The second one on my car has all the copper strands black from some kind of burning (but the plastic is fine), so this video is spot on. The alternator (the first one) and all the rest are fine, copper color.
Great video my friend! Fantastic advice as well. I am dealing with this exact same thing right now with my 2000 Volkswagen Jetta. I have replaced the box twice now. I have an over powered stereo with 12in subwoofers so I figured I would be good just upgrading the alternator wires…. I burned up my 2nd box and now planning to upgrade the second wire that controls my heated seats. I only had the overheated problem when I was using my heated seats and bumping the bass.
Same with my 2.0 jetta mk4. I worked on it 2 days installing a new alternator wire and ground and power from the starter. The positive cable was getting so hot it scared me to have my family in the car. Only the first cable on the HVFB was getting hot. But I noticed that the wires would stay cool and only get how when I ran, lights, AC, radio, even after the wires being replaced it still gets warmer then it should so today I'll be going through what you went through and installing a new 4 gauge accessories wire and pray to God this resolves the issue. I will let you know how it goes. Also, measure the resistance from the alternator to the negitive terminal on the battery, the results are close to " about to catch fire and kill you" numbers..I was getting 2.0 when you should be getting 0.05 at the most. Scary shit.
Hey I've got the same issue same motor in my Jetta did the 4 gauge wire work out? I'm losing my mind with this stupid problem and don't have a VW dealership in my area
Nice job! The majority of electrical problems are usually connections of the battery or fuse panel relay box. Also often overlooked are the grounds and the connections to ground. Just like high amperage car audio stuff you wanna run thicker gauge matched wire for both + and -
Daniel my brother that is so true... I just started working on Jetta 2014 tsi and while checking Google n learning about cars, I found out that the ground and or the connection, fuses and relays is Big Big Big time causes to many of the problems that is not checked first...they should be checked first before all this moving if parts n changing parts... It would be so easy for us all especially Diyers and Pro-Mechs. Especially when you have a crank and no start. Hope I articulate what I really want to say well...be bless.. PS thx Joshy
VW like other car companies looks for ways to save them cost at your expense. Using low gauge bare minimal wiring among things is a tried and true method. Most people dump these cars before they spend too much money on inadequate parts that fail because of poor design. How a fusebox melting didn't issue a recall is the same Logic as diesel-gate they don't gaf. So buy a new Fuse box, do a big 3 or 4 wire upgrade kit, take your time and make this a weekend project, do everything above reproach and learn your VAG vehicle or get a for sale sign and go buy a Honda or a Toyota!
It's fucking insane. I'm having the same issue on my Skoda octavia, it melted a big hole where the nut is sunk into the plastic on the alternator cable.
I got the a 2005 have beetle and I order from walmart a Jetta fuse and alternator harness By accident they look the same and on the fuse box it just has two copper taps it looks Promising. I order one from Ebay the pricing was 196.00 for just the alternator harness only and compared with the walmart pricing was 82.00 for a alternator harness and fuse box I believe that was a deal..
GONE_ZO sounds like a good deal. Hope it works out. Ever since the video my fuse box has never, not even a little bit, overheated or burned. Change to a thinker gauge wire from the alternator to the fuse box worked great.
Running HID lights would actually do the opposite which would take less power from your car because that ballast is what transforms the power to the HID light itself kind of like a bright bright LED light messing with some cars because the car thinks the lights burnt out because it's taking such little power to run... Just saying is all. Good job on them crimped and heat shrink cables
I have a question... on my friends 04 beetle the check engine fuse is not getting no power. I’ve checked it with a power probe and replaced the fuse. I checked the fuse terminals and that’s how I found out there was no power getting to it. Any suggestions. Because of that he’s unable to link an ob2 scanner to the port to find out why his cel light on.
On the side of the door jam where the fuse box is located. There is a 10amp small fuse. On the fuse diagram card it shows an engine picture with a lightning bolt on it. So I’m guessing that goes to the CEL and to the OBD2 connector. I checked for power when fuse is inserted and there is no power to it. However there is another normal size fuse on the lower half that has the same picture and that fuse is seeing power to it.
