thought I'd put this in a seperate post even though it's a carry-on from my regulator heading.
anyhoo...
took the van to a volksy auto guy today. he did a test on the generator .It was only putting out a couple of volts, so he said that that was what is wrong and it needs exchanging. (In other post I mentioned it wasn't charging the battery)but, on the way home the battery light on the console went off and behaved normally (ie: it goes on when the ignition is turned on and goes off after starting). I then went to an auto electrician and he said that sometimes this happens when it gets 'zapped' during a test, and it will now be charging normally, but this shows that the brushes are worn and need replacing (eventually). Cheaper than exchanging the whole thing. So, maybe it will be ok for a while now? Not looking forward to dropping the engine again soonish. has anyone replaced the brushes and do you have to take the whole generator out to do so?
cheers, ian

ian,
you have a type 1 motored bus dont you?
Would have thought you could do them in place?

reckon mine's a type 2 (what's the difference between type 1 and 2?..not too sure) it's a 1600 motor anyway.
Ian

Type 1 is a beetle, Type 2 is a kombi, Type 3 is a Type 3 (Squareback, Fastback or Notch), Type 4 superceded the Type 3.

In simple terms, kombi's came with either a Type 1 (up to 1600) or a Type 4 (1700, 1800, 2000cc) engine.

Remove fan belt
Remove the clamp that holds the gen to the pedestal
disconnet the wires
Remove the 2 setscrews that hold the fan housing to the barrel coverplates.
Lift the fan housing up & stick something between its bottom & the coverplate on the gen side to keep it up in the air
You can now access the 4 10mm bolts that hold the gen to the fan housing(at worse, you can remove the gen pedestal but it can be left in). I use a 3eigths drive 10mm socket with a blob of blutak in in to avoid dopping the bolts into the cavity or put a piece of cardboard accross if you're worried.
Gab the gen & lift it out with the fan.

And if you are bothered - take the gen stand out, and pull the studs. Replace these with allen head screws. A LOT easier to pull next time. Same with petrol pump.

Also by Murphy's arrangement - by doing this it GUARANTEES(sp?) that it will NEVER need replacing

thanks everyone. great help. Will check it all out. At the moment the charge light on the dash isn't staying on, so all must be fine. great news about not having to drop the motor. I am on the English kamperchat site also and dave the pom's advice was very similar, but more detailed as a guy from the uk on that site..

""""Nope it's a pretty easy (but fiddly) job. If you've gotta plastic cover on you dynamo take it off and look inside, that's your brush - the metal looking thing held in with a spring with a bit of wire attached to a small screw, just inside the dynamo, Undo the screw (making sure you don't lose it inside) and pull out the old brush (the spring should stay whre it is) then put in a new one, pulling the spring up to hold it in, and do the screw back up.

There's another on the opposite side, slightly nore filddly 'cos it's upside down but exactly the same.""""


anyway, thanks again, Ian (ex-Leicester)