Our 1985 Jetta TD is doing something funky, at a time when I have to get
Sue to the airport tomorrow (3 hour round trip).

The alternator light is *partially* on, with or without a load on the
alternator, and the dash gauges are showing �lower� in their arc than
normal (below the LED at operating temp, � tank of fuel when I know
there is � a tank).  The LED is just barely glowing� not enough to be
visible in the day.

My first thought was brushes on the alternator. I pulled the Bosch
brushes which have about 30k on them, and appeared fine, replaced them
with some POS Steward-Warner brushes I had thrown in my toolbox, but
that (I recall worked fine). With these in place the alternator light
glowed fully. So I replaced the Bosch brushes and charged the battery
(the ammeter on the charger indicated the battery was very low).

All of the connections are solid, I don�t own a multi-meter, and the
alternator was rebuilt about 30k ago. Should I look for new brushes,
look for a new alternator, or post this to the diesel VW list?

Developing business and guiding change since 1996,

G. Matthew Bulley 
Bulley-Hewlett
Corporate Communications 
Business: www.bulley-hewlett.com <http://bulley-hewlett.com/>    
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