VW Beetle Electrical System
While driving the beetle back home, my wife followed me and commented that she couldn’t see the brake lights or the turn lights. Great.
I did a safety check on the car when my brother came over to see it. Of course, everything worked. However, you could notice that the lights were slow to respond and on a sunny day, I could see where the lights may not be visible. I attribute this to the original 6 volt system.
Fortunately, the previous owner had new electric lines to upgrade the electical system to a 12 volt system. I’ll do the upgrade on the electrical system, but not until the winter, I think that’ll be a good winter project to add to the list while it’s in the garage. I’ll have to make a list of all the 12v part i’ll need to upgrade, like the wiper motor. Wiper speed is not the most impressive feature of a 6 volt system.
Other than that, I do get a significant amount of oil dripping from the oilpan. While some is expected, I think I’m getting a little too much. The exhaust also smells a little gas-rich, like not all of the gas is burning. The bug was tuned up last year according to the previous owner, but I may have the look at the mixture and oils seals. There seams to be a light coating of oil on the engine, so it may be leaking in a few places. Replacing the seals may be another winter project . . .
Based on these things, there i nothing critical, but I need to decide what to go for first, interior updates, such as the stearing wheel, shift knob and maybe install a stereo, or go straight to the engine - but I think the engine can wait for the end of the summer.
