It's that time again for a new BS thread. Let's get it on!


For starters, as promised, here are some pictures of the VW generator for Josh and Sean.


This one is pretty bad.

 

Happy May Washington. Hope it's a good one.

 

checking in

 

Happy May. I just hope we get more than 2 days of sun, this is quite nice.

 

Good afternoon everyone!!! "MAY" this month be better than crappy April!!

-The Great

 

Hello, from what I hear it's suppose to be nice thru the weekend

 

So I found a cure for my non working super beetle seat belts. For $17 and whatever shipping is, I can get a full new set of Hummv seat belts. Military grade stuff. And according to a vw forum they bolt right in with a little modification to the bolt holes to make them bigger. I couldn't tell what the actual shipping price was because my phone was having a hard time with the site. But Hell if it's about $30 for brand new military grade seat belts, I would certainly feel safe with that over these stock ones that aren't even working.

 

I used to have a set of old (1972) Dodge Polara ones in mine and I did not
have to make any changes to the mounting holes I even used the VW bolts.

Take two more photo for me please. Under the back driver side you will see a
metal box with wires going to it. That is the regulator. If you can get me a good
shot of that. Also a better shot down at the brushes that show the commutator ring
You never said if the dash light for the generator is coming on at KOEO or if it's still on after KOER.
If that light is bad/missing the generator will not charge. If the speedo lamp socket is bad
the quick and dirty fix is a 12V lamp and socket. IDOT light replacement.

You do have a volt meter? with the key on take a reading on the generator F+ terminal
you should have voltage. The F+ (Field) is what controls how much charging your getting.
There is a way to test the generator with the regulator to see if it is working without removing
it from the car

If your board and want to take a chance come on over this weekend and we can see if we can
get it charging. Also a new set of brushes may help.

BTW you did not say how the job search is going and if you still not happy with the plumbing biz.

Sean

 

I can get them pictures, but it might be charging now. After my issue with the engine almost catching on fire, I measured the voltage with the engine off and it was about 13.50 volts. Which says its charging but slowly. I don't really know what or where the brushes are but I assume is down in that hole where it rides on the generator shaft. I don't know what that small bit of coiled wire is for but it looks pretty bad.

As for the lights both the generator light and oil pressure light do come on, just not when the car starts. It tends to happen when it gets warm and the idle gets real low, the lights will come one then go out. I can try to get a video of it some time. As for driving out to you, I don't know if I trust it on the freeway just yet, I'd like to keep it around town for a little while. But the weekend isn't here yet so we will see.


EDIT: Also in terms of a job, eh I left the plumbing place. I'm on the hunt again I tried to have a job ready but didn't get one in time.

 

Alright, I kind of forgot about the video of the lights and since it seems to happen at random I'll have to try on my own. I did get pictures.

I don't really know if this is what you wanted. It's kind of hard to see in there.






And the regulator. Mind the rust.


I don't know what the wire is that is disconnected... It has a small sanding sleeve on it from a dremel kit.




And the mess of wires.


As an added bonus, I painted my rims with some walmart 98 cent rattle can paint. It turned out pretty nice!

 

i'm still too busy BS'ing about inverters in last month's thread to come over to this new one,

dylan, those pics do show the brushes as you guessed they might, but i honestly don't know much about those old generators, so i'll leave that to the more experienced man here....

 

Hehe I noticed.

I don't know much about these or alternators so it's a bit foreign to me but I'll learn. It hasn't been cranking to slowly lately so I think it's starting to charge like it's supposed to. Or at least it's charging a little. I haven't driven it at night yet so I don't know what the lights look like.

 

your report of 13.5v with engine off sounds a little high actually. normal is about 14.5 while charging and about 12.7 with the engine off. i would suggest hooking up some kind of voltmeter to it so you can monitor its performance. i use a little cheap guy that plugs into the cig lighter port and just has a handful of lights to give you a close approximation of voltage, without driving you nuts with tiny variations like a digital multimeter would. harbor freight has it for like 7 bucks.
if its working now, i guess just leave it alone

as for the gen and oil lights both coming on when idle speed drops too low, that sounds pretty normal - in those cases the engine has slowed down to the point that the generator can't put out, and the oil pump isn't spinning fast enough to keep pressure. since revving the engine back up kills the lights, its really no different than having those lights on when KOEO

 

I was getting 13.5 just after shutting it off. IIRC it was slowly declining too. I do have a digital multi meter with the 2 prongs but nothing for a cigarette lighter. Besides, this beetle doesn't have a lighter in it...

 

ok then, right after shutdown its still dropping from charging voltage down to battery voltage, so that sounds like its where it belongs. this guy 12 Volt Battery/Alternator Tester is what i was talking about for the easy little tester. just add a lighter plug so you can use it, your phone charger, or whatever else you like. all you need is a place to put it and a couple wires - cig lighter sockets are cheaper than dirt, or i could give you a spare one if you like