Sam Han It is fuse number 10 located on the top half of the fuse box if I’m not mistaken. That fuse is for engine control/gasoline. Did you try replacing the fuse with a new one if not I suggest taking it to a professional
WhatJoshyDoes Tv I’ve changed the fuse and power probed it and there’s no power getting to it. I’m gonna try what you did and replace the wire with a 4ga and then check behind the fuse box wires for any short when I get it disassembled. The car is currently at the owners place so I can’t be exact if that’s the fuse you’re referring to but it has a pix on the diagram with an engine and a lightning bolt on it.
With all the wires going into the firewall at the samish place how did you get in there? I cant even get to the firewall with all the wires and plastics
Well i basically just squeezed the cable through. There is a black cover behind the air box. In there there are cables that lead straight into the cabin. The entry point in the cabin is under the driver side dash cover. (This is the flat dash area directly above the steering wheel. Remove the middle dash cover, which slides back, to access the screws to remove the dash cover.) Under the dash cover is a back cover. You’ll beed ti remove it in order to access the cables from the engine bay. Unfortunately i no longer have the car to show you in more detail
Boosted Mongol well actually yet the wire still gets hot but not as hot as it was before I replaced and it hasn’t melted the fuse box. I might need to get the battery cables changed and see if that helps. But so far so good
Here’s a update. The issues haven’t returned.!could be that the HIDs light where to strong. But I had the HIDs for a few months after this video until the died and during that time the issues haven’t returned.
@@whatjoshydoestv6741 this is an well known problem on A4 platform cars. I own an 1.9 Tdi, and faced this same problem two days ago,but it just started to melt. I replaced the cable end, with a mains voltage type one, I had a bad contact between the cable and its teminal. It was heating up Quick under load. No more problems now, in that respect. Also replaced all cable ends from the negative battery cable (to chassis, to engine block).
I have a 2005 beetle with a charging problem, it seems like when the engine gets warm the charging voltage drops..my junction box hasn't melted but I checked the temperature of the alternator cable and the one besides it were 253°
Try and do what i did and replace the cable from the box to the alternator with a thicker cable. Don’t even bother fishing it exactly where the original one goes. Just place it in a nice path across and zip tie it down. This way you can check the temperature of the whole cable. Again i am not a professional mechanic. Do at your own risk!
Hey bro, I’m having the same problem with my VW Mk4 also, interior fuse relay (2nd wire) has overheated itself and started eating the wire out of the box. From the looks of it it’s been going on for a while and I didn’t know. I bought about 10 feet of 4ga welding wire to replace. What did you have to remove out of the way to get to the other end of the interior fuse relay wire? Did you heat shrink the wires with new covers?
@@whatjoshydoestv6741 you know, mine actually melted where the little green fuses went. Just one or them though. The wires are not melted though. It's weird though, after disconnecting battery and reconnected, car starts just fine.
Chann Groves had the same issue. The green fuses where melting also together with the wires. I assumed that the power was getting to high for the fuses to handle because the wires where old. Don’t understand why the fuses didn’t blow but I got the job done lol
junkv57 I built the cable myself. It goes straight from the alternator to the fuse box. Everything else is stock. Not sure what you mean by “fused” or wrapped, please clarify
WhatJoshyDoes Tv I don't know if you removed the OEM harness from the car but on my Jetta TDI all the pictures of the alternator harness the little connectors were wrapped onto the harness. I haven't pulled mine out yet but I'm just assuming the small connectors are just wrapped on the harness and I should be able to unwrap them from the harness and zip them on my fabricated 4 gauge welding cable.
@@devinsmith7274 pretty much. Could take out the original because it's tied up together with other alternator cables (wiring harness). Never had issue with it since the replacement.
@@whatjoshydoestv6741 i so apologize. I guess what i want to know is how many amps is the fuse in the terminal connector box connected to the black cable that leads into the alternator
