Mk1 Wiring Issue

Hello Jason Here, fed up with searching and cant work this out, it a Y reg GTi cabro.

After tinkering with the engine bay this winter, replacing the usual water pump starter motor, I though id have a go at replacing some of the wiring ends and to my horror there was oil found in what is the engine wiring loom no idea how this had got there, anyway within the loom under the plastic covering which clearly had been replaced before i found a plastic VW connector the wires were cracked so i thought id replace them,

Two wires which go to the top of the gear box sensor these were badly cracked and easily replaced and connected 1 Brown and a coloured stripped wire , i noticed all the wires either side of this connector has seen better days  so decide to cut the plug out and replace with new wire……  stupid idiot lol

Two wires i have noticed go to the vac switch,   however one of these wires connect to a brown wire which also seems to share a brown wire that goes to the brown of the plug above the gearbox which seems to be factory made like this in the vw plug so all easy and straight forward so far, however upon putt this loom back together i have a extra brown wire coming from the bulk head and i.e 2 brown instead of 1 where and what is  the other brown wire for??

 I have checked and triple checked everything in the engine back and cannot work out why i have a extra brown wire, HELP I have checked all other connections which use this loom senors and plugs and everything seems to be connected, i have not started the engine as took scared i might cause damage. I have attached some pictures and kinda stuck with this problem ..  what do i do apart from keep away from a wiring ….

i have tried to search for a loom diagram but cannot find one can someone please help me P.S the black wire in pic 4 is the brown from the vac sensor if that confuses you   

I really appreciate any advice or help on this please

Brown is earth, so look for missing brown earth in the bay. If the brown comes from the bulkhead, them there must be something missing earth. If nothing seems to be missing earth, them just tape it up and try to start the car. Nothing will be damaged from this.

If the brown comes from a connector or a plug, them hook the loose end up to a good earth connector

Thanks, Does anyone one have a wiring diagram, or any other advice please

CornwallJ said

Thanks, Does anyone one have a wiring diagram, or any other advice please

Year of Cabriolet wasn't mentioned, and well I am not looking anything up with out more information.

Solid Brown is Ground, Brown/white tracer usually isn't

You have a of of Brittle wires, that were subject to heat and oil that causes the insulation shield to be brittle an the wire can snap apart as shown in your picture.

Heat shrink, solder and extraction tools and possible replacement pins are in your future.  You have to insulate all breaks in wires specially non-solid brown ones as water and wire breaks aren't usually friendly to electrical things.  Also the connector that you have in the pic, well i need to know where the remaining wires go if I was to look it up.

I strongly urge you to buy a Haynes or a Bentley manual for your ride, and get used to reading the wiring schematics.  There are tutorials in the How-to's archive as in Electrics Primer, and at www.cabby-info.com