'87 Intro...and Questions

[mziggy16]

Pelicans -

I've been a long time lurker and tire kicker, but finally acquired my first air cooled car...a Diamond Blue Metallic '87 Carrera. I spent the first week getting the car detailed to my exacting specs and getting familiar with driving it.

I've done a few maintenance items, including the addition of a dash lighting fuse. Next up is fluid exchanges, valve adjustment, headlight relay, etc. to get it all to a new baseline.

Anyway, I have two mysteries where I need some help:

1. While installing the dash lighting fuse I found two mystery wires (see below pic). The best I can tell is that these lead back to a bundle (wrapped in very old electric tape) and head towards the ignition.

2. Headlights and Dash Lights: When I pull the headlight switch about halfway, the interior lights illuminate and I can twist the knob to adjust brightness. When I pull the knob all the way out, the interior lights go out and the headlights turn on. So...I need to get both on at the same time...

I will also add that electric troubleshooting is not my forte, so I won't be offended by 3rd grade level explanations.

Thanks for any insight.

-Mike

[PeteKz]

1. Yeah, those are definitely "aftermarket." You'll just have to trace them as best you can.
2. Probably the headlight switch.

[tdw28210]

Welcome. Very pretty car. Congrats. What Pete said. ^^^^^

[mziggy16]

I’m going to do my best contortionist impersonation today and see if I can trace those aftermarket wires back to the source.

As for the headlight switch, I have a decent understanding of how everything feeds in here. Is there a fix for this or is it just biting the bullet on a new switch?

Thanks for the help.

[Cairo94507]

Congratulations- great looking car. Were it me, I would remove any after market wiring and get the car back to the stock wiring harness. As pointed out already, those are definitely added on by a PO.

[PeteKz]

aGood chance they were for a radio installation.

[Brtuffli]

Did you trace it back? If so, where did it go. I imagine someone had a wiring diagram (colored) for an 87.

[mziggy16]

Originally Posted by Brtuffli

Did you trace it back? If so, where did it go. I imagine someone had a wiring diagram (colored) for an 87.

I was able to trace the green wire back to a tap into a green wire that goes into the ignition. The best I can tell is that the factory green ignition wire is the AC>DME wire (can someone confirm?).

The red wire is still obscured by hard-to-reach electrical tape.

[rokemester]

Pretty car! Diamond blue metallic? Looks like the 88 anniversary edition color scheme. Congrats!

[mziggy16]

Originally Posted by rokemester

Pretty car! Diamond blue metallic? Looks like the 88 anniversary edition color scheme. Congrats!

Yep, Diamond Blue Metallic over Marine Blue interior. Looks like an anniversary car but not an ‘88 and no signatures in the headrests.

[Hotshot]

Tell me the wire and I’ll look it up. Most of the wiring haven’t changed since 73. The 3.2 diagrams are better to trace in B&W online. The Sc and later current diagrams are better if in colour and your join all the pages up on a massive diagram.

You will quickly see what orig looks like and what’s aftermarket. Electrical is easy on these once you lean a few things. Most late 80s cars had a python or some BS immobilizer in them. For the love of all things holy rip it out. I’ve one almost burn a car down.

Getting it back to stalk is always the goal 30 year later. The good news is most mods are done just bad enough that they tie into a little bit of the real wire. So you have the OG colour.

The big go to’s are the main light switch and the ignition switch. Look benching ( seats out helps the neck ). The wire part ( brown ) pulls off the main unit. Look for splices into Red and yellow thicker wires. That’s normally the starting point.

[mziggy16]

Originally Posted by Hotshot

Tell me the wire and I’ll look it up. Most of the wiring haven’t changed since 73. The 3.2 diagrams are better to trace in B&W online. The Sc and later current diagrams are better if in colour and your join all the pages up on a massive diagram.

You will quickly see what orig looks like and what’s aftermarket. Electrical is easy on these once you lean a few things. Most late 80s cars had a python or some BS immobilizer in them. For the love of all things holy rip it out. I’ve one almost burn a car down.

Getting it back to stalk is always the goal 30 year later. The good news is most mods are done just bad enough that they tie into a little bit of the real wire. So you have the OG colour.

The big go to’s are the main light switch and the ignition switch. Look benching ( seats out helps the neck ). The wire part ( brown ) pulls off the main unit. Look for splices into Red and yellow thicker wires. That’s normally the starting point.

The tap is on to a lime green colored wire that comes out of the ignition.