Itinerant Air-Cooled

Brushes down to nubs after 10,000 miles. Went to the store to get new ones, come back out and notice the GEN light on. Crap. Restart car, light goes out and does not re illuminate.
Upon replacing brushes, still no light. Only getting 8 volts at idle at generator. Accelerate engine, volts go DOWN.
Did I fry my voltage regulator? Or do I now have a bad generator too?

Edit: cleaned commutator, no help. I'm going to check the generator via: http://www.nls.net/mp/volks/htm/gen.htm

Edit 2: about 35 volts with VR disconnected. I didn't realize that you have to check the gen that way. It makes sense I guess. Electrical issues freak me out.

Edit 3: took apart the regulator and sanded the contacts. No change, still no GEN light.

Sound like a VR to me, do you have another handy to test? When you say you are getting 8 volts, is that to the battery while running?

8 Volts was when regulator was connected. A false reading.
Just got a new regulator but it's raining and I'm tired. Bah.
According to Muir when a regulator fails ya don't get a GEN light on the dash. Here's hoping! At this point it's gotta be the regulator or wiring. Or a burned out bulb but not likely. And also hoping for NO RAIN tomorrow.

I was thinking the same thing this weekend, that even if I get another regulator and it is not it, I have a spare anyway. BTW I didn't have to get another one, I had fried my ground wire.

Well it stopped raining so I went out there, yuck.
Replaced the regulator. Still no dash light. Took out the bulb, it looked burnt. But the holder disintegrated and the crimped connector fell off. I think I'm calling it a night.
Anyone in Portland have any spare bus dash light housings? Those little black things that hold the bulb. Early bay only.

I Am the King of EDIT: This is the part # for early bay dash bulbs: VHD-N17-7512 (ref. http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp ... D-N17-7512)
and
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewto ... ument+bulb for more info on the subject.

My issue was the light wouldn't go out. VR grounded? Just snow up here.


neal

Well I got the light issue fixed. Bad bulb and connector and poor contact.
However, now the GEN light flickers at certain RPMs. I cleaned the commutator some more, it's now copper instead of carbon. Maybe the brushes just need to seat in? I've been driving all over hoping it will settle down. Seems worst at 30 mph in 3rd.
I hope I don't need a new generator.

Bad voltage regulator! Brand spanking new Bosch Brazil.
I put the old one back on with the cleaned internal contacts. NO more flicker.
The bucketload of crap continues to plague us. How can we do proper repair/troubleshooting when brand new parts are suspect?

P.S. Halsey in Portland has the tiny instrument bulbs for early bay. 0.75$ each they are not cheap.

Oi!

Resolution is good.


neal

I left a trail of breadcrumbs for the equally-witted to follow.
Still no flicker after a quick trip to pick up the kid. Looks good, but I will still fret a couple of days.

BTW also had to clean the male terminal end of the black plastic bulb socket, it was corroded and not making a good contact with the tiny bulb leads. They're very similar to Xmas lites if you've ever pulled one apart.

A yes, the old "new Volkswagen replacement part" issue. New parts are the first to suspect, me thinks.

I hate hearing about this new crap being sold. Our money has sweat equity while the seller's is just a game of monopoly.

I was going to suggest long ago, that if your voltage goes down when you rev the engine, to check the polarity of your generator.
Colin

Brushes again down to nubs. Time to replace the generator. Can you believe nobody in town stocks bus generators? Well Always VW does at 2x the price. I may have to go that route unless someone has a suggestion...

hambone wrote:Brushes again down to nubs. Time to replace the generator. Can you believe nobody in town stocks bus generators? Well Always VW does at 2x the price. I may have to go that route unless someone has a suggestion...

There has got to be a reason for this.
You have either too rough of a commutator surface or serious run-out.
You can lathe true a commutator once.
Colin

Commutator out of round, you can see the brushes moving up and down...
Also the bearings are starting to sound chirpy when rotated by hand, like little birds.
Well I'm done, about 4.5 hours. I must say, this is probably the most aggravating job on a type1 engine. Dirt and gasoline in my eyes, what can you do?
New brushes wore down 1/16" in 100 miles. I knew it was time. I SHOULDA replaced the generator at rebuild time, but at the time it didn't seem necessary. Well I did get 2 years/12000 more miles out of it before it failed.