Good morning dubbers,

Wondering if you can assist? I was out for a drive last night and noticed the headlights & dash were very dim. Didnt think a great deal of it until my head unit dropped out and the dash lights were barely visible. This would come and go.

Pulled up and check around a found a loose wire (negative) that ran off of a box mounted on the fan shroud (was silver & had bosch writen on it, one side was wired directly connected ot the generator, box circled in picture below). Fixed it then had to pushstart the car as it wouldnt turn over.

I stripped the wire, and wrapped it around the plug, as I couldnt crimp it back together on the spot.

This didnt fix the issue though, The car started missfiring & backfiring woefully and I would have periods where lights were good, then everything would drop out, then come back on again. Even after a 30min run down the highway, with the lights staying nice and bright, I couldnt start the car after shutting it off (read as it cut out at a set of lights at the end of the drive and we had to push-start it again)

Can anyone help identify if it's just that loose wire, or something more sinister?

Cheers, Allbones

The box is your regulator for your generator, not sure the generator or the regulator would have liked running without a proper earth.. Do you have access to a multi meter? Charge your battery back up and check the charging voltage with the motor running, should be somewhere between 13.8v-14.5v. If not then further testing is required.

And we won't mention the fuel filter

Quote:

Originally posted by donn And we won't mention the fuel filter

Very easy read thanks psimitar, excuse my ignorance, but when he refers to jumper, does he simply mean a jump start cable?

Thanks for your help.
Allbones.

Not a problem, thanks for your help

no worries

Good morning guys,

I got to testing it and I'm not really sure of the outcome.

First we tested with a volt meter across the battery, it appeared to be chargin at about 11-12v

We thought this seemed low so proceeded with checking the Generator using the method described Speedy jimmy's.

First one was volt meter to the generator, and generator to the frame. This gave us a reading of around 5v.

We then tried to re-polorise it, but the shaft wouldnt spin. (We tried leaving the earth where it was, and also moving it to the battery).

The one thing I will comment on is that we only had 18guage wire to use as a jumper, but I dont see how this would be a drama as its about the same size as the wire connecting the generator to everything else anyway.

Not really sure where this leave me? Any help would be appreciated

Thanks, Bones.

You did remove the belt before trying to re-polarize the generator? And you made sure the brushes aren't too short?

Send an email to Just Kampers asking for the length of a new brush. Alternatively, try to move the brush spring to one side and remove the brush and then pop the spring back into the holder slot. From this you can see how deep into the slot the spring will apply pressure to the brush.

I mean the brushes are about $6 a pop compared to one of those lovely, well made Brazilian alternator kits tad bit of sarcasm there

If the brushes are in good order and the DF and D+ wires from the genny are well connected and in good condition then the only 2 reasons for the genny not spinning are burnt out stator wiring or not enough juice in the battery to re-polarise.

Quote:

Originally posted by psimitar Send an email to Just Kampers asking for the length of a new brush. Alternatively, try to move the brush spring to one side and remove the brush and then pop the spring back into the holder slot. From this you can see how deep into the slot the spring will apply pressure to the brush. I mean the brushes are about $6 a pop compared to one of those lovely, well made Brazilian alternator kits tad bit of sarcasm there If the brushes are in good order and the DF and D+ wires from the genny are well connected and in good condition then the only 2 reasons for the genny not spinning are burnt out stator wiring or not enough juice in the battery to re-polarise.

One other thing quickly, when polorising it does the earth need to be to the body of the car or back to the battery? Logic for me would be back to the batter to complete the circuit, but the speedy jimmy diagram and write up didnt reallly indicate that.

When we did it we tried earthing to one of the screws (looked to be stainless) in the back of the car and also the earth terminal on the battery.

So long as there is good contact thru the engine to the gearbox and then onto the chassis then it should be fine. I mean the coil and auto choke wouldn't work if that was the case.

However, if in doubt then use a wire from the threaded hole toward the back of the gennys top and connect to battery neg term.

Please remove the fuel filter from the engine bay and put it under the car.

Many engine bay fires are caused by fuel filters in the engine bay. The heat cracks them, or wrong size hose is fitted and the fuel goes onto the distributor, which ignites the fuel.

Quote:

Originally posted by donn And we won't mention the fuel filter

Quote:

Originally posted by helbus Please remove the fuel filter from the engine bay and put it under the car. Many engine bay fires are caused by fuel filters in the engine bay. The heat cracks them, or wrong size hose is fitted and the fuel goes onto the distributor, which ignites the fuel. Quote: Originally posted by donn And we won't mention the fuel filter

So I checked it with a battery with a full charge. Still no movement.

Couldn't get under the car to check the starter but gave the starter motor wire on the engine side a tug and it didnt pull through.

At this point I pulled the back half of the belt pulley off to look at the brushes (or at least see whats invilved with it, I really wasnt sure what I was doing, haha) and a small semi-circular piece of metal fell out. Not sure what it is? (Photo attached).

Any more help would be appreciated. Thanks again!

Allbones.

it is the "woodruff key" that holds the back half of the generator pulley in place. Stops it spinning on the shaft

You will see a slot on the shaft and once in the key will sit a bit proud.
The pulley has a notch in it and this slides over the key way, locking it in place

have a read here

http://www.vw-resource.com/alternator.html 

Thought that may have been the case but wasn't sure.

When I pulled the back half of the pulley off, there were two screws there, is that what I undo to check the pressure the spring is putting on the brush?

Early gennys have open slots at the pulley end of the casing where you can see the brushes and springs. Later ones had a cover over them.

So I found this video and everything seems so much clearer now, haha.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ducThsVrs64 

I understand what you are talking about and will go home anc check the brushes and springs properly tonight

This is all a learning experience for me so I really appreciate your help

Had a look this arvo, brushes are connected no dramas, seem to have good pressure applied to them. No wire loose from the start motor.

The brushes looked to be about 2cm long, I couldnt wiggle them when the spring was in place.

Thinks it's time to just take it somewhere where someone knows what they are looking for/doing, 'cos I'm stumped, haha.

I have had issues previously with the inside of the metal runner that the brush sits in being corroded slightly which was stopping the spring from pushing the brush agaisnt the communicator even when I thought they were.
Bit of emery paper fixed that.

Are the contact points in your regulator gummed up or closed?

Hmm, yea if you aren't too knowledgable with electrics then the best most can do is clean things up so that there is nice clean contact surfaces, make sure brushes n springs are in good order n try to re-polarise.

If it doesn't spin when re-polarising with a good charged power source then probably means something wrong with the field windings and that means taking it apart to check for winding resistance and continuity.

Car was in a Custom VW today. The Regulator was shagged.

Cheers to all for all the help and input. Much appreciated!

Odd that it wouldn't spin when trying to polarise cos whether any magnetic field existed or not it shoulda spun? Odd but glad it's sorted