I too am the fortunate owner of a 1979 Super Beetle and I think I might know what's going on.
The three (mine has four BTW) white wires are the GROUND wires for your FI system that come from the ECU. They are supposed to be connected to the body of the alternator with a cheesehead machine screw. You can sorta see in this picture.dpothomsonvw wrote:There are 3 white wires. 1 is a single connection and the other 2 are together. All 3 are connected to the only threaded post on my alternator. There is also a red battery wire on the same post.
With them connected to the threaded post, you are suppling battery voltage where there shouldn't be. This voltage is feeding back through the AAR to terminal 88c (and thusly 88d) of the double relay and powering your fuel pump.
Disconnect the white wires from the threaded post and attach them to the alternator as (kinda) shown. Hopefully the ECU hasn't been damaged in the process and everything will magically work the way it was intended.
BTW,
You are correct.dpothomsonvw wrote:The other post on the alternator is a spade connector that has the green wire. I assume that is the idiot light for the dash.