2001 Volkswagen Beetle Electrical Problems

TAYDUB_BUG

MEMBER
2001 VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE

I bought my used Beetle about 6 months ago and it's been nothing but problems since, but hey, it wouldn't be a VW if it didn't have problems, right?

Anyways, when I bought it, I had a new timing belt put on it because it was shot.
Now everything works perfectly except for a bunch of electrical things such as:
-No power windows (except when I use the keyhole to manually use them)
-No power mirrors
-Sunroof doesn't open or close (unless I do it manually with an allen wrench)
-No interior lights
-Key fob doesn't work
-Trunk latch doesn't work
-Gas cover latch doesn't work

This all seems to be related to fuse #14 somehow because everytime I stick a fuse in there, it blows immediately. I've tried replacing the CCM and that didn't seem to do anything.

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,873 POSTS

A simple trick to finding a short is to replace the blown fuse with a pair of spade terminals, then use small jumper wires to connect them to a 12 volt light bulb. A brake light bulb works well. When the circuit is live and the short is present, the bulb will be full brightness and hot so be sure it's not laying on the carpet or against a plastic door panel. Now you can unplug electrical connectors and move things around to see what makes the short go away. When it does, the bulb will get dim or go out.