything is clean and properly conected...Earlier today I tested every fuse with a test light waiting for the light to go off but never happens...I checked fuses in box on top of batery,fuses on left side of dash,fuses under the dash and the light in the test light never went off. There is another fuse box that im missing? Or is better to do it with a multimeter? There is another way to find this bad boy short? And thank you so much for reading
I would keep troubleshooting. Apparently you do have an electronic short somewhere. The fuse panels that you mentioned are the only ones that I'm aware of. Could it be the ignition, or anything associated with the ignition. How's your starter? I would check that as well. Also Google your problem on the net. The beetle unfortunately is good for electrical problems. I hope you find your solution soon. Best of luck friend.
Hi there, great video! I had a bug and it has the exactly same issue. The fuse box just keep melting all the time. Did replacing the alternator wiring harness solve your problem?
Hi Ge Lv, Yes it did actually! Look for an "alternator wiring harness". The wire harness was put at the end of April 2014. No problems as of yet. My daughter drives the bug, and everything runs great, "now". I researched the topic of the fuse boxes burning up. As you know, it's annoying. Apparently from what i've read, the copper in the wiring harness breaks down over time. Causing the wire to over heat, thus burning up our fuse box. If you're going to replace the wiring harness, it'll save you a couple of hundred dollars. It's not hard to do, just time consuming. The harness doesn't have to fit factory made, but make sure it goes to the same general route. If you get stuck, or need any additional questions, feel free to ask me.
Drew Conlow Hi Drew, thanks so much for the reply. I almost replaced every single part that is related to electricity in the car, i.e: fuse box, alternator, etc. But that didn't help at all! I guess what I missed is the connection between them, like an alternator wiring harness. So after replacing the wire harness, you mean that the wire is not hot any more? If so, I'm going to order the wire right away and have it replaced. Thanks for your video, I think I already knew how to do that. I live in TX, and believe me the summer here is a nightmare for the car. My bug runs fine during all seasons except summer, and I guess that's the reason the fuse box melts faster since it it extremely hot.
Ge Lv Yes, after i replaced the wiring harness, the connection to the fuse was no longer hot to the touch. Before i replaced the wiring harness, the connection was extremely hot. I couldn't keep my hand over the alternator connection on the fuse box. When I replaced the alternator wiring harness, i can place my hand over the fuse box connection, "all day long".
Ge Lv to tell you the truth. I'm not sure. I ordered the wiring harness on E-Bay. It was for a 2002 Volkswagen Beetle. I will check what my receipt said, and get back to you.
My wife's beetle just did the same thing it's the cable the cable cant handle the amperage from the alternator to the battery the original cable is 8 gauge needs to upgraded to 4 gauge and maybe the cable to the main fuse box relays and maybe a alternator will solve all your problems